Every couple of months or so, a spot next to the love seat in Spare Oom starts collecting a pile of books. These are books that A. and I have finished reading and don’t plan on keeping for whatever reason. We may have enjoyed them, but have no reason or inclination to read them again. I mean, there’s a finite amount of space in this apartment, and as much as we’d like, we can’t keep it all.
Besides, we live right down the street from Green Apple Books, which is a Very Dangerous Place Indeed. We often need space for newer purchases.
Whenever that spot on the floor collects three or four stacks about shin-high, I start putting them into boxes. Then on a nice weekend, I’ll drive them down to the Friends of the SF Public Library Bookstore down at Fort Mason in the Marina for donation. Sure, I could probably bring them to Green Apple and get credit for future purchases, but to be honest, I like donating better.
The Friends of the SFPL have a Big Book Sale a few times a year in one of the HUGE warehouses at Fort Mason. We’re talking football field huge. Book donations brought to any of their drop-off sites that don’t get sold at their in-library stores get brought here, and it’s quite an event. Books, videos, dvds, cds, all sorts of media are sold super cheap, often as low as a dollar. You can literally fill a shopping cart (we often do) and spend maybe twenty bucks total. It’s a good deal, and it goes to a great group. And my old books get into new hands, which is even cooler.
[As an aside: yes, I have in fact seen my own donations on the table at these book sales, which I find quite amusing.]
They’ll have their next Big Book Sale next week, and A and I are planning on going. Which is good timing, because I just brought the last pile of books in last weekend!
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