More Comfort Reading: Some of the Books that Fell on the Floor

I have been much in need of comfort reading. It is difficult to find the right book. I like cookbooks with a personal sensibility (Diana Kennedy, John Thorne, many others); I like reading organization books (though it would be better if I actually followed some of the recommendations); I like Diana Phipps (a frugal countess!). Fiction is hard. I don't like reading most best sellers, even those of higher brow (sorry Ann Patchett; I do like your essays on owning a bookstore and I love that you spoke about my favorite clothing shop UAL, which has a branch in Nashville). 

So to continue the list I started a few days ago: my efforts were interrupted by the falling down of a teetering pile. 

John Mcmcgahern: The Leavetaking (a book I bought at a library sale, had never heard of author---WONDERFUL)

Coln Toibin: The Master (a fictionalized bio of one of my faves--Henry James. The book has a creepy sense of repression, perhaps appropriate to its subject)

Somerset Maugham: The Painted Veil (We saw the film based on this. The book is ok, but I got bored and skipped a lot--a privilege of age. What is so great about Maugham??? Not feeling it)

Maugham again: The Razor's Edge. (See above)

Lily King: Euphoria (a loan from a colleague. She said "Don't give it back." OK, but I can hardly believe that the main female character would submit to....spoiler. Must find someone to give it to.)

Deneice Schofield: Confessions of an Organized Housewife. (A Mormon mom of 5 who is super-organized. Worst tip: chop suey recipe containing canned mushroom soup and bean sprouts. Best tip: use dish pans for easy and cheap shelf storage--genius).

More on the floor, alas. 

A Wonderful Book You Might Not Have Heard Of

There are good books and there are great books and there may be a book that is something still more: it is the book of your life. If you’re quite lucky, you may at some point chance upon a novel which inspires so close a kinship that questions of evaluation (Is this book better than merely good? Is it some sort of classic?) become a niggling irrelevance. Luck has everything to do with it. For the sensation I’m describing has its roots in a poignant, tantalizing feeling that this marvelous new addition to your existence, this indelible Presence, has arrived by serendipity. Anyone who cares seriously about fiction eventually will get around to The Brothers Karamazov orMadame Bovary or Pride and Prejudice or Moby-Dick or Don Quixote, and if you’re somebody whose closest literary attachment is to a book of this staple sort, the satisfaction you take from it will not be graced by the particular haunted feeling of good fortune I’m talking about; you will have, instead, the assurance of knowing that your keenest literary pleasures were preordained. One looks differently on the book of genius that, even in a long bookworm’s life, one might never have stumbled upon.

This is from Brad Leithauser's introduction to Independent People by Halldor Laxness.  Ive been meaning to recommend a few books people might not have heard of (and to elicit recommendations for books I might not have heard of). 

Like Leithauser, I picked up Independent People by accident, though not, as he did, on a hiking trip through Iceland. No, more prosaically, I picked up the book at a library sale. I had never heard of it. I was enticed by the publisher (Vintage Books) and the remark by Jane Smiley on the cover: I love this book. It is an unfolding wonder of artistic vision and skill--one of the best books of the twentieth century. I cannot imagine any greater delight than coming to Independent People for the first time. 

While you are reading it, you might wonder what makes it so great. It took me a while. Often, I felt like I was trudging through this long book, much as the main character trudges through life. All will become clear on the last page.

 An interesting sidenote: The novelist Ann Patchett opened a bookstore in Nashville. 

In an Atlantic article, she mentioned that she did not like the name--Parnassus Books--suggested by her partner-to-be. She had always fantasized about owning a bookstore called Independent People--"after the great Halldor Laxness novel about Iceland and sheep." 

Well, in honor of Patchett, I'm not going to link to Amazon! Buy it from an independent bookstore or do the frugal thing and check it out of the library. My library doesn't own a copy, but they would buy one if I requested it. I really should as a service to other readers in my area. 

Do you know of any books you might never have heard of?

A Peek at our Future Declutter: 112 linear feet of books

Frugal Son is living with two roommates in a house in New Orleans. Thanks to one roommate who was working on a filming project with a producer, the house was chosen for a makeover on a reality show! Our main request: bookshelves.

