Book Fight

In an age where organizations mount campaigns to rescue book reviews from death, the number of independent bookstores drop year by year, and publishers bemoan their profit margins and wail about the difficulty of their job, it's nice to see people fight over books. Yes, fight. No, not with words. More like fisticuffs, but less formal - a better analogy might be cage fighting. The altercations occurred at the annual book sale of the Alta Dena library sale here in Los Angeles, which is a fundraiser. Hardbacks: 75 cents. Paperbacks: 50 cents. The result: Sprinting and elbowing and shoving and screaming. Someone snatched the latest Jonathan Safran Foer out of an adolescent's eager grasp, someone else selfishly sequestered several boxes to a corner to sort through away from the throng, snarling if anyone ventured too close. Pandemonium erupted as four people tried to grab the same book at the same time - tables were upset. Next year, they might consider hiring an official referee. And some bouncers.

The violence was nice in the way that violence is hardly ever nice, because people fighting over books reassured me that people love books. I know that seems like a truism, but I it's easy to forget with all the whining and moping that goes on, such as people trumpeting about how good books - that is, literary books - don't sell anymore, that it's all about marketing and accessibility. It reassured me in a way that a hundred new book reviews couldn't - very tangible, watching people fighting over books. It reassured me that books still are important, that they still offer quite a bit of weight in our cultural currency.

But aside from being happy to watch people fight, I made out with a load of loot. About 40 hardcovers and 3 softbacks. Here's are just a couple of the highlights:

Kazuo Ishiguro: When We Were Orphans
Marianne Wiggins: Evidence of Things Unseen
Zadie Smith: On Beauty
A.M. Homes: Things You Should Know
Ben Fountain: Brief Encounters with Che Guevara
Michael Chabon: Summerland and The Mysteries of Pittsburg

So Mrs. BookFox, after gasping when she saw me carrying up a box of books (and then I told her there were two more boxes) said I shouldn't buy books for a while, seeing as I have plenty to read. I doubt I will restrain myself, but I will get going on some happy reading.

Comments

[Dorothy W.]

40 hardcovers! That's great. I'm going to a library sale tomorrow -- I'll make sure I'm prepared for a little fighting! :)

[Kelly]

Great post. I fight every year at the "box sale" day for this charity garage sale. I usually come away with about 3 hard backs for a total cost of $2.00. I am going to a book sale tomorrow and I am all kinds of excited.

[Shelly Lowenkopf]

Marianne Wiggins rocks. Good choice, John.

[Brent]

Although I like Michael Chabon, I can't recommend "Summerland." It's a young adult fantasy that starts slowly and falls somewhat flat. I'd read that last of the ones mentioned.