The wisdom of Jerry Seinfeld

"A bookstore is one of the only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking."
Jerome Allen Seinfeld (b. 1954)

You might know him as "Jerry." Maybe you saw him on TV or something. He's also done some film and Broadway work. Funny guy, y'know?

Anyway, anybody who says a kind word about bookstores catches my attention. His remark above may be a bit over the top, but I think Jerry's pretty much on the right track. A bookstore is a very comfortable and familiar place for me, so many books, so little time….

Yesterday I moseyed down to the local AAUW book sale for the first time, I've been driving past it every year for about 35 years, just never seemed to have the time before….like, a gazillion or so books arranged very carefully by category in the ladies locker room of the municipal pool building (the AAUW book sale formerly occupied the municipal ice rink building across the big parking lot, not really sure why the switch was made) and, well, the ladies locker room at the municipal pool building isn't the most unbelievably attractive place you'd want to be in when you're browsing the American History section of the book sale, but hey…..

On a Friday afternoon, lots of people at the sale, including kids, very intent folks walking around with their necks bent sideways so they can read the spines, lots of people with small cardboard boxes already half full of new treasures, a faint but distinct musty smell that was mostly locker room but a little bit of heavenly "old book" aroma….

I picked up a very decent hardbound copy of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, a Daniel Boorstin that I haven't read yet (The Democratic Experience), an obscure collection of poetry, and the prize: a hardcover copy of Saint Martin's Summer by Sabatini, close to 100 years old, one of Sabatini's "lesser" novels, maybe not quite up to the standard of Scaramouche, but for me, it's a beauty……and here I am, thinking about it.

Tip of the hat to Jerry.

The wisdom of Anna Quindlen