Mr FS and I have long been accumulators of books. We are constant readers, but things had gone too far. Perhaps it was the tempting offer: 5 books for a dollar at Goodwill. The poor books languished and languished. Of course, they needed to be rescued by an appreciative person, who might even get around to reading them someday. Luckily, Goodwill raised its prices recently, which eliminated the need to get books in groups of five. Both our children are readers and we couldn't wait to give them some books. The moment has come for Frugal Son.

The designer told me to prepare for more than 100 linear feet of shelves. She offered to buy books in bulk to stage the shelves. OH NO! We have the books, plus it's so wasteful to buy all those Reader's Digest Condensed books by the foot.

I am about halfway through the culling. That's a lot of books. And guess what? I've hardly made a dent.

This is a vision of my future declutter. My parents weren't readers, so when they retired and moved, they didn't have books to contend with. (That's probably why I love books in quantity.)  Mr FS came from a set of readers. They had zillions of books, but could barely stand to give even a few away.  (That's probably why Mr FS loves books in quantity.) Then--because of health issues--they had to move. Mr FS spent a week in California packing books for the move. Then they had him bring boxes upon boxes of books that wouldn't make the move with them to a charity shop. The charity shop rejected the books.

Frugal Son can't wait to get his library. He is especially eager to peruse the cookbooks I've set aside for him.

Meanwhile, I came upon some books I should read. I started The Assistant by Bernard Malamud. It is an incredibly powerful book, so powerful that I can only read a few pages at a time.  Since I started the process, I have not bought a single book. I have so much to read!

Check out these photos of the office of a famous decorator. I have the books, but not the exquisite decor, alas.

I figure we have about five years to get rid of the excess. Did you have an event that knocked some sense into you about over-accumulation?

What's Goodwill Not Good For?

Any particular thing that you need pretty soon.

--A particular book you want (unless it's by John Grisham)
--Something your kid needs for school
--men's pants (good luck finding the right waist and inseam....plus style)
--jeans (plentiful but there are probably 300 pairs to go through)
--really high quality cookware (yet I've found Le Creuset and even 2 pieces of Allclad)
--outerwear when it's cold (easy in summer)
--Christmas sweaters around Christmas (easy in summer)
--valuable stuff (yet every now and then...I've never found anything valuable)
--travel gear, especially for men
--good shoes that one can wear (lots of high heels donated, however)

ETCETERA

Yet you will find the hard-to-find stuff  (not when you are looking) when you are there at the thrift anyway, looking for the things that are easy to find.

And even if you don't see an AllClad pan, the money you save on potholders will enable you to afford the desired object.

What to do if you don't want a picker to resell your donation?

This is in response to Duchesse's comment on the post about my past life as a picker. She has seen her chic donations to charity end up in boutique windows. That is a tribute to her fab taste, but also....errrrr...annoying.

I won't get into the ethics of reselling (except I do talk about it below--oops). I did read something on the issue that pointed out that charity shops were in business to make money for their charity, not to provide cheap goods for the needy (though this is a by-product). Also--trust me--if people didn't buy for resale, the charity shops wouldn't make much money. Seriously, most of the people I see are resellers. In the USA and perhaps Canada today, many of the needy have too much clothing--just like the rest of us.

There are reselling practices that I find unethical. Example: my area Friends of the Library has a huge book sale every month. A book reseller is now in charge of the sale. THAT is unethical. The reason it's unethical is because he LOWERED all the book prices (to a dollar for hb and 50 cents for pb) and now has first dibs on everything. I used to see him with his price scanner at Goodwill all the time. Now I suppose he just works his book sale. I spoke to the former prez of the organization on this : he said "It's ok because he puts a lot of hours in." I replied, "He's not donating his time. He's being compensated." Whatever. Now he can scan the donations.

Another example: the former manager of an area thrift store (who was not very alert due to health issues) had daughters who sold on Ebay. You could see the daughters take things directly from the donation area to their cars--without even paying a paltry thrift store price! That's even worse than the above example.

But what can YOU do with your chic donations if you want them to go to a needy person who would be thrilled to get them? Sadly, not much. Pickers are EVERYWHERE (perhaps I'll do another post on this). I would suggest donating directly to orgs like "Dress for Success" if you have interview-worthy items.

OR take the item to a consignment store yourself. Then donate the cash proceeds to a charity of your choice.

OR find a bunch of worthy recipients. One of Frugal Son's friends--a grad student-- wanted cashmere sweaters for the cold winter. I gave her some of my overstock.

Any other ideas?

