Published: July 10, 2008 05:03 pm         

Pleasant Hill hosting book sale starting July 19

“Oh, the joy of shopping!” And in these days of belt-tightening family budgets, what could be more joyful than shopping in a barn full of bargain books, ripe for the picking, ready for whiling away what’s left of summer afternoons and lazy vacation days? Should you find more books than can be read in the summer, think cozy winter evenings and a family circle of readers. (Yes, turn off the TV and stash the video games!)

If all of this sounds enticing, then you are ready for the annual giant book sale at the Blue Barn in Pleasant Hill, just next to the Wharton Nursing Home. Its thousands of square feet now hold thousands of books, ready for readers. The doors will open July 19 at 9 a.m. and continue to welcome shoppers until 3 p.m. If you need more time and more books, there will be a "Tag End Bag Sale" July 20 from 2-4 p.m.

There are, of course, table after table of standard price books with enough variety to stock a good library. Beyond fiction — general, mystery, science fiction, romance, adventure — there is a great collection of biographies, plenty of history and travel, hobbies and nature topics, something for everyone.

But, there is also a generous assortment of special items: a treat of new fiction for the up-to-the-minute reader, a group of handsomely bound book sets for gifts, as well as coffee table-size stories of movies and music. Handy reference volumes like good dictionaries, a Mayo Clinic health encyclopedia, Shakespeare complete in one volume (the print is small), will be used over and over by the wise buyer. There are several books on the Civil War.

For the book collector with a special interest in vintage books, there are a number of items worth checking out. For instance, there is a five volume set of Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, published in 1880, as well as an 11-volume set of the Young Folks Literary Treasure in excellent condition. Coffee table-size pictorial volumes include one of the Holy Land, Andrew Wyeth’s Helga Paintings, and Birds of the Eastern Forest.

Several books for those interested in time-honored religious books include Charles Shelden’s In His Steps, The Life of Charles Hadden Spurgeon, and Virgilius: a Tale of the Coming of the Christ. Two books of unusual interest are a first edition of John Baird’s Hawken Rifles, the Mountain Man’s Choice and Ten Nights in a Bar Room.

For those with fond memories of childhood, possible choices include a group of Uncle Wiggly picture books, traditional reprints of children’s classics, and several by Grace Livingston Hill.

As always, the proceeds of this sale benefit the Wharton Nursing Home, Fletcher Assisted Living, scholarships for local students, and a variety of community service projects. The Wharton Association is under the umbrella of Uplands Retirement Village, striving always to carry on the legacy of Dr. May Cravath Wharton.