Books, Books and more Books at library sale

By Peggy Kelly Santa Paula TimesCelia Diaz probably summed it up best for the crowd waiting behind a rope barrier for Saturday’s Friends of Blanchard Library Big Fall Book Sale to start. “I guess we’re all book lovers,” Diaz noted. “Especially at such great prices.”Books ruled the day at the Big Fall Book Sale, where hundreds of people browsed their favorites and took tomes home by the armful - if not the bag, box or cart - all offered at can’t beat bargain prices. The cost of the books was only 50 cents for hardbacks, 25 cents for paperbacks and Better Books starting at only $1.The allure of books and reading can stem from childhood memories. “If people had a childhood like mine,” where books and stories played a major role, it’s a love that lasts forever, said Friends’ Chris Lemon. “I even reread the classics, fairy tales,” but Lemon said it’s “now mostly history, mystery and science.”Lemon, like other Friends and supportive volunteers, had been at the library since 7 a.m., stacking boxes of books on tables as well as underneath, all sorted by category.Ellen Ruby of the Friends was overseeing the Silent Auction of rare and collectible books, as always with an emphasis on local and state history. “My personal favorite is the Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott,” 12 volumes so “beautiful,” Ruby noted. “I’m not sure if I’ve even read them, but they’re so pretty and nice in the hand.”Collectors and dealers were among those in the crowd, including one man using a computer to research a stack of books and a woman sweeping rows of books into boxes and then checking out. The woman is a secondhand storeowner, noted a Book Sale volunteer. “I’ve been at this about 10 years,” said cashier Al Sundstrom. “I’ve been at it 10 years,” noted Friends President Mary Calkins, “but Al’s been here longer.”