For the Love of Books

Okay, let me set the stage. I’m out running errands. First I took two orders to the post office. And as I’m ready to walk out the door I run into someone coming in. And gosh, she looked soooo familiar. We both looked at each other and finally the penny dropped. She was one of the wonderful folks who helped a local low-income community I work with. She had brought weekly food donations for over a year during the pandemic! (We’ve hadn’t seen each other for 18 months or so.) In our brief catch-up conversation, we discovered that both our daughters were now working at the same store, in the same department and know each other! What??!!! And bonus, both are redheads. What a small world!!

We said our goodbyes and a few minutes later I was at my neighborhood thrift store. I really, really wanted to find something. Something stellar. I was in this small store for over 30 minutes, but it just wasn’t happening.

I was close to buying some of these military plastic model kits (half were sealed). They all seemed to be made by ICM in the Ukraine, but I couldn’t find a date on them. Most were priced between $6 and $7. I collected a pile of four WWII fighter jets from various countries and researched them in the store as they were absolutely out of my wheelhouse. In the end I decided to leave them behind. There didn’t appear to be enough profit margin. Though I did think there were likely some in the group that could be worth a bit. I decided to let someone else make that score.

Afterwards, I went to to our library to pick up a book on hold and as always I went to the small sale room of books. As a bibliophile books call to me. They are kryptonite. Found four, which may or may not eventually make it to my store!

“The Artists of Terezin” is a particularly poignant one. I know of Terezin from a previous book I owned: “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” which is an illustrated poetry book by children who lived in the Terezin concentration camp in WWII. (I’ve sold two copies of that book.) I received this amazing review from the last one I sold:

Thank you for the book, which arrived in perfect condition, thanks to your careful efforts! My granddaughter, 5, is a budding writer and illustrator, but too young to read this important book. Her daddy will hold it for her until she’s old enough to grasp the idea that children were imprisoned in concentration camps. In 1942, my mother, 15, and her brother, 13, (Russian Orthodox) were sent by cattle car from Crimea to Germany as forced laborers. During the journey, they spent 10 days at Auschwitz. They were some of the lucky ones. Thanks again! Every best wish, Kitt

I’ve started reading “The Artists of Terezin” and, as you might expect, it’s a tough, tough read. Turns out the artists in the camp often suffered severe punishment and torture for no other reason than they portrayed the camp as it was in their art. It will take me a while to get through this book (I can only read it in small doses), but I think it’s important never to forget or ignore this history. (Some of the younger camp residents are still alive and have their stories published here.)

On a lighter note I got the “Canadian Native Art” book to help build up my knowledge base. This might seem like a random book to get but I grew up near the Tuscarora Reservation close to the Canadian border.

I’ve sold a native art (likely Nootka) basket and have an Iroquois beaded whimsy/pincushion in my store. Both were made for the tourist trade.

But I would love to be able to recognize more pieces out in the wild. A holy grail would be finding a real argillite carving!!

Well, it’s back to the grind…which really isn’t much of a grind. I have lots of things I could do, but I can usually live my days as I choose. Though I’m really thinking vacuuming might be in my near future!

Wishing you successful hunting in your neck of the woods,

Karen