Carpe Librum

I grew up in the boonies. And as much as I would love to live in the boonies again, I have to admit that working in the city occasionally has its perks.

Every day I come out of the metro station to someone pushing something. More often than not it's high school kids selling Krispe Kremes to raise money for whatever club they're in. Now that baseball has started I occasionally see a giant George Washington or Abraham Lincoln trying to convince me to attend a Nationals games. And then there's the occasional person handing out fliers for a play or a magazine or a concert or something. I've gotten really good at ignoring all of them.

But today a couple of words caught my attention: popup bookstore. I took a flier and proceeded to not throw it in the nearest trash can.

The flier told me of a used bookstore, conveniently located between my office and the metro station I use, that would be open for the next few weeks. It was a fundraiser for Turning the Page, an organization that focuses on improving public education in DC.. This is extra incentive to buy books that I don't necessarily need. I mean, a used bookstore on my way home from work whose proceeds go to charity? Shut up and take my money!

I ended up stopping by after work. Because obviously. I confined myself to the (rather small) sci-fi section where I managed to find three books I've been wanting to read. I picked up The Mists of Avalon (which I haven't read since high school), Stranger in a Strange Land (which I've been meaning to read since high school), and Contact (I saw the movie, but never read the book). All three cost me about five dollars total.

I'm sorely tempted to go back tomorrow and see what else I can find. The books cost between one and three dollars, which is hard to pass up. But I could also see myself spending far too much money there. Then again, it all goes to kids, right?

The silver lining (and touch of gray) is that the store won't be there forever. This is a limited temptation, meaning that I won't be able to spend all of my money on books. In the meantime, I'll probably be adding quite a few books to my personal collection at an incredibly reduced price