Getting Rid of Stuff and Breaking Even: 2nd and Charles

Remember Miss Em's song Get rid of stuff/Make money. The new ditty is Get rid of stuff/Break even. We have a book problem in these parts. The problem is that we have books from Mr FS's late and beloved father still in boxes. But we have no shelf space.

So: a new twist for the books one reads once--or never--and is willing to part with. Books-a-Million is--in some spots--transforming itself to 2nd and Charles. The latter sells used stuff and bills itself as a green enterprise. You bring in your stuff--books, cds, dvds, games--and await the verdict. Generally, the verdict is ridiculously low. As far as I can tell, you get about 60 cents cash for a trade paperback and about 75 cents for a cd. About double for credit. Zillions of people are unloading their stuff!

Now, I wouldn't take books that were worth much of anything to this place, since there is no way to tell how much you are getting for an individual item; you get a total and it's all or nothing. However, I get lots of books at the thrift store for between 25 cents and a dollar. Ditto for cds. So I am breaking even.

If I had books that I thought were worth a good bit of money, I would check on Amazon, Abebooks or the like. But for popular novels from a few seasons ago or diet books or whatever, it's a solution.

The business model seems quite lucrative, incidentally. Bookstores buy new books for around 60% of cover price. At 2nd and Charles, books sell for around half-price. So a book they buy for 60 cents might sell for $6.00. It's a cheap way to fill their shelves. Each item they sell pays for 10 or more items.

And it must be appealing. I saw lots of good books and the place was hopping--a young demographic.

Getting 60 cents a book is no big deal. But when you bring the max allowed (3 bins worth), you can get about $80.00 at a pop. Not bad.

How to Upgrade: Decluttering Books

As usual, I am trying to get control of my books. Since many books come my way--owing to the biz I am in, not to mention my love of thrift stores--this is an ongoing process.

Adding to the problem: my recently self-diagnosed ADHD. I keep reading the books as I declutter! To wit: Nora Ephron's erstwhile best seller on her neck-hatred. I was planning to donate this, but I started reading and decided to keep it. (I know: BAD). In addition to an amusing essay on the cookbooks in her life, I loved a piece on books called "On Rapture." She says the most rapture-inducing book of her adult life is The Woman in White. Which I've been meaning to read for a zillion years. Which I knew I had somewhere. But WHERE?


I resumed my book clearing. As I looked at the decluttered shelves, I realized--yet once more--that the best way to UPGRADE is not by buying more stuff, but by getting rid of the lower-level stuff. My shelves were now filled with books I am likely to read.

It's not that the books in my DONATION/USED BOOKSTORE bags are bad: they are just in genres I tend not to read. So no, I will probably never read a tome called Life in Egypt under Roman Rule.

I'm sure you can see this coming. Guess what??? I found The Woman in White.

So, I now have 5 grocery bags of books-to-go, plus the book I wanted to read (thanks, Nora, for the recommendation), which, of course, saves me the time of getting it from the library, not that I would remember anyway.

Here's the problem. I discovered (via that Amazon link) that the Egypt book is a veritable CLASSIC. Reader, I retrieved it. And put it back on the shelf. I swear it's the only one.

Anyway, I am happy to report that my books are indeed upgraded. Getting rid of the lower-end stuff (whether because it is lower end or because you don't need it) does have the magical effect of leaving you with an upgraded collection.

Are you decluttering/upgrading? How's it going?

Gazpacho with Canned Tomatoes: Clean Out Fridge, Avert Tragedy

The tragedy is two-fold. First is that our tomato crop utterly failed this year. No wait: we got 6 cherry tomatoes. Second is that I inadvertantly opened three cans of tomatoes, which could get moldy, especially because we're going away soon and don't know if Frugal Son will think to use them.

Ah ha! Pam Anderson, a clever cookbook writer, discovered that you could make gazpacho with canned tomatoes.

Ingredients

* 2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes (I use Hunt's Petite Diced)
* 1/2 cup water
* 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* 1 seedless cucumber, cut into 1/4-inch dice
* 1 small yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/4-inch dice
* 1 small onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
* 2 medium garlic cloves, minced
* 1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced (optional)
* 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, basil or cilantro
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1. Process 1/2 cup of tomatoes, along with the water and oil, in a blender or food processor until pureed. Transfer to a medium bowl, along with remaining ingredients. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate until ready to serve. (Can be made several hours before serving.)

