FEEDING THE BOOK STARVED SOUL FOR 99 CENTS

This is not a NEW DO thing for me but it is a NEW place to DO something that I love, paw through books and making great discoveries.  I braved the elements and headed to a NEW Salvation Army store in Brockton.  I actually was looking for a raincoat.  Maybe raincoat is not the right word.  I was really looking for a type of raincoat, a slicker or SLIKAH in New England lingo. I was also looking for some MUCK boots so that I can get down and grubby in the back woods of Maine.  Buying new doesn't make sense for one time experiences when you have no place to save and store things.  I have been with a backpack for 11 months now.  I have downsized - a lot.

BOOKS, READING.  I love the Massachusetts library system.  I utilize it a lot.  But when I cross state borders I can't easily return my borrowings.  Picking up used books on the cheap is a great way to have the enjoyment of reading. I can give the books away later or leave them behind for other travelers to enjoy.  When I was in hostels in Chile I would go to the shelves to see what gems others had left.  Most were written in German.  I was not about to try to tackle a third language. When I told friends in the USA that I have been starved for English language books for almost a year they were surprised.  "Aren't there English books in South America?"  Yes but not a great selection and they are expensive.  "Why don't you just order them from Amazon and have them shipped to Argentina?"  Oh, well, in these times in Argentina imports have been banned. Expats like me thirst for English language books.  Whenever a friend is moving out of Argentina or downsizing for any reason we hover around their giveaways with our mouths watering hoping to grasp a hold of something wonderful to read.  "So what about a KINDLE?"  I am old-fashioned and tactile.  There is nothing like curling up with a good book, holding it your hands and turning the pages.  It is part of the experience.

 So today at my NEW Salvation Army store I was in Joy Joy.  BOOKS.  A hodgepodge of romance novels and classics, self help and history and a couple of odd ball things like the very clever book for bio-chemistry students, a book of lyrics put to old melodies to better remember the lessons. I didn't buy it but I did have to shoot a photo.

I picked out my lot.  Six books to keep in my car for WHENEVA I have some moments to stop and enjoy reading at a state park, a road stop, a shoreline or a mountain.  I am not one for fiction.  University destroyed my love for fiction in huge classroom theaters and dull professors dissecting the meaning of Faulkner's words, Hemingway, Steinbeck and more.  Such a  pity.  Give me a good Herriot or Mayle book or something enlightening.  I always enjoy that.

DO NEW - NEW DO - NEW OLD BOOKS.  GOOD.