November 12, 2006

  •          Hokusai owl card

        When looking at a catalog my sister lent me, I found this owl painting by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), who is most famous for that big wave painting. I knew he painted birds, but had never seen this particular one before. I'm not sure what species it is, need to look up Asian owls. It's available as a holiday card at the Metropolitan Museum of Art , which is why I found it in their catalog.

         Yesterday I went to a library book sale with a discussion group pal. They didn't have as much as they usually do, but everything was half price, some books were as little as 10 cents. I got 16 books for $4.50 ! My friend got a big bag of paperbacks for $2. How the library made much money with prices like those, I don't know. There were a lot of people there too, all crowded into a small room filled with tall bookcases and bumping into each other.

         Besides animal books, I also bought anything that looked even remotely interested to have on hand when I'm too sick to get to a library. I'm addicted to books, reading more than 200 a year, so I get panicky when I don't have something to read. All of the other books I got were historical, either nonfiction or novels of Ireland, the Crusades & Ancient Egypt. I'm fascinated with history, which is ironic for someone who doesn't really like humans in general. Obviously I prefer them in the abstract or as individuals.

         It was cold & rainy, at times the wipers couldn't keep the windshield clear enough to see much, so I drove slowly. After our book spree, my friend & I went to Subway & had a sandwich, before we drove off in opposite directions in the drizzle.

Comments (6)

  • Oh what great deals!

  • I love library book sales...

  • I used to like libraries until I got a bookshop and saw just how badly they hurt non-established authors. How people well able to afford to buy books would wait for the one or two copies the library had to become available and thereby deprive the author of payment for his labour.

    I don't suppose artists would stand for it if they sold a picture for a poster and found that it was really popular but that libraries had a poster-lending scheme so people didn't need to pay for it. 

    If people can afford to pay for books then at least they should pay a (compulsory) subscription to a library and a fee per book of say - $1 which could go back to the authors and publishing companies.  Old people, children, those who cannot afford it, ok, free.

  •    I think many people who can afford to, DO buy books, because there's always such a long waiting list for new books.

        For people such as myself, on a fixed income, there's no way I can afford to pay $25 for a hardback or even half that for a new paperback. I need the free books from a library.

      

  • RYC: there is no black and white in my mandala - my pallette was limited to shades of blue, grey and mustard with tiny touches of pink, green and purple.  We must have our machines tuned up differently.

    Have a good week Jackie
    love
    Petra

  • That is a beautiful owl! Not sure what you mean by wave painting, unless it is of waves.

    Libraries have those sales not to make money but to thin the shelves. I would love to read all the books I have sitting around here but someone will have to tell me how to stay awake.

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