Needless to say, I didn't follow this exactly. I remember well my first gazpacho: I made it, along with my first quiche, for a fellow I liked who was off to grad school at Yale (1974). I had no idea what became of him till I read a book called French Lessons, picked up at Habitat for Humanity, and discovered him in the acknowledgment section. Then I discovered him in the book itself, under a pseudonym. Talk about weird!

My first gazpacho--and many recipes I've seen since--call for V8 or canned tomato juice. It's taken me a long time to wise up, but I now realize that Spanish peasants and others did not run to the grocery for canned juice when they wanted to make gazpacho. I also read that gazpacho may be of the class of recipes that were developed to use up stale bread. Food of the poor, once more. My first gazpacho was thickened with raw egg (!!), which makes it a retro recipe indeed. It was also topped with croutons (I fried them in garlic and oil--a labor of love). The croutons are, no doubt, an upscale version of the fried bread of earlier days.

So...if you can't get decent fresh tomatoes, try canned. What liberation. Thanks Pam Anderson.

Values and Values: Thrift Store Dilemma?

I LOVE thrift stores: let me count the ways. They are good for the community, good for the environment, and, not least of all, good for my mental and financial health. What's not to like?

As in everything, there is a dark side to thrift stores. I don't think I've ever written about this aspect of the thrifts; perhaps I will one day.

Today, I was reminded of the dark side and reminded too of the potential for conflicting values, even in thrift shopping. Since I had a library book to return, I went to the Food Bank Thrift Store, which is very close. This is an odd place, and has had the oddest series of managers. Still: who could argue with the mission? It funds the Food Bank and also a free dental clinic for the needy. So I like to stop by when I'm in the neighborhood.

As I gathered a few items, I heard one of the volunteers explaining to new recruits the items they discard: Harry Potter and other books of witchcraft. I realize this is a common (mis)belief. They were discussing the books in a jeering tone. I paid and left without saying a word.

What do you do when your values conflict with the values of an organization you patronize?

Poor books! I hope they found a home and were not relegated to the trash heap.

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi: Selling Academic Books

I keep meaning to gradually de-accession my huge collection of books, many bought during my years in graduate school. If I work till I'm 65, say (I wish, I wish), I should get rid of about 10% of my books per year. Every now and again, I check the value of a book on Amazon, and think, oh boy, a pretty penny awaits.

For instance, I have this book somewhere.

And this one.

It's so hard to say good-bye to these books. I remember my sense of awe and wonder during those years, along with a panicked feeling that I might never find employment.

Today, however, I realized that my vast collection may, in fact, be mostly worthless. The English Club had a book sale. At the end of the day, a big FREE BOOKS sign was put up.

Many books were donated by a recently-retired colleague. Many of the books he donated were ones Mr. FS and I owned, staples of the graduate student/professor library of days gone by, the days of THEORY. No one wanted the books.

I didn't take them, since we already own them. How do these fare on the open market?


or this?

How depressing! That one doesn't even get a picture! This one was required reading.

Oh, it's all too depressing. But I do need to declutter. The vision (mental only, since I did not participate) of my in-laws getting rid of a 50 year collection of books is so painful. Mr. FS spent his last week in his childhood home packing boxes of books and taking the rejects to Goodwill, which rejected them.

Perhaps it is fate that I picked up this poorly-written tome recently for a quarter.

Strangely, this one seems to be worth more than some of the academic books. I could sell my copy for $2.64.

What lessons should I draw from all this?

Frugal Preppy: Preppy Frugal

In betwixt and between grading this and that, and reading George Herbert, I am continuing my search for frugal gems in (seemingly) non-frugal places.

Imagine my surprise when I came upon a plug for frugality in a preppy blog! The writer, known--natch--as Muffy, evaluates various preppy offerings and discriminates among the many shades of preppy, from the vrai to the faux.

For a whole lot of reasons, by chance and by choice, I am very, very far from preppyness, or preppydom. When I went to college in 1971, I couldn't understand why everyone at my purportedly left-wing college was wearing the SAME Norwegian navy sweater with little cream dots. Or why all the girls on my floor--save me--had Lanz nightgowns.

Anyway, I found a wonderful paean to frugality chez Muffy. With pictures of various items in both their new incarnations and their holey, fraying, mended older selves, Muffy avers that even the older versions are atill serviceable, and still (her word) loved.

