Pages and Pages

 The Big Book Sale claims it's "the biggest book sale on the West Coast," and it's tempting to shout, "hyperbole!" But how many book sales provide shopping carts? And how many can fill up the Festival Pavilion, a site typically used for international art shows and robot wars? The 200,000 books are piled high onto 300 tables, which stretch off into the distance like a Borges fever dream. Every book junkie with a bus pass swarms the aisles, especially on Sunday, when everything in the place goes for $1. But if you still find it hard to pull the trigger on yesterday's hit, consider the plot description of the current No. 2 New York Times best-seller: "A Tibetan abbot asks the FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast to help recover a stolen relic with evil powers." Maybe it's time to revisit Saul Bellow.
Sept. 27-30, 10 a.m., 2007