Today was the weekly book-run day, where Keshav and me visit a second hand book store to browse, choose and purchase a truckload of books. We usually oscillate between the House of Prose at Times Square and Book Hero at Oasis Mall (around 3 minutes from the former).
It was Book Hero’s chance today so off we went, and then an hour or so of browsing yielded around 60 books – mostly Keshav’s this time. As we loaded them in the car, Keshav looked and me and said – I want to go to another book store. Ahem. Pleasantly surprised though:) I know that he likes the House of Prose and so I needed no further explanation – off we went, again!
I guess we picked around 50 from there, including two rare collectible Folio Society editions, a sprinkling of Bill Bryson ( I have multiple copies of his books) and one black-bound edition of Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson. Also around a dozen hardbound editions of children’s book collections, including stories of Winnie the Pooh and Peter Rabbit. By far the best book day ever, if you count out the Big Bad Wolf sales.
Many people ask me if I had read all the books that I have, and when I respond in the negative, silently (and sometimes loudly) wonder why I would buy more books that I can possibly read. Well, sadly they miss the point of a library. Like a well-stocked wine cellar, a library has to be well-stocked, because when you walk in to pick a book, you should be presented with a variety of choices, depending on the mood of the day, the time at hand, and the subject of interest.
I may not read everything I have, but I sure do find just the right book when I need one:) Akin to when you are searching the right word, and find it after mentally browsing through many an option. The funny thing is – the number of options thus presented, are a factor of the books that you have read.
And that, my dear Watson, is quite the point of it all. Elementary!
See you tomorrow:)