Hooray for used book sales!

On Saturday afternoon I had the great privilege of stepping away by myself for an hour to go to Historic Vienna’s Annual Used Book Sale and shop. Adam, though recovering from the flu, graciously indulged my love of books and watched Cinderella with the girls so I could go ALONE (thank you, thank you, thank you!). The girls acted like I’d been gone for ages when I got home, which is crazy but also really endearing. Who doesn’t enjoy being greeted with kisses and hugs and a chorus of, “Mommy, we missed you!”?

So, the books! I didn’t think their selection of children’s books was as good this year as it was last year, but I did pick up a Berenstain Bears book on strangers and a retelling of the story of King Midas. The kids were happy with that! From the kids section I also got some books for when the kids get older. My oldest is almost 5(!!!!!) and she reads, so I figure (not unlike me) that she’ll be into reading chapter books in the next year or so…SO I decided to prepare for when she’s begging for more books and I picked up three of the books in the Little House on the Prairie series. We already have one of them, so that should keep her busy when she’s about 7, right? I read them all in second grade and I not-so-secretly hope she loves them as much as I did. I wanted to become President one day so I could take us all back to covered wagon times…so we could live just like Laura Ingalls Wilder. HA.

For myself, I got a couple of classics: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. Adam thinks I’m nuts, and I might be…We’ll see. I don’t typically read classics but I think I want to. Hopefully I like them as much as I like the idea of liking them. I also got Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. I tend not to pick up random fiction unless it’s been recommended to me or I’ve heard of it before, so I mostly just skimmed that section.

My REAL prize, though, which made the whole trip worth it (aside from the mere act of browsing through tons of old books) came from the “Grandma’s Attic” section of the sale, where they sell “old” or unique items: I got a complete boxed set of the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis! For only $8 🙂 I’ve read two C.S. Lewis books in the last year, and LOVED them, and it made me want to reread The Lion, the Witch, and Wardrobe — but who can just stop there? I’m SO excited to read the whole set!

Adam thinks he’s never going to see me because I’m going to be too busy reading… it’s a slight exaggeration, I think, but I do hope to be reading a lot soon!  AND my local library has its used book sale this week! I’ll have to pop in there Friday while the kids are in school 🙂  Yay!