A Bibliophile's Dream

A Bibliophile's Dream

This weekend Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, MD had its 37th annual used book sale. Known as one of the largest book sales in the Washington, DC area and listed among the top ten largest in the country, this sale had 14 miles of books (yep, you read that right).

If libraries and bookstores are what dreams are made of, used book sales are slices of heaven and this one offers up a seriously giant slice. Held in the campus gymnasium, the books are organized into over a dozen genres, ranging from children to chick lit to gardening to African American to history to business (and on and on).

The prices of books primarily ranged from $1 to $5, and all sales support the school’s scholarship fund (Stone Ridge's tuition is not cheap). On Friday and Saturday, books were sold at full price; on Sunday, everything was half off; and yesterday, a bag of books cost $10.

For those of you who read my blog or have spoken to me recently, my family raised funds to buy books for the library on the island where my grandfather was born and raised. We held a raffle which helped us raise over $2,000. My mother and I were allotted a budget of $500 to buy young adult books. On Sunday alone, we purchased four boxes and three bags full of books for around $400. Yesterday, my mother and I picked up another five bags for $50 – a few of which were for our own personal libraries though!

Needless to say, this is an event to mark on your calendar every year. To get more information, visit the website and sign up for the mailing list. If you are interested in donating books to the school, they are accepted throughout the year.