A Good Used Book's sole remote worker, I spent this past Sunday watching the virtual goings-on of the Brain Dead Book Fair with the pride and longing I experience from most every sale: in person or in stories. I watched people buy Vonneguts and movie tie-ins, Stephen King deep-cuts and Colette classics, Einsteins and Erica Jongs.
Earlier in the week, I thought I would write about this quote from Cyril Connolly: "O sacred solitary empty mornings, tranquil meditations - fruit of book-case and clock-tick, of note-book and arm-chair, golden and rewarding silence..." Though now I can't help thinking that Connolly, like me, just never made it to the book fair.
Instead I imagine that Jenny and Chris were happy, that they were getting to see the excitement - the awe and appreciation! - that their work truly merits. I imagine the colors and patterns and fresh air, the people and their outfits, the thrill of discovery inherent only to an unknown paperback. O sacred sprightly busy mornings.
Weekly Story Sale / Thursday March 31, 2022
Sarah J. Bofenkamp is a reader, writer, and librarian living in Palouse, Washington.
