April is going to be an otterly busy month for this used bookstore lady. And I’m so excited.

To start, I’m going to be showing three pieces with the Book Arts Guild of Vermont’s art show entitled BOOK WORKS. I’m hoping to make it up there to see the exhibit and attend the Artist Talk. My pieces are books hand embroidered on vintage material. I’m so new to this so I’m kinda timid. Timid but excited.

I am so in love with the top left-hand book. I have to see it in person.
The Gallery is located on Pine Street in Burlington.

Saturday, April 11 I’ll be found in the Middlebury Union High School with a booth at the Sustainable Living Expo 2015. I had so much fun last year displaying and selling books. I’ll bring a wide range of non-fiction books to highlight the store – nature to crafts – and other fun stuff. Not sure who but someone will be in the store – Rusty or Hannah, or both. I’ll be at the Expo! Reading used books is definitely a sustainable way to live.

Then on Sunday, April 19 you can find me in Burlington at VABA’s book fair. So excited about the fair this year. For one thing I can go. There are a lot of changes to this year’s fair: new month, new location and best of all, it’ll be free to attend. It has been held in March which usually conflicts with my life. April is perfect for me. It’s been held at the Sheraton in Burlington the past number of years and this year it will be closer to the Waterfront at the Hilton overlooking Lake Champlain. A perfect location. There has always been an admission fee but this year it will be free to enter. I’m not sure how many exhibitors will be there but I know there will be a good showing of the Vermont Antiquarian Booksellers Association. Many who have open shops such as OCUB and many who sell only online or by appointment only.

If you have never been this year is the year to go since it is free. I use to go long before I owned OCUB. We were the dorks who got there early before they opened and stood in line. Why? Not that we were searching for anything in particular but because we love books. We’d spend a couple of hours looking at everything talking to the store owners. Never in my life would I have thought I would ever be there as an exhibitor. This will be my second show. I think it took me five years to feel that I had a good enough selection to bring to sell.

And oh yea, I’ll be buying too. That’s what is the most exciting part. Seeing the booksellers who have become friends of mine and buying from them. Are we crazy? Isn’t that what book lover’s/booksellers do? Oh, yes!

Yes, I decided to continue the sale to finish the month. Why not? It’s actually generated a lot of fun in the store. Amazing how many people agree with me. Reassuring. My husband told me I was the only one who didn’t like the shortest month in the year with a great romantic holiday smack in the middle of it. Yea, whatever… And no one has criticized my negativity which was a concern I had. It is very tongue-in-cheek. With a whole bunch of truth.

So the sale will continue through Saturday the 28th. Stop in and enjoy it. It’s amazing what customers are finding.

And the chocolate? It’s all gone. Well, except for my secret stash. Thanks, ladies! 🙂

February, February, February. You got me. Every year I’ve tried to like you. You have Valentine’s Day which means something. Chocolate. But that’s not enough. It’s only one day. Not enough to please me. I’m getting grumpy and that’s not good for a used bookstore lady now is it? So to brighten my spirits – and my customers, too – I’m going to offer a 50% sale on the books. From 2/13-2/19.

And I’m going to buy bags of chocolate.

“His hands were weak and shaking from carrying far too many books from the bookshop. It was the best feeling.”
― Joseph Gordon-Levitt, The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Vol. 1

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.

Merry Christmas! Though it is raining it still feels like Christmas. And happiness. My family welcomed a new grandson this month, Lincoln Thomas. He joins his big brother, Greyson. If you’ve been to the store I’m sure you’ve met Grey. He will make a great big brother. And of course we are patiently waiting for their cousin to arrive but that won’t be until March or April. We are all very happy and content this Christmas season. Isn’t that what the holidays are all about?

I also would like to share about a comment I overheard in the store’s aisle the other day. A young man was saying to another customer that he was feeling weird about buying a used book as a gift. Of course I didn’t say anything as I didn’t want to embarrass him. It made me feel that he was thinking that the store carried cheap books. Discarded books. Books with a bad reputation. Obviously I’ve been mulling this over in my mind for a few days. I want to write my response to him and share it. My thoughts of used books and used bookstores.

Used books are magical. Magical? They have been held, read, gifted by at least one other person. Some aged books have been held by many. To hold a book in your hand,  if you are quiet and still,  you’d feel the energy of those who’ve read the book before you. What did that person experience as they were reading? What thoughts came to them as they closed the book for the last time?  A used bookstore could be seen as a caregiver to the book maintaining its health until another wants to cherish it.

If he only knew how some people ache when they give up their books to the store for resell. Most are passionate about their books and it pains them to let them go. Or to go to a house to purchase a whole collection. Many times the owner has passed away. I always feel such an honor to be able to look at the books and note the collection. What pride the books take on. I can almost visualize the owner sitting in the comfy chair in the corner of the room with a new arrival in his hands. How I wish I could sit and talk to him about his books. I learn a bit of the owner’s personality and how they conducted their life as I take each book off the shelf and place it in a box.