And I love this acknowledgment of the preppy paradox: A frugality combined with an appreciation of more expensive items, and Why well-off people embrace and expect the use of well-worn items.

Love: that must explain why I am drawn to the still-worthy and serviceable, but sometimes worn, and definitely unloved items I see at thrift stores. In fact, over the past year, I've gotten two of those iconic LL Bean Norwegian sweaters at Goodwill: a grey with navy pullover for Mr. FS, and a navy with cream cardigan for me.

Speaking of paradoxes and love, George Herbert writes beautifully of both. Here is the last poem in The Temple):

LOVE (III)



Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-ey'd Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack'd anything.

"A guest," I answer'd, "worthy to be here";
Love said, "You shall be he."
"I, the unkind, the ungrateful? ah my dear,
I cannot look on thee."
Love took my hand and smiling did reply,
"Who made the eyes but I?"

"Truth, Lord, but I have marr'd them; let my shame
Go where it doth deserve."
"And know you not," says Love, "who bore the blame?"
"My dear, then I will serve."
"You must sit down," says Love, "and taste my meat."
So I did sit and eat.

Depreciation Appreciation

A post on depreciation at Early Retirement Extreme got me thinking on the topic of depreciation. Never borrow for depreciating assets is a personal finance truism I've read more than a time or two.

As usual for me, my success with the big stuff has been minimal.

CARS: We used to buy used cars--believing the oft-cited "It depreciates by 20-30% once it's off the lot. We did the math on our used Camry and discovered that we had, in effect, paid for the first owner's depreciation! Desirable cars retain their value and don't depreciate as much as you'd think. We've bought two new cars: a 1998 Camry and a 2003 Civic Hybrid, both still chugging away.

With the small stuff, we've done well. Consumer goods depreciate immediately after purchase and basically retain that value...forever. Unlike the proprietor of ERE, we do not live a minimalist lifestyle. We love owning books and CDs and have a fashionista daughter.

BOOKS: We used to patronize wonderful used bookstores in the various university towns in which we resided. At the time, we thought 50% off books was great! Now, we rarely spend over $1.00, and that's for a hardcover. I guess if we wanted to have a yard sale, we could sell all our 25 cent books for 25 cents. But usually we donate them back.

CDs: These used to be a major expense, but swapacd.com (affiliated with paperbackswap.com) has been a blessing.

CLOTHING: Even fashionista college students can find most of what they want at a good thrift store (luckily, we have one). "Mistakes" can be donated back or--sometimes--swapped at the Buffalo Exchange, which has been around for years, but which we only recently discovered. Lucy Marmalade used credit garnered at the New Orleans store to buy a pair of Frye boots at the San Francisco store.

Oh, how we appreciate depreciation. Do you?

Using my Talents Part 2: Books for a Literacy Project

Yesterday, I wrote about using my somewhat embarrassing talent for frugality to start stocking up for Lucy M's dorm cooking next year. It just occurred to me that I have another, less embarrassing example.

Lucy M. is part of a student group that will be working in Marion, Alabama, an area with a high illiteracy rate. Lucy and her pals will be spending 3 weeks there this summer. They decided to partner with the local public library and develop a literacy project.

One idea involves a book give-away for kids who participate. The budget so far is $50.00. Gee, that will buy you about 10 books. Lucy volunteered me for the mission. She knows that nothing is more important to me than reading and she knows that I like nothing better than to scrounge for books in thrift stores.

So voila: within a few weeks of rather lackadaisical effort, I've amassed almost 100 books and I still have money in the budget. I've limited myself to books that look almost new. We're thinking of writing a short message in each book, along the lines of "I love this book and I hope you do too."

Can you think of any other good deeds one can do with the talent for frugality?

Decluttering and Plagiarism?

From Ecclesiastes:
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again;there is nothing new under the sun.

And indeed there is not. I love reading books about personal finance, tightwaddery, decluttering, and the like, even though they all say pretty much the same thing. That is why I buy these books from thrift stores or check them out of the library. I do like owning a few; it is good to get an inoculation of frugality or decluttering now and again.

A few days ago, I picked up a new one: The 15-Minute Organizer by Emilie Barnes. Published in 1991 by a Christian press, the author thanks all her Titus women in her dedication. Chapters cover the usual suspects: decluttering, organizing, all problem areas for me, all blissful to read about.

