Books, books, and still more books!

It all began on Saturday. My wife and oldest daughter departed at the crack of dawn for a girl scout event, and would be gone all day, leaving the younger daughter with me. Because of the wet weather, I really had a free day, so I loaded my daughter into the car, and headed out to look for sources of cheap (or, preferably, free) books. We visited the Salvation Army Thrift Store, but they didn't have a very big selection and we left without buying anything. Eventually, we made our way to the Central Branch of the Arlington County Library.

This has always been a good source of books for me, as they usually have a selection of discarded books on a set of shelves in the elevator lobby in the parking garage, free for the taking. As we pulled into the parking garage, I noticed that a big section of the top level was closed off for their annual book sale! Oh, the temptation! Thousands of books for sale, most for a dollar or less. However, I noticed that if I waited until Sunday, they would be trying to clear out the books with a bag/box sale (fill a bag for $5.00 or a box for $8.00). So, I resisted temptation, picked up a selection of free books from the elevator lobby, and headed home.

On Sunday, my wife and I headed back, with visions of buying a couple of boxes of books. Unfortunately, I had failed to note that the bag/box sale didn't start until 4pm, so we picked through the books, and bought a few for half-price. While I was waiting in line to pay, my wife spoke with one of the volunteers about the fate of the unsold books. Turns out that many of the unsold books would be available free, on a first-come basis starting Monday morning. Hmmmmm.....

So, yesterday, my wife picked me up from the office about 11am, and we drove over to the library to see what was available. We were surprised by the selection. There were rows of shelves slowly being picked over by a number of people, but still, plenty of books to choose from. We grabbed some empty boxes and began filling. Two hours later, my wife dropped me off at my office and headed home, the back of her car loaded with books. I'm not sure how many we grabbed, but I would guess that we took home three or four hundred books! I felt a little guilty about being that greedy, but my wife pointed out that this was my chance to stock up on books for bookcrossing without her giving me a hard time about the cost, so now I have plenty of books to release for a while!