Books By The Yard

A new Half Price Book store opened up in Westerville this past week - I'm a big fan of used book stores. I'm likely to find something of interest every time I go. For example, this time, in a rather large stack I bought for under $50, I found and am reading a very interesting book on Gin. Gin: The Much Lamented Death of Madam Geneva the Eighteenth Century Gin Craze.

But I never sell books there. I rarely sell books at all. But to take them there is pointless. They offer you an insulting pittance. Frankly, I'd rather give them away. Even leave them in a public place for them to find a new home on their own. Actually I do sell books, but only ones I don't like. So buyer beware.

And this. Well, this just offends me. Books by the Yard.

Books as a design element. Not your books, things that you are interested in. Things that you treasure. Just any old books. Things that might look nice, if you don't look too close. Why not stack those empty shelves with a beautiful collection of Readers' Digest Condensed Books (and I won't even talk about how those offend me!)? What not some encyclopedias, or better yet, law books?

Please, dear reader. If you aren't interested enough to buy and read books, then fill up those spaces with your Franklin Mint plate collection. Or some of the bobble head figures. Shot glasses from around the country. I'd actually be interested in seeing these displayed on your selves. But please, not the books by the yard.

Here's the secret: I judge people based on what they're reading. You get points for reading virtually anything. Fake displays are incredibly distasteful. You are not living in a furniture showroom.