Orphan Books

Yesterday, we left Hermann, MO and drove about 90 miles to the Lake of the Ozarks region of Missouri. We made one stop at a lovely shrine near Starkenburg. The complex had two limestone churches that were quite old, one built in 1875 and the other in 1910. Between the two was a modern building that was a meeting place of some kind. To the back of all this was a beautiful wooded area where the shrine had been built. I cannot even begin to describe the beauty and majesty one feels there. A sign asks for complete silence and that is not hard. It was a special moment in time for me. It rained off and on all day yesterday but the sun is out in all its glory this morning as I write this. We had a wonderful dinner last evening at a place called Bentley's in Lake Ozark. The restaurant had an Old English atmosphere and decor, fabulous food and good service. Our daughter had recommended it and we were grateful she had done so. We spent quite a bit of time in a book store yesterday. This one was filled with what I call 'Orphan Books' because the books are all leftovers that no one bought in the regular retail stores. Many were written by authors that would be familiar to most of us, but there were also some that I'd never heard of and maybe no one else has either. They were running a sale on the over-sized trade paperbacks--3 for $10. How could I not rescue some of these orphans and take them home with me? I told Ken to pick out some for his winter reading. I am a library user, he is not. So, we spent a lot of time browsing among the sale books and those that were full price. In this outlet store, even full price hardbacks were a nominal price Being the reader I am and also a writer, I wanted to rescue all these orphans, but I held myself back and chose only a few. Publishers must be glad to have these outlet stores to help them get rid of overruns and books that did not do well in the normal retail market. The authors must feel bad that their 'baby' didn't break all records and sell out of all that were printed. That might only happen in a perfect world, which we are never going to achieve. So, isn't it nice that some of these leftovers can be adopted and placed on a bookshelf in someone's home?