You’ve still got the rest of the weekend to check out the 30th annual book sale at George Mason Regional Library in Annandale. It’s open Friday until 6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday noon-3 p.m.
The event started Thursday evening with 1,350 boxes of books, which is about 50,000 volumes, says Kate Kroehler, who chairs the book sale for
Friends of George Mason, the volunteer group that runs the biannual sale.
The books are organized into categories, including fiction, business, law, cooking, children, self-help, science, and much more. Most are in excellent condition and many appear brand new. Koehler pointed out some beautiful children’s picture books in Vietnamese. The prices are quite reasonable: I got three novels and two movies for $12 and change.
One browser at the book sale, Julie Meyer of Springfield, snapped up a book of poetry by William Butler Yeats and Life at Blandings by P.G. Wodehouse.
Pat Tinker Raab, who splits her time between Falls Church and Florida, picked up some travel books on Canada and sheet music for the cello and piano, and Dewey Litwiller, a multilingual resident of Saskatchewan, found a copy of the The Da Vinci Code in Spanish and a novel in Italian, as well as some items in English, including a book on grilling and the DVD “Once.”
Friends of George Mason depends on revenue from the book sale—usually around $60,000—to fund the library’s summer reading program and live performances for children, which last summer included storytellers, puppet shows, and a popular demonstration with live snakes, Kroehler says. Book sale proceeds also support librarian training programs and volunteer recognition activities.
Unsold children’s books after the sale are donated to schools in Washington, D.C., and the day care center run by ACCA in Annandale, Kroehler says. Other leftover books are purchased by a man from Baltimore.
If you’ve got a surplus of books cluttering up your house, Friends of George Mason is already accepting donations for its spring sale.
The sale dates for October 2013 are Thursday, October 3: 5 – 9 pm; Friday, October 4, 10 – 6; Saturday, October 5, 10 – 5; Sunday, October 6, noon – 5 pm. Please note that on Sunday, the book sale opens an hour before the official library hours. On Sunday, from noon to 1, you can shop the book sale. You can't check out books or use the library's computers until 1 pm. George Mason Friends.