Here is the beginning of her chapter exhorting you to declutter: We live in a world of mass production and marketing. We must learn to sort and let go of certain things, or else we will need to build a huge warehouse to contain everything . . .Years ago, when we got something we kept it until it wore out. But today it may never wear out before we tire of it. Yet it seems just too good to dispose of.

We often have things not because of an active decision to keep them but because we have not made the decision to get rid of them.

On an average, people keep things several years after their usefulness has passed. Perhaps we overbuy and have supplies, materials, and tools left over. The things we liked years ago are not what we like or enjoy today., but we hang on to them, thinking that someday we may use them again. (p.44).

Good advice. But it sounds awfully close to the exhortation in the very first decluttering/organizing book I ever read: Totally Organized by Bonnie McCullough. I picked up T.O. for 50 cents at a library discard sale. I didn't even KNOW there were books on such topics. Truly, this book changed my life. I still have problems, but at least I know what I should be doing! Thank you Bonnie. I probably read this book 50 times. That is why Ms. Barnes's prose rang a bell. Here is my beloved Bonnie McCullough:

It's hard to throw things out. In days gone by, when you got something you kept it for life or until it was worn out. But now we live in a world of mass production and marketing, and to survive you either have to build a warehouse or learn to sort and let go. We often keep things, not because of an active decision to keep them, but because we have not made a decision to get rid of them. On average, people keep things five years after their usefulness has passed. . .Sometimes we overbuy and have supplies, materials, and tools left over and they mount up over the years. . . .The things we enjoyed ten years ago are not the things we enjoy today . . . (pp. 122-23)

Emilie Barnes has more than 20 books to her name! I would guess that one of her uncredited research assistants did wrong here....but who knows?

Anyway, great advice ladies. And I suppose this has turned into a recommendation for Totally Organized. In addition to her advice on organizing, McCullough has a great section on budgeting and money management.

Free to a Loving Home: Books

The bane of the declutterer is the desire to find a loving home for all the discards. I myself suffer from this problem. Even though Flylady and her ilk urge us to LET GO, it's hard.

For me, it's especially hard with books. Most of the bookbuyers at the thrifts I habituate don't even look at the titles: they just scan with their phones, and wait for a "YES." But I have luckily found a few places where my books will find loving buyers.

First, I donate to the English Club at my place of employ. The money raised is used for travel to conferences.

When I went to the library today, I saw a sign that the Teen Club is collecting books for soldiers. What could be better than that?

Finally, Lucy Marmalade and the scholars in the "Fellows" program will be doing a three-week service project in rural Alabama, an area with over 50% adult illiteracy. The hardest books for me to unload are children's books. We are hoping that the library will take donations of books to be given away to children who participate in the program.

Last week I was playing with the tiny baby belonging to one of my students. The student was telling me that she loved to hold the baby while she fell asleep, even though all the books said it was wrong. ERGHHHH. I brought my very own copy of Penelope Leach's masterpiece to the next class. Finally, I found a good home for my beloved baby book.

I just packed up many books for the soldiers.

Free to a loving home.

What do you have problems with in the declutter department?

Frugal Karma: Two Episodes

You never know. Mr. FS and I have been walking on the Tammany Trace every day. Yesterday, he suggested that we walk in the neighborhood instead, even though we sometimes dawdle. OK.

So we set out and passed a yard sale. Now I don't do yard sales--too much driving and too much time wasting with uncertain outcomes. Too much stress as people watch you reject the junk they spent so much on. But this was KARMA.

First, Mr. FS declared that he would wait in the street, but eventually he sidled over and found just what he wanted: a SONY discman. $3.00!

Then I kind of wafted over to a table where I found a package of 7 yards of fabric cording. In the exact colors I needed. This was even more karmic because the roadblock to my getting some pillows re-covered has been choosing the cording. I tried two fabric stores and even with TLC customer service at the second one, I almost passed out from the "paradox of choice." Strangely, this cording is nicer than the ones at the store. And, even though the seller was asking for too much money for her clothing (some from Paris!), the cording was only $1.00.

Then we continued on our walk. We had to walk back to the yard sale because we had not a penny on our persons when we went on the walk.

