If I Had a Financial Advisor, He Would Hate This Kind of Thing

June 10th, 2007, by Hilko

Yard-Sale-OverviewYesterday was a glorious day; a yard-sale in front of the American Book Center. It supposedly started at 11 AM, and I felt like a proper crazy book collector when I arrived at 10:55. I mean, who in his right mind gets up that early on a Saturday? Right? Well, apparently not. When I arrived the placed was packed. This, along with the knowledge that I haven’t really been reading many books lately, had me worried: have I lost it? Am I no longer a book-worm?

Yard-SaleI hurried over to the stands, and squeezed my way to one of the tables. Books! And good ones too! Because of their recent relocation, the American Book Center was selling many of their book at 3.50 euros each. 1.50 of each sale would go to a charity.




Ys-BoxesAll the good books disappeared quickly, so I hatched a devious plan. Like a vulture, I circled around the ABC employees, pretending to be browsing for books. Whenever they opened one of the boxes at the center of the stands to resupply them, I swooped in. I either followed this unfortunate employee, or rummage through the box, in a frantic search for literary masterpieces that hadn’t yet been snatched by other book-vultures. It worked like a charm!




Democrats-AbroadI also supported ‘Democrats Abroad’ when I bought a nostalgic box of . I was urged to inform every American I knew to join them. Barack Obama for the win!

The final count: I’ve touched almost every book at least twice, refused to leave until I inspected the contents of the last unopened box, and consequently spent most of the day there. I’ve bought the following thirteen books:

Boeken-Abc-Yard-Sale-1The Black Book - Orhan Pamuk
It - Stephen King
Hard Times - Charles Dickens
Robot Dreams - Isaac Asimov
The Theory of Everything - Stephen Hawking
On Dreams - Sigmund Freud
Dangerous Visions - (Collection)
Pobby & Dingan - Ben Rice
Strange Wine - Harlan Ellison
Troublemakers - Harlan Ellison
Debunked: ESP, Telekinesis and other Pseudoscience - Charpak & Broch
Three Men in a Boat - Jerome K. Jerome
Favorite Father Brown Stories - G.K. Chesterton

I don’t think I’ve had such a great day in a long time. I guess I’m still a book-worm after all; how cool am I?

5 Responses to “If I Had a Financial Advisor, He Would Hate This Kind of Thing”

  1. lisa Says:

    Heb je het boek van Orhan Pamuk al uit? Zoja, is het mooi? Ik las laaste ’sneeuw’ van hem, die was behoorlijk intrigerend. Als the black book ook de moeite waard is koop ik die ook.

  2. Hilko Says:

    Nee, nog niet uit. Ik heb hem net gisteren gekocht en nu nog 13 andere boeken die ik moet lezen. M’n moeder heeft een paar van zijn boeken gelezen en zei dat hij erg goed was…en ik heb wel meer goeds over hem gehoord.

    Eerst moet ik maar eens ‘The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle’ van Haruki Murakami uitlezen; ook een supergoed boek.

    Wie ben jij trouwens, als ik vragen mag?

  3. bas Says:

    you are soooo cool :D ;)

  4. lisa Says:

    Ik ben hetzelfde meisje als dat naar taize ging (wat overigens niet meer doorgaat). Maar het klinkt best wel onwelkom als me elke keer gevraagd wordt wie ik eigenlijk ben… komen er hier nooit onbekenden?(: Lees ze!

  5. Hilko Says:

    Haha, oh ja, ik weet het weer.

    Ik bedoel het niet onwelkom hoor, maar bijna iedereen die reageert ken ik meestal toch wel een beetje. En dan ben ik nieuwsgierig als dat niet zo is.

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