Books

A plentiful supply of new novels and a shady spot on your front porch. What better way to spend a long, hot summer?

You can stock up at the annual book sale, held each May at the Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County. The sale offers an enticing method in filling your book shelves with almost any category of knowledge — at bargain prices.

This year from May 16 to 18, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., tables and tables of titles await readers' selections in Ayers Auditorium on the library's second floor.

This sale is open to the public. A preview party for Friends of the Library members will be May 15 from 6-8 p.m.

"Collectors aren't the only ones who discover real jewels in their choices," said Pat Propst, a library volunteer. "There are hardback fictions, young readers' stories, CDs, magazines, romances, histories and a large number of large-print books."

How-to books, she added, range from how to build a deck or start a quilt. Adding variety to your collection polishes your reading skills and keeps them shining.

Propst's hands have touched every piece of literature in the sale. With the help of her mother, Florence Dempsey, and others, she has priced thousands of volumes. Some have never been read.

"With most prices ranging from 50 cents to six dollars, it's just about impossible to go home empty handed," Pat said. On Sunday, each item is reduced to half price.

George Whitesel is a collector who only had a few minutes to browse through the sale last year, but he feels he found a hidden treasure. Whitesel saw just what he was looking for, a book on the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam. The title is part of the series, "Great Museums of the World" published by Newsweek. A color plate in the book called "The Night Watch," by Rembrandt, can be compared in importance to "The Mona Lisa" at the Louvre, Whitesel said. "I was delighted to put my hands on it," he added, "and it was marked at four dollars, a modest price today."

Robin Cooper, another patron, collects book by award-winning author Ann George. She has found titles by George at book sales, including accounts of places in Alabama and mysteries. And this year, Tee Morgan's Annie's Town and Annie's Town Revisited are available, but not at discounted prices.

The Big Read, an initiative coordinated by the National Endowment for the Arts, addresses the problem of the nation's decline in reading. It encourages each community to come together and discuss a single book in workshops and symposiums. But at the Anniston Library, restoring the written word to its important place doesn't seem necessary — the book sales have become lively reader reunions and the two book clubs, Talking Books I and II, are well attended.

This year will be the 24th book sale Library Director Bonnie Seymour has overseen. She's discovered what makes them successful.

"It's not just the books," Seymour said. "The real allure is the connections people make with each other as they compare notes on their finds. As they browse, good conversations take place."

When you've finished reading the book or magazine you bought, donate it to the library for the next sale or sell them in antique stores.

Everyone planning to join the Friends of the Library may attend the wine-and-cheese preview party. Individual memberships are $10 and family memberships are $20. Book prices are double the price at this party than they will be for the remainder of the weekend.