Today, I wended over to Goodwill. There I found just the book I've been wanting to read: Flow, by Mihaly Csikszentmihakyi. Of course, I had to buy 4 additional books, since books are $0.39 each or 5 for $1.00. In one of the books I found a wedding invite to the fancy (Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore Santa Barbara) nuptials of Danielle Trober and Alexander Vouvalides. Also in the book was a card listing hotels with space reserved, helpfully listing the price range, from $$$ to $$$$$.

The juxtaposition of my budget blissful thrifting and the fancy route to (I hope) wedded bliss was interesting. Back to grading papers. Seldom is this an activity conducive to flow. But perhaps after reading the book, I can achieve this blissful state.

Things Found in Thrift Store Books: An Old Friend (?)

I have this plan--so far unrealized--to write a whole series of posts on "things found in thrift store books." I am always amazed at how I often find JUST the book I want to read, if not now, then in a month or so. Or even a year or so. Often, this is a book I never would have heard of. That's how I found The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, some time before it was made into a film.

Then there are the physical objects I find: airline boarding passes, notes, receipts, photos.

But recently I found a book that--fortuitously--bought to me someone I haven't seen in about 30 years. The book is called French Lessons. Published by the University of Chicago Press, it was written by a professor of French--Alice Kaplan--who is about my age, but is a fantastically successful academic, with a position at Duke University. The book, with ecstatic blurbs by reviewers in highbrow media outlets, is autobiographical: the author's father was involved in the Nuremburg Trials; the author meditates on such subjects as language, identity, and academic politics, ambition, and success--all things I would find rather interesting.

How could I resist? Especially since Habitat for Humanity was having an "all books 25 cents sale." Also, who else who frequents the Habitat for Humanity thrift store would buy this book? It was positively my duty to purchase it.

As it turned out, I found the book kind of a letdown. In spite of the author's interesting life and topics, the book was kind of boring. Oh well. I did read through the sections on her time in the graduate program at Yale, where she was involved with a fellow named Bill Golden, and suffered through the anxieties and politicking of a small and very political department. So I wended through the book in a rather desultory way. (Sorry about my poor review. Maybe it's me. The blurbs really ARE ecstatic, e.g. "most engaging Bildungsroman" blahblahblah)

Then, I perused the Acknowledgements, in this book at the end, rather than the beginning. There, in the middle of the top line of a page was a name that jumped out at me: Nicholas -------. Oh my: an old friend from college, who had gone to Yale in French, and who had--so I heard--left academics. We did not part under pleasant circumstances.

So, of course, I returned to the Yale section to see if there were any references to him. After a while, I realized that Bill Golden (whom she also calls Guillaume
Dore), the sometime love interest of the author, MUST have been Nick. Who else was "painfully thin," aggressively workaholic, had a New York father who had mysteriously lost all his money, had a beautiful French mother, who left her very young son with his father, so eager was she to get a divorce and return to France. Oh yeah--and who else also went to the Lycee Francais in New York City.

So I found out that Nick, who, last I saw him was in graduate school desperately desirous of becoming a protege of the famous professor Paul De Man (who was later revealed to have written for pro-Nazi newspapers in Belgium), wrote an overly detailed and lengthy dissertation,quit a teaching job mid-class, was doing something with computers, married someone who "understood" his complete self, and had an indeterminate number of children. And apparently was wearing overalls as he surveyed his yard post-academics.

Well, I'm not sure why I wrote all this down, except that it was a weird experience. I almost emailed the author to ask if Bill Golden was Nick! Then I realized the book was published in 1993--more than 15 years before I read it.

Of all the things I've found in thrift store books, this was the strangest. Perhaps my next installment will detail the inappropriate email a professor sent a student, that was folded into Terry Eagleton's Literary Theory.

So Readers: any interesting finds in books?

Selling Your Books: Best Way

Back from my almost 3-week vacation. Little internet access. Pure bliss.

I had planned to post a killer back-from-vacation essay, but, of course, the pressure to do so makes writing hard. Instead, a very prosaic one.

In the months since the economic meltdown of Fall 2008, there have been loads of articles in the mainstream press about how to make extra money. They all sound pretty much the same. One common tip: Sell your books. Common variation: Be a book scout. This advice is followed by a tip to sell to cash4books.net, because you can often sell a book you bought for a quarter at a yard sale for $5.25.

As it happens, this advice, as well as the example, comes from the cash4books website, which also features a picture of the successful proprietors and their adorable baby.

I typed in a few isbns for a test run, and cash4books wanted nary a one.

