Green Valley Book Fair
I had the great pleasure yesterday of hopping in my car and making the hour drive out to Harrisonburg for the Green Valley Book Fair:
Located just south of Harrisonburg, Virginia, in the heart of the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, the Green Valley Book Fair is a discount book outlet store featuring over 500,000 new books at incredible bargain prices.
It is essentially a Sam's Club-sized warehouse of remaindered books (check this story for pictures), and it was probably the closest I'll ever get to being a "kid in a candy shop." I found many books I've been wanting to buy (one of the dangers of becoming so cognizent of great literature is that there are always many books I want to buy), and just could not resist the bargains. The only book I paid more than $6 was the first volume of David Tod Roy's new translation of The Plum in the Golden Vase, which I got for $7.50, a substantial discount from its Amazon price of $29.25. Amonst the literature selections, I picked up Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook, Richard Wright's Black Boy and Native Son, John Cheever's The Wapshot Chronicle, O.E. Rolvaag's The Giants in the Earth, and several others. They also had nearly every work by Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Wharton (which I would have bought if I did not already own them; alas, the only downside to owning a book is that I cannot buy it again... unless, of course, a really cool new edition comes out).
Their history and biography selection was also excellent, and I was able to find several books I've long desired to purchase: Richard Rhodes' The Making of the Atomic Bomb, Daniel Yergin's The Prize, David Herbert Donald's Lincoln, Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, and several others.
All in all, I highly successful and rewarding trip. I'll probably go again after this summer, when I have even more disposable income. Here's this year's schedule:
March 20 thru April 4
May 15 thru 31
July 3 thru 18
August 21 thru Sept 6
October 9 thru 24
Nov. 26 thru Dec. 12
I highly recommend all book lovers in the area find a way to attend at least once. I guarantee it is worth the drive.
