EXCLUSIVE BOOKS WAREHOUSE SALE
Johannesburg, South Africa
25 August 2016

This annual sale started at 8 a.m. yesterday and runs until 4 p.m. on Sunday August 28th. We went there on the opening day together with my sister's neighbor and coworker Erika, in Erika's car.

Details about the sale hadn't been that easy to come by, and specific details only emerged relatively late. Book lovers weren't put off, or out, however; once they smell a trail they are expert at tracking down whatever they're after - in this case books at bargain prices.

On our way to the sale we had refreshments at Vita Italiana (an Italian restaurant) in Melrose Arch, like we did last year. We made this stop first as we wanted the initial rush at the warehouse to subside so we wouldn't need to wait in line to get in.

Business was brisk when we got there, with book lovers numbering in their dozens, a steady stream arriving and departing all the time. Those "caught in the act" were frenziedly browsing through what was on offer, displayed on several tables groaning under their respective loads. This year books cost R35 apiece regardless of size or whether it's hardcover or paperback (last year it was R20 apiece). (One of the books I bought was a hardcover biography, with photos, comprising 752 pages. At R35 it was a steal.) Books were being added from boxes continuously by very efficient staff members. Books were also being rearranged by staff continuously as the browsers quickly reduced neat piles and rows to friendly chaos.

Erika and my sister bought 19 books each, and I bought 7. One of the advantages of going with people who know your tastes, and whose tastes you know, is that you spot titles they don't, and vice versa. For example, Erika saw a book she knew I would want a copy of (David Crystal: Just a phrase I'm going through - my life in language). My sister drew my attention to the biography I mentioned in the previous paragraph. I, in turn, saw a book on the Congo I knew my sister would find useful as she is doing research on the Congo.

There is nothing that beats the smell and feel of good old paper books. When I read, I do so with a pencil in hand, marking words and sentences and paragraphs. An electronic reader doesn't "do it" for me, despite its many advantages. I engage with a book fully; I want to touch and feel and smell it, and physically turn the pages.

The way I read has changed over the years. When I was much younger I would buy any title I was remotely interested in - and end up reading very few of them. These days I know what I'm interested in sufficiently to want to read about it in depth, rather than just a blurb or article. Also, I don't read exclusively for content ("what") anymore: I also read for style ("how"). It's a little like the way I listen to music nowadays: I can appreciate music I don't particularly like, provided it's well put together and well performed. Similarly, I can derive great benefit from a book whose content doesn't exactly fire my pistons if it is really well written. Usually - and luckily - the two things go together for me most of the time.

Being with fellow book and word lovers is a truly uplifting experience. The collective energy is exhilarating, making one lose track of time (you end up spending hours on your feet). Everyone's entire focus is on the books. Nothing else really matters at that moment.

In a way having your nose in a book (literally and figuratively) is a revolutionary act, an act of faith: faith in books, in the power of the (written) word, in the power of ideas. I'm totally sold on that kind of faith. Without it life wouldn't be worth living, and I would summarily and unceremoniously shrivel up and die.