They came like leaves in the wind. At
first it was a few bags, then bigger
bags, and then boxes of books ar-
rived at my doorstep as though they
had finally made it to their destination.
Before long even my dog knew that
some big event was going to happen
inside our house, and he wanted to be
a part of it, too.
A Winter Book
Exchange
So there I was, opening bags and boxes,
sifting through piles of used books and
trying to categorize them by either sub-
ject or author or perhaps by the size
of the book? It was difficult, because
each time I picked up a book, I thought
I remembered reading it. It was one of
my favorite moments, just unpacking
and looking at each cover of the many
books. I could feel my own history ris-
ing up before me, asking me when I had
read this book or where I was then and
who I had discussed it with. I also noted
how many copies there were of certain
books and often, funnily enough, I had
read both of them, so I definitely needed
to find them good homes.
So I was very excited when the day
finally arrived, and many of the mem-
bers of the AWCH as well as other
English-speaking friends came, ate
food, laughed and spoke about the
many choices that were available for
the taking. There were around 45
women and one man who arrived and
not only took books home for them-
selves, friends, and family members,
but also made a generous donation of
€380 to help fight violence against
women. All proceeds were donated to
our local charity group, the Frauen-
haus. The day started at 11:00 and
ended at 11:00 that night, and I was
so happy to have Diana S., Jennifer
L., and Mary Francis L. to help me
throughout the day, as well as to take
the leftover books to other charities
for donation. The most important ex-
perience of the day was the wonder-
ful group of people coming together
to share their many experiences in life
as they described their love of these
many books. Many had wonderful ad-
vice on which books to choose, end-
ing in not only a profitable day but a
fulfilling one as well.
by Shelly S . .
Photos from Shelly S. and Pixaby
www.awchamburg.org
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