These labors earned me the right to peruse the books that were left after the sale and just take whatever I want. Free. In years gone by, this made me practically drool with delight. But, since losing Henry and John and seeing how hard it was to dispose of their stuff, I've been rethinking this. This year I took just two freebies:
• Jack Kennedy: The Illustrated Life of a President (a coffee table book for me)
• Bird Brains: The Intelligence of Crows, Ravens, Magpies and Jays (for my bird-loving friend, Joanna, who has been going through a rough patch)
And now for my annual observation. Every year there's a book donated in bigger numbers than any other; a book many of my neighbors bought and then decided not to keep. I suspect it's a tome chosen by local book clubs. Without further ado, here's the dubious honor roll:
2024: Water for Elephants
2023: My Life by Bill Clinton
2022, 2019, 2018 and 2017: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
2016: The Help
2015: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest
2014: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
2013: The DaVinci Code
2012: Sixkill (a Spenser Mystery)
2011: The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
2010: Scarlett, the Sequel to Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind*
2009: My Life by Bill Clinton
2008: The DaVinci Code
2007: The Nanny Diaries
2006: The Corrections
*For a time I thought Miss Scarlett was going to retake the #1 spot, but Water for Elephants ultimately overtook her.
I'm fascinated by your book statistics! What made Clinton's book resurface?
ReplyDeleteI think it's nice that you chose a book for your friend, as well as one for yourself. Glad to hear that the book sale was a success. We are not buying so many books, but my hubby is a true bibliophile and getting him to not buy so many is hard. I have a hard time myself, but you are right, books, even the special ones we love, just become something that someone needs to get rid of when we pass on. It was interesting to see the list of most donated books. The only books on the list I had read were The DaVinci Code and The Help. I hope you have a great week. See you again soon!
ReplyDeleteI read books from the Ya Ya Sisterhood. Nice that you volunteer. My granddaughter did too during the school year. She helped younger kids with math. I am reading the call the Midwife series.
ReplyDeleteApparently, Clinton's book has a cyclic lifespan, since it came back around. I think about our stuff and who will have to get rid of it. I have a LOT of books. I don't keep fiction, generally, but I have an entire bookcase on books about how to write. Some of them are quite outdated. I honestly don't know how to get rid of them as I don't know that anyone would want them. Recycling bins, I suppose.
ReplyDelete