All booked up
Jul 12, 2006 |
Fifty-nine and counting. With thousands of books sold each year for 59 years, the Friends of the Library annual book sale pulls more than its weight in getting Hawai’i reading. This year’s sale started last Saturday but the volunteers are constantly reshelving. Your first edition of The Last of the Mohicans may still await.
To regular attendees, the scene has the familiar comfort of a Thanksgiving morning, a tradition anticipated all year long, but instead of turkey roasting in the oven, it’s the smell of musty hard-bound goodies aligned on cafeteria tables that has entire families drooling. Kids sit among the rows of children’s books, engrossed in a story before it makes it to the check-out line; professors meet and greet colleagues with one eye never leaving the table of browsable treasures; volunteers scramble to find empty boxes for shoppers who had attempted to be conservative this year.
It’s hot? That’s also part of the tradition. The sound of fans–the big old electric ones and the hand-held pamphlet makeshifts provide atmosphere. It’s a book sale, not a spa.
The sale also offers CDs, tapes, records, videos, magazines and of course, everything is super cheap. We challenge you to leave empty-handed.
Friends of the Library Book Sale, McKinley High School cafeteria, 1039 S. King St., through Fri 7/14, 10am-9pm, Sat 7/15, 9am-noon, 536-4174
