There
is an absolutely fantastic advertisement put out by Barnes and Noble. It
presents a variety of slightly humorous, and extremely accurate, information
about book lovers. One piece of information is about how we like to hoard
books. It does not matter how many books we already have (not enough) or how
many books we have that we have not read yet (also not enough). We need to buy
more!! And the advertisement produces the perfect name for people like me, we
who require large quantities of books with which to fill our homes and compulsively
acquire them even when we lack reasonable financial means to do so: book
dragons.
I
am a book dragon.
I
will likely never read all of the books that I want to, but I will continue to
accumulate them, like a dragon lying on a mound of gold and jewels. I try to
read them all by consuming multiple books at a time (currently reading:
Hemingway’s Green Hills of Africa, Catton’s This Hallowed Ground, and Crichton’s
Congo), as though that will somehow help.
As
a book dragon, I am sometimes wary of libraries, because I know that they will
make me return any gold I take. But there is something quite pleasant about
working at a desk amidst the vast wealth of the public library. So recently I
have begun utilizing the many desks and couches of the Lafayette and West
Lafayette Public Libraries. They are a fantastic place to work, read, relax, and
admire the shelves of books. They are also, as it turns out, an excellent place
from which to acquire books.
No,
I am not stealing books from the public library.
The
West Lafayette Public Library is currently having a book sale. It will run
through this Friday (for any fellow book dragons who wish to make purchases).
Currently it costs $3 for a bag of books and on Thursday and Friday it will
cost $1 for a bag of books.
As
a book dragon, I could not wait until the books’ prices lowered, and attended
the book sale this past Saturday when the books were still “full” price ($2 for
hard cover and $1 for paperback). I had an absolutely lovely time with my
fellow book dragons and book lovers (namely Elaine, Michael, and Jessica). We all
emerged with several more volumes to add to our respective hoards.
In
addition to the books, they also had a variety of plants, baked goods, DVDs,
VHS tapes (I know!) and fabulous cider.
The books themselves ranged from
gorgeous copies of Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls to almost new Tom Clancy
books, to Nancy Drew, to Twilight (seriously, most of the teen section was very
Twilight) to books detailing the dimensions of the Enterprise.
In
the end, I emerged quite happy, although I do plan to return once more before
the sale ends. The people at the library are quite pleasant and wonderful. I
did smile when the woman at the counter asked if I was just buying the three
books in my hand…there were many more in the bag I had brought with me.
All told, I
purchased nine books. It was a very good day to be a book dragon.
The Library's website: http://www.westlafayettepubliclibrary.org/
The Barnes and Noble ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsI1Oxbmmv8&feature=youtu.be&adbsc=social_20150811_50586596&adbid=10153383213980020&adbpl=fb&adbpr=9122810019
