The United Way booksale. Or, the Victoria College Booksale.

This week is the United Way Booksale at my university.

I have a problem with booksales. I can't resist them.

One of the main reasons that I have so many unread books is because of booksales. Because so many booksale donations come from estates and whatnot, I find a plethora of the cloth- and leather-bound books that I adore. I find these books as addictive as creme brulee, hot sunshine and good wine. I want to own them all. I love reading little inscriptions in their fronts, and knowing that this book that I now own was found by someone named Helen under her Christmas tree back in the 50s. I feel at peace when I find these things.

I used to go to the Victoria College booksale when I went to U of T. The last day of the sale was "Boxing Day". For $10, you purchased a box. Then you filled it and left. The last time I did it I wound up with a first-edition Steinbeck.

And so, this week is the United Way fundraising booksale. I went during my lunch today, and in addition to a few books for the kids, I found a Paul Theroux, a book by Jane Goodall, and a Farley Mowat book about Dian Fossey. As I am currently reading a book about Leakey's "Three Primates" (the three ladies who studied the great apes - I'll blog it in a few days, I'm almost done), I immediately snatched up the latter two.

And here we reach the crux of this post: I originally hypothesized that I would read from the top left of the first bookcase to the bottom-right of the last bookcase and blog each book. I still wish to do this. I didn't originally consider that I would keep buying books, though of course this will be the case.

And my first reaction was fear - did I start a project that will never end? But then I realized I must stop considering this as a project. This is a pasttime. This is something to enjoy and savour as the page count rises, and as cliche as it sounds, it will be a journey. There won't be a set ending, and now that I've thought consciously about it, this doesn't bother me.

So - I will have a Home Book and a Work Book. My purse isn't big enough nor do I have the desire to truck a book to and from work each day. My Home Books will be left-to-right, top-to-bottom books. My Work Books may or may not be so - reading heavy philosophy or sociological studies at lunchtime doesn't appeal to me.

My current Home Book is one I took out of the library ages ago, but I'm getting there. I'll blog it soon. Once it's done I'll start in the top-left of the first bookcase. Here we go!