I was expecting to see fruits and vegetables, clothes, and ready-to-eat food variations while walking along the stretch of an open-air marketplace. Not really a table and a shelf full of books.
So that particular stall caught my attention and I had to stop and do what I regularly do – go over a neatly arranged pile of books, like when I am in a bookstore or in a library I often visit.
Incidentally, I was not in a familiar place last Sunday (Aug. 11). I was at the La Jolla Open Aire Market here in San Diego, California. La Jolla is a classy seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego that is home to the University of California San Diego.
I read that notable people have lived in La Jolla, including actresses Robin Wright and Marcia Gay Harden, singer Alicia Keys, wrestler Rey Mysterio, and writers Anne Rice, Dr. Seuss, and Raymond Chandler who meaningfully said that it is “a nice place for old people and their parents.”
The La Jolla Open Aire Market is currently open every Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. I was with journalist-friends as I spent the weekend going around places in San Diego county. This was our last stop, and I decided to take a look at the stall selling books.
Thus, I met Carlos Palacio, the guy in charge of the tent that had the name Street Smart Bookstore. At first glance, you wouldn’t expect him to be the book guy. He could pass up for a boy band member.
In reality, he described himself as dyslexic who then started reading that “opened doors to different worlds of ideas, stories, towns, and culture,” as he put it poetically.
“Not all people go to bookstores and I noticed that, so I am bringing the books into the street,” Palacio said.
“I want to be near the people and closer to them, give them books that they want to get,” he noted.
Street Smart Bookstore can be found in other locations, both as a traditional bookstore and in makeshift set-ups that capture the attention of book lovers who are part of the foot traffic of a specially designed marketplace. It offers used books in good condition.
I agree with the claim that it offers titles worth purchasing or ones you may have been looking for. I saw some works from legendary authors Stephen King, James Patterson, and Paulo Coehlo.
Palacio considers both his parents as “big readers.” The knowledge that some people can’t afford to buy books made him want to sell them at reasonable prices. He sells $5 per book and a free one if one buys a certain number.
“It doesn’t matter if you are homeless or a millionaire. A book helps you,” he said.
Street Smart Bookstore, according to him, has been selling “hundreds of thousands of books.” It is a result of understanding the value of reading.
In this age of online information overload, physical books still reign supreme as far as assuring the quality of information is concerned. Not to mention the beauty of the written word on a tangible page.
Whereas the fake news peddler rushes to get the attention for quick traction, somebody is carefully working to ensure that facts and style come together in a finely packaged gift of wisdom. The uploads may be deleted in a click and lost forever, the printed can be reprinted for another run at eternal existence.
Carlos Palacio earned my respect for doing something to bring books closer to people who should get them, like the youth of today who grew up in a world where books are thought by some fools to be old school and obsolete. It amused me to see teenagers thrilled with some cool books in their hands.
That day I went home with a copy of Coelho’s By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept. For some reason, I felt it was the right time for me to finally have a copy of it after somewhat avoiding it perhaps due to its sad title. But that afternoon at the park near where I stay, I sat down and smiled while reading.
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