I love wandering through book aisles and selecting stories and manuals to skim through. I find that old book shops and used book sales are some of the most interesting events to attend. In high school I was a book worm. I would read everything from fantasies to realistic fiction to magazines about gardening to manuals about architecture. What sparked my curiosity was the starkly different stories, messages, and realities each book contained. Ever since leaving high school, I have lost the time I used to spend reading. As a result, I appreciated the opportunity to explore books again offered by this Rose Scholars event.

During our visit, I explored the fiction, short story, gardening, and computer book sections. I enjoyed skimming through a wide variety of books. In particular, I liked that the book sale was for used books. Often these sales offer a quirkier and more interesting variety of books than bookstores do.

I ended up buying a book of short stories presented on the Moth Radio Hour. The Moth is a famous radio show that allows people to tell their stories to others. I really enjoy listening to the wide variety of hilarious, powerful, and inspiring stories told through this show, and I was surprised and excited to find this book at the sale. I am looking forward to reading it this summer.

I also read through many interesting computer books at the sale. Several of these books were about how to use the Linux operating system, learn different coding languages, and use several interesting and useful software resources. I thought it was cool how the book sale did not just include books meant to tell stories but also practical books such as these.

When I return home, I would like to explore my local used book sale after enjoying attending this one so much. Overall, from this experience I learned about this annual book sale in Ithaca (which I may attend in future years) and about the value in attending used book sales versus traditional book stores or online book stores. I am also very happy I left the event with a new and exciting read for this summer!