Books-Austinevan

There’s something romantic, alive about used books.

Every book feels like a possible treasure, an interesting shell on the beach, made more beautiful by time and experience. Perhaps less clean and perfect than store-bought shells, but more delicious in its journey.

I love the musty, beige pages, smelling only like old books do.

I find myself wondering where these books have traveled, who read them, when and why they bought and read them, why they sold them.

Each book is its own travel experience. It’s incredibly exciting to find something the reader, traveler has left behind-an old receipt, bookmark, even underlined words.

I had one of those weeks where book treasures were abundant. At a used bookstore three blocks from our place, I found a collection of poetry by Marge Piercy in addition to a rad thesaurus type book called “Word Menu” and Herman Hesse’s “Siddhartha”.

I had never heard of Marge Piercy, but the book, “The Moon is Always Female” was sort of displayed and looked well-loved. Plus, the title intrigued me. I opened to the first poem “Inside Chance” and lines like this hooked me:

Inside the fallen brown

apple the seed is alive.

Freeze and thaw, freeze

and thaw, the sap leaps

an the maple under the bark

and although they have

pronounced us dead, we

rise again invisibly,

we rise and the sun sings

in us sweet and smoke

as the blood of the maple

that will open its leaves

like thousands of waving hands

The poems are sensual, earthy, and interesting. And I probably wouldn’t have stumbled across it in a big box book store, especially not for 6 dollars.

I’ve since researched Marge Piercy, discovering her website and body of work. Amazing stuff. The Boston Globe writes “Marge Piercy is not just an author, she’s a cultural touchstone. Few writers in modern memory have sustained her passion, and skill, for creating stories of consequence.”

I love that books begin a continuum of learning.

My husband and I checked out a consignment store over the weekend looking for cute, cheap mid-century furniture. Didn’t buy any, but I stumbled upon Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” and Jack Kerouac’s “The Dharma Bums” for two books each and a Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s “The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation” for free. Free!

Free books are better than money. Imagine a world where books were currency…utopian for sure, but pretty damn sweet.

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How about you? What are your thoughts on used books? Are used bookstores on their way out? Do you enjoy new or old books better? Have any favorite bookstores around the globe?