Book Sale Still Going Strong--and Reader Comments

Note: Monday, back to normal with the posting, with the book sale running in the background, and, in addition, with a few titles from the sale featured each week, in a series of book reviews to bring cool stuff to your attention whether you buy it from us or not.How to Go Crazy QuicklyIf you want to get into an altered state of consciousness, start a project you think is going to take two days, then watch with shock and amazement as it blossoms into seven days of intense and non-stop work. I'm talking, of course, about taking an extensive library, sorting through all of it, deciding what you want to sell and what you don't want to sell, and then hosting a massive book sale in two stages, first with "early adopters" and then a public internet-based version. You find yourself at midnight asking your wife, "Was that from the Second Wave or the Fourth?" "Fourth" she barks back--"in the living room." "Right--with a King Squid?" "With, of course!" "Gotcha."Book TallyThis morning, we finally got caught up with all of the orders thus far. So in this lull between waves, this quiet Sunday, we'd like to thank all of those readers who've bought books to this point. Here's where we stand as of noon, approximately:1,321 BOOKS FOR SALE502 BOOKS SOLD (early adoption and public sale)819 BOOKS STILL AVAILABLEWe've gone ahead and deleted all of the sold books, which previously were denoted by a strike-through, so it's easier to read, and here's the direct link to the sale. There's still a ton of good stuff to buy.Below find some fun reader comments...Reader CommentsWe've had some great comments from readers who have bought books, so I thought I'd share a few. In addition to these comments, I'm surprised at how many people thanked me for my recommendation, several years ago, of Brook Hansen's The Chess Garden, one of my favorite novels of all time."I really appreciate you and Ann taking the time to get this book list together. It really helped me pick out some unique gifts for the holidays.""Thanks, man. This was a great list. And the commentary was fun too.""I have got to say this is the coolest book sale I've ever seen (although my bank account would disagree!).""Wow! Thanks for making us privy to the Wonderful World of VandeMeer. hmmmm....I suspect our homes look alike! I told [my husband] we should print out the list and make you sign it, as it's a prodigious work of literature! The descriptions alone cracked us up. Whenever we see a list like that it makes us weak in the knees...the thought of doing something similiar with ours has crossed our mind, but we are fainthearted. Even our spirit isn't willing. Our spirit has trouble parting with books for sale...especially when we already own 3 or 4 copies of them. Oy. Oh yes, well, that's just my spirit. ;)""You, sir, are an evil, evil man.""What a great selection of stuff I've never heard of (and hard-covers of stuff I know).""My husband will kill me, but this will be worth it I think.""You have some awesome books. It would be interesting to see what you're not selling... ""You're bolder than I! I am possessively holding onto my book stash.""I first want you to know that I hate you for making me buy more books.""Best of luck with the sale -- it seems to be going well so far. As there were several books I seem to have been too late to snatch. Curses!""Glad to hear the sale is going well, although I don't know how you can bear to part with all the books.""OMG what a sale! I haven't been checking my email or I'd have contacted you earlier-sigh."And, finally, the classic refrains:"I promised myself I wouldn't do this.... But still, I would like to order the following books...""I really hope I'm not the only one sending more than one email haha. But I would like to add just one more book to my order, if it's still available."