Holiday Book Sale, Dec. 10

This year the Friends of the Library are having a one day Holiday Book Sale on Friday, Dec. 10 from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. This sale is going to take place upstairs in the library. The sale is going to be small, but will have a large number of special books (antique, rare, coffee table, etc.) for 50% to 75% off the marked prices. In addition, there will be some "Books into Art" items for sale.

Books have long been traditional gifts, and are likely to have been some of the first mass-produced items given as gifts back in the 1800s. Before that, gifts would typically have been handmade items (which are still awesome gifts, too – check out the "Books into Art" items). Given the abundance of books on so many different interests, it is relatively easy to find books that will be special to everyone on your list.

In Iceland, the Christmas Book Flood (Jólabókaflóðið) is a traditional way to celebrate the holidays. People exchange books and then sit around reading them together, drinking hot chocolate. And according to Wikipedia one thing that contributed to the development of this tradition was that after World War II it was difficult to get other types of gifts into Iceland, but they had plenty of paper. So books it was for gift giving.

This year we keep hearing about "supply chain" and "logistics" making delivery of other gifts difficult. But books are already here making them immune to such problems. Buying books as gifts this year makes even more sense. So, get out, buy books and give them to your friends and family for whatever holidays you're celebrating.

The Friends of the Library have plenty of books for you to buy. Either at the Holiday Book Sale on Dec. 10 or in the Continuing Book Sale downstairs in the library. Either of these ways will help with programs at the library during the coming year. It offers two ways to give: To the person you buy the book for, and to the community in extra programming opportunities at the library.

The Friends of the Library is a group of people from all backgrounds working to help the Tehachapi Library provide programs and resources to our community. If you'd like to join in and volunteer, contact us at [email protected] or (661) 750-2818.