16 books from library benefit book sale

I came home from the book sale to benefit our public libraries smiling like a satisfied cheshire cat and told my husband "It feels like Christmas". I had a bag of books I bought with me, 16 of them.
One is for my friend who is a life long piano teacher, and it is titled "The Piano Shop on the Left Bank", and two are for a three year old friend of mine, "Jonah" about Jonah in the Bible, and "When We Were Very Young", wonderful poems by A.A. Milne.

Here are the titles of the rest. I am not recommending them because I have not read them yet.
Memoirs
I do like memoirs, especially those of people living in other countries. Humor in memoirs is nice too.
"Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper" by Fuchsia Dunlop. Supposed to be an insightful memoir of living and cooking in China. I hope she does NOT use shark's fin in her cooking; that is a horrible thing to do, as fishermen cut the fin off live sharks, throw them back in the water and the sharks die.
"Paris I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down", memoir by Rosecrans Baldwin.
"Living In a Foreign Language" memoir of living in Italy, by Michael Tucker.
"Travels with Alice" by Calvin Trillin. I like other books by Trillin.
"Solomon Time: An Unlikely Quest in the South Pacific". A young American teacher brings chickens to a Pacific Island to help people there.
"Nomad's Hotel: Travels in Time and Space", the author's collected articles about places including Isfahan, Mali, Australia and Munich.
"Elizabeth and Her German Garden" by Elizabeth von Arnim, a writer new to me that several bloggers recommend.
"Long Way Down", a motorcycle journey. I will offer this book to our younger son.

Next a book about Jesus and then novels that sound grand.
"Killing Jesus" by Bill O'Reilly.
Novels
"The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate" by Nancy Mitford. I read the fascinating biography of the Mitford sisters, called "Sisters" and have been meaning to read these titles, two in one volume.
"Come Rain or Come Shine" by Jan Karon. I love this series and read each one.
"Wit's End" by Karen Joy Fowler.
"Saint Odd" by Dean Koontz. I like this series and this is the final volume.

One thing I do successfully to keep our home in balance is that for each book I bring in to the house, I move one book out of our house. I give the books to friends, to the public library or to the Little Free Libraries all around town. I do the same with clothes, when I buy a top or pair of shorts, I give one away to charity. As of today, 3 weeks after the sale, I have given away 35 books, so I am in good shape on that. That keeps our home's book shelves in balance and not looking like one of those crazed hoarders on a reality tv program. LOL.
I was surprised to learn that our church had a huge book sale the next day!!! So I bought five books there, and that will be in another post. I have to laugh at myself buying these books, but I do love to read good books.

Book Beginnings: Running in Place: Scenes from the South of France

I almost passed this book up until I read the first sentence. My husband did some clearing out and found a box with 32 books, mostly memoirs, in it. He has read them all and I haven't so this is a treasure trove for me.
Here is the first sentence from "Running in Place: Scenes from the South of France": "A man jumped into my wife's tub while she was taking a bath." Well, that captured my attention. He goes on to write "This happened in Paris, in our hotel, at seven o'clock in the morning."
Now I want to know more and maybe you do too.
I am linking to Rose City Reader for Book Beginnings.
On Friday 56 is another to link to at Fredas Voice where we post a sentence or two from page 56. Here is a sentence from page 57, I skipped ahead: "It is a difficult place to describe - a haunted, hard, magical place."

Mop refills and 14 billion Keurig K-cups in garbage dumps

Why does it cost almost as much to buy a refill sponge for a mop as to buy the entire mop and handle? This bothers me. 
Today I bought a sponge mop (a major brand) and an extra sponge for when I need a refill. Why did I buy the refill today? Because I have found that in future when I need to buy the refill sponge it will no longer be available and none that will fit will be found. I like to be kind to the earth and to use resources wisely.
The sponge mop was a good deal, $9.99. But the refill sponge was $7.99. This doesn't make sense. Is the entire long handle and holder area for the sponge worth only two dollars?
The companies are pushing us to throw away the entire old sponge mop where it will rest for 100 years in the garbage dump. Sad. It might take hundreds of years to decompose, what a waste.
This is just one example of thousands of wasteful habits we are cajoled to engage in. Those nonrecyclable Keurig coffee maker K-cups are another. I know some K-cups are recyclable and bless the people who buy them. Apparently though even the "green" cups are not very recyclable, since the plastic part is made with type 7 plastic which most recyclers can not use, and the cups need to be taken apart by the coffee drinker if they want to recycle. 14 billion K-cups end up in garbage dumps every year. That would look like a Mount Everest of garbage.
There is an article in Atlantic Monthly on k-cups waste at A Brewing Problem
There is a twitter campaign #killthekcup I know lots of you dear readers love your Keurig coffee makers and I hope you don't get mad at me, I just hope Keurig changes over to all recyclable cups!
Does this waste bother you too?
Do you have any tips to share about reducing waste? 
And thank you friends for your comments, I am learning some new things and tips when reading them. I suggest you all scroll through the comments to see other bloggers' clever ideas.

Wordless Wednesday: Forget-me-not

Here is a bouquet I bought at the organic Farmers' Market on Saturday.

I like the shadow under the vase in the first photo. Do you adore that color blue too? When I saw these Forget-me-nots I thought "I want to grow these." But, guess what, I think that whenever I see a flower I like. Photos on some of your blogs inspired me to buy a hydrangea, Green Bombshell, which is a smaller hydrangea. I saw incredible blue delphiniums on blogs and bought "Blue Mirror" delphinium this spring. Now I read on a blog there is a small lilac. There is so much beauty all around us, it is unending. As I grieve for the people in Orlando, I share these pretty photos here to lift spirits.
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Ephesians 6:12
"Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 15:27
I am linking to Wordless Wednesday

Book beginnings: Elizabeth and Her German Garden

The first words of "Elizabeth and Her German Garden" by Elizabeth von Arnim
"May 7. I love my garden. I am writing in it now in the late afternoon loveliness, much interrupted by the mosquitoes and the temptation to look at all the glories of the new green leaves washed half an hour ago in a cold shower."
This was published in 1898 anonymously and von Arnim went on to write novels that are still loved to this day. Elizabeth von Arnim is on my list of novelists I want to read. This book explores how she found escape from domestic duties by creating a garden in her husband's family property which had been abandoned for 25 years.
The edition I bought has the above cover and is a Virago Modern Classic, 1985.
I am linking with Rose City Reader

Wordless Wednesday Roses

This pretty bush is a rare old-fashioned rose I bought from a university plant sale about 20 years ago. I call her our Mary rose for the concrete statue of Mary that often stands near her.
I am linking to Wordless Wednesday