Supporting a habit like mine means you have to have a source for the goods. You have to know where to get the good stuff and get it at a good price. This is why I am an absolute sucker for the 3-for-2 table at Borders and the 4-for-3 bargain books at Amazon. However, as good a deal as those are, nothing beats a used book sale. In my hometown of Winston-Salem, a wonderful group called the Shepherd's Center has an annual book sale, and it is literally like Christmas and my birthday all in one. Tables and tables of $0.50 or $1 paperbacks. Get 25 of the $0.50 books for $10. Get 25 of the $1 books for $20. That's 50 books for $30...blows my mind. Old, torn-up, wrinkly books, practically mint condition new books, fat books, thin books, yellowed books, trashy books, classic books, and everything in between. And the smell...it's like heaven. Your mucus membranes start to dry out after a while because of all the dust, but who cares. It does take some effort to weed through the romance novels and John Grisham (no offense to John Grisham, I love him - I am a lawyer after all - I just already have all his books), but I think that's part of the reward. This past year I didn't get to go until the last day of the 3-day sale and I was a little worried that all the really good stuff would be gone, but no...I found John Irving and James Michener and Belva Plain and Dick Francis and Robert Ludlum galore. I think I was there for about 3 hours and had to send my dad to the car with books twice because I couldn't carry everything.
This picture (taken with crappy iPhone camera, sorry...) is of the to-be-read bookcase in my office at home that is filled with book sale bounty, as well as other bargain books and a few hardcovers that I broke down and bought because I just couldn't wait. Yep, I read all the time and I still have this many books that I haven't gotten to yet. I sit and look at this shelf and I'm seriously almost blinded. It makes me happy to know that I have them to enjoy, but also a little sad because I can't just go in a room and not come out until I've finished them. I want to be reading all of these books at once and at the same time, I want to have already read them and already know them. And that I think is the definition of booklust.
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