Many book enthusiasts paid a visit to the Cape Coral Public Library on Friday to take advantage of an affordable book sale to help raise funds for the library.
The passion of reading has grown over the years for Virginia Gemmill who has attended the annual book sale since its inception. She said she began dusting off library books at her hometown library when she was 11-years-old, which sparked her interest in reading.
“I have always been involved in books,” Gemmill said. She said her passion for books has grown over the years and her grandchildren are following in her footsteps.
Although she is an avid reader of Danielle Steel, this year she decided to expand her search of books on France because of a trip she is planning with her family. She held up a book that she found about France on Friday with a smile.
“The price is right and I get caught up on some of my books,” Gemmill said. She said the sale helps her fill in the spaces of the books she is missing from her collection.
Although she was very happy with the sale, Gemmill said she would love to see more children’s books so she could purchase them for her grandchildren. She said she will attend the book sale again today.
Another avid reader, Anne Sonn also attended the book sale on Friday to begin her book collection again. She said she has made it to the last three or four sales because she likes to support the library.
For the past 12 years Sonn has lived in the Bahamas with her husband, where there were no libraries for her to check out books. She said they would purchase books and ship them over, which they ended up leaving before they moved back a year ago.
“I am starting the collection over,” Sonn said.
As a psychologist of many years, she turned to books to provide herself with solitude. Detective novels are her choice because she enjoys figuring out why people do what they do.
“The printed word takes you away from everything,” Sonn said, because you have alone time with the book.
Ron Zwiernik visited the book sale for the first time this year because his grandson wanted to find some Harry Potter Books. Although there were none, he was able to add to his collection of Goosebump books.
Zwiernik said he thought the book sale was great due to the large selection and great prices.
“I will definitely come again,” he said.
Pam Macabio, past president of Friends of the Cape Coral Library said that they were pretty busy Friday afternoon. She said the sales so far are better than previous years.
“Maybe the economy is getting better and people are starting to spend a little more money,” Macabio said.
The sale set for Friday and Saturday started with approximately 8,000 books and a couple hundred DVDs and CDs. As of Friday afternoon, they had sold about half of the books.
Macabio said the book sale usually generates about $5,000 during the November and April sales. The Friends of the Cape Coral Library raised $20,000 from four previous book sales, which helped them purchase the automated material handler for the outside book drop.
“Our community is very helpful in this,” Macabio said.
The funds raised during the book sale goes towards whatever the Cape Coral Library needs.
The sale will be held again from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. today.
The Cape Coral Public Library is at 921 Southwest 39th Terrace.