New old books and dirty fingers

My hands are covered in dust after sifting through old books at this dingy, crowded bookstore in downtown Ottawa.

The moment I walked in I knew it was trouble. Books piled up around your feet, East of Eden mixed with Harry Potter mixed with books no one has ever heard of before. But I couldn't help myself.

This store had books stacked outside too - $1 for each book - and a box full of free magazines.

Such is what attracted me in the first place.

I only found two I liked: J.D. Salinger's A Farewell to Arms and the book to the movie I so often watched when I was younger, Billie Letts' Where the Heart Is. That's a lie... I found many I liked. I found a few on my book list (see right) but I decided, after serious thought, that I'd by the $1 book, a free 1982 Canadian Geographic magazine and the $5 Salinger book. The rest will have to come from eBay.

I love books. I love the smell. The dog-eared pages, but mostly I love how you can pull yourself out of your own world and dispense yourself into the book at hand.