So, in a public service mood, I checked out a current and desirable textbook: the Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume 1. The book is not for sale, folks.

But if I were selling it, here are the options:

Amazon: The lowest price is $40.00. You would have to pay 15%, plus a dollar in fees. Then you'd have to pack and ship. You'd get $3.99 for shipping from Amazon, which probably would cover this bulky tome. Maybe add insurance in case it got lost.

Barnes and Noble: $25.85 cash. They provide a prepaid mailing label! Pack and ship! Easy-Peasy.

Powells: I remember old Mr. Powell bringing a big cart of books to the Reed College campus in the early 70s. A much-beloved store. But they only offer $11.00 in cash and a teeny bit more in virtual credit... They also provide a prepaid shipping label.

cash4books: In spite of the great press these folks get, they only offer $14.46.

I have a beef with these journalists. First, do they take all the info from company publicity? Do they check anything out?

A lot of people must be taking their advice, because I see a lot of book scouts caressing the books at the thrifts with their cellphones.

And, once again, you can't buy my book because it has my precious teaching notes in it.

Books from Thrift Stores and Some Numbers

Last I reported on The Brothers Karamazov, I was on page 14 and fully expecting to give up on the novel, yet once more. But I am happy to report, dear readers, that I am now on page 644, with little more than 100 pages to go. I persevered because, if I can't get through this novel, who can? I am highly educated and love reading more than almost anything else. Also, based on my experience teaching, I am fearful that the skill of reading complex literary works may be dying out.

After the difficult beginning (and the novel is difficult all the way through), eventually one realizes that one is in the midst of a masterpiece. Truly breathtaking. And now, of course, I am reluctant to keep going, because I don't want the novel to end.

As I've said before I am lucky to like reading, and, certainly reading is a frugal pastime. My copy of The Brothers Karamazov is a nice one: it's the newish translation by the husband-wife team who also did the Anna Karenina that Oprah sent to the top of the bestseller list a few years ago. My book is the 2002 FSG edition that has a price of $17.00 on the back. Although I could get this from the library, it is a book I want to own. As it happens, I got it from the library book sale for $1.00. What a gift that someone donated this book!

Even better is the inscription inside the front cover in writing that looks a bit like engraving, a carefully scripted message to the next owner of the book:

Neal Pendleton Library

This book is the first that my beloved wife, Patricia, recommended that I read, after we first met in 1953.

What a wonderful message to me! And I just checked: Mr. Pendleton is listed in the phone book so he still lives nearby.

I love finding things in books. Mostly, I find boarding passes, usually stuck in an early page of an obviously abandoned book. Once I found a book inscribed to someone by the author, who was a few years ahead of me in college! I also found a cache of books that had been owned by a local author of some repute: in the books were photographs, receipts, and more. She was obviously a wealthy woman. Once, in the big Barnes and Noble in New York City (this was in 1977, before B and N stores were everywhere), I bought a used copy of The Crisis of the Aristocracy for a course I was taking. Out popped a receipt from the Reed College Bookstore from a few years before, when I had attended that college across the country in Oregon. And, one of these days, I may write about the inappropriate email sent by an English professor to a student, which she stashed in a book (Terry Eagleton's book on literary theory) that she donated to Goodwill.

Before I return to my book, let me share some other numbers.
Talbots stock: $5.43 (I would have tripled my investment!)
Edmund Andrews's Busted: Amazon sales rank of 63,459.

And so, Dear Readers, have you found anything interesting or surprising in used books?

My Frugal Birthday

Happy Birthday to me.

Let's see, I got birthday wishes from husband and son. That's good, because husband sometimes forgets. Dear daughter called and sent TWO emails, one promising me a year of haircuts (she's very good at cutting). So the family part is perfect.

Banana Republic sent me my yearly $15.00 gift card. This is sent to all who hold the BR credit card. It does not seem to be linked to how much you spend; I spend less than $100.00 most years. I bought a sweater. The frugal forces of the universe gave me a birthday during the very month that things are marked down!

I am 55 and so am now eligible for the 15% senior discount at Goodwill. The paperbacks have just gone from 5 for $1.00 to 5 for .85.

For my gift to myself, I went to Habitat and bought 4 pairs of clip-on earrings for .50 each. Habitat has a half off sale for the month of January, which I believe is in honor of my birthday. Thanks Habitat.


And my best present of all came from Washington DC. Thank you America.