Book Reviews
Charlottesville 365; Green Valley Book Fair in Mount Crawford, VA
May 24, 2009 by Sasha C. Farmer, REALTOR ® · 1 Comment
For avid readers, the Green Valley Book Fair is well worth the trip outside of Charlottesville! This book fair is situated in a 25,000 square foot warehouse, and houses over 800,000 books each year! The marketing brochure advertises the fair as offering 60-90% off of retail price, and I’d venture to say you may save even more! The fair has every category of book imaginable; business, children’s books, sports, cooking, history, bestsellers, fiction, outdoors, arts & crafts, gardening, reference books, health, self-help, travel, audio books, and so much more. It is situated into 3 major sections, and it’s as easy to shop as a Barnes & Noble!
The trip to the Green Valley Book Fair from Charlottesville will take 45 minutes to an hour, as it is located just South of Harrisonburg, VA. Located at 2192 Green Valley Lane in Mount Crawford, VA, you should plan for it to take about 50 minutes, each way. Please visit the map to the Green Valley Book Fair at the bottom of this post!
The book fair has an incredible selection- it could be a great place to stock up on gifts all year long! These books are typically very up-to-date or may be one season behind what is hot on the shelves right now. Some of my personal favorites are the Creating Keepsakes Scrapbooking books that typically run about $21.00 – $25.00 retail, and that you can buy for $5.00 at the fair, and beautiful coffee table hardback books and cook books that also typically run in the $20+ price range but that are for sale here as low as $3.50! I am always pleasantly surprised to spend in the $100-$125 price range while getting at least 25 books, and replenishing my stock of gift books that I give to new home buyers, my favorite cookbooks to give to recent newlyweds, and my favorite baby books to give to new moms!
The fair is situated between 3 major sections. When you first walk in, the fair looks to be about the size of a typical Barnes & Noble Store, but then the excitement awaits you around the corner when you realize there is still an entirely separate section upstairs, and then just as you think you’ve seen it all there is a huge section on the bottom floor that spans the entire building as well! Make sure to plan to be at the book fair for at least an hour, because you can barely even skim through the categories any faster than that!
The book fair is open for a select set of dates, about 15 days at a time each time. There is definitely some benefit to going towards the beginning of a new opening, since while there is a HUGE selection and plenty to choose from, there are definitely some books that are very popular and that the fair will only receive a couple copies of.
Green Valley Book Fair 2010 Dates:
- March 13 – March 28, 2010
- May 15 – May 31, 2010
- July 3 – July 18, 2010
- August 21 – September 6, 2010
- October 9 – October 24, 2010
- November 26 – December 18, 2010
Green Valley Book Fair Times
- Open 9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. daily, including Sundays and Memorial Day!
Green Valley Book Fair Details
- The book fair accepts Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express.
- There is a vending machine for drinks inside, and a stand set up outside with hot dogs and snacks. Food and drink are not permitted inside the book fair buildings.
Visit the Green County Book Fair Website.
Become a Fan of the Green Valley Book Fair and follow their updates on Facebook.
Photos from the Green Valley Book Fair
Map to the Green Valley Book Fair – 2192 Green Valley Lane / Mount Crawford, VA 22841.
And, as always, if you like that area; here are some nearby homes for sale;
Showing properties
1 - 10 of 45.
See more city of Staunton (city) real estate.
(all data current as of
5/22/2012)
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$144,900 : 808 Moore St, STAUNTON (CITY)3 beds, 2 full baths
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$95,000 : 106 Robinhood Rd, STAUNTON (CITY)2 beds, 1 full bath
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$199,900 : 314 Yount Ave, STAUNTON (CITY)3 beds, 3 full baths
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$134,900 : 418 Parkwood Ln, STAUNTON (CITY)4 beds, 1 full bath
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$165,000 : 613 Churchville Ave, STAUNTON (CITY)3 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths
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$179,900 : 700 Bull Run, STAUNTON (CITY)3 beds, 2 full baths
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$159,900 : 134 Collinswood Dr, STAUNTON (CITY)3 beds, 2 full baths
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$163,900 : 132 Collinswood Dr, STAUNTON (CITY)3 beds, 2 full baths
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$230,000 : 701 Alleghany Ave, STAUNTON (CITY)3 beds, 1 full, 1 part baths
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$159,900 : 136 Collinswood Dr, STAUNTON (CITY)3 beds, 2 full baths
Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
January 5, 2009 by Sasha C. Farmer, REALTOR ® · Leave a Comment
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See, was definitely a quick read- I couldn’t put it down and ended up finishing it in just two nights. The story takes place in 19th Century China and is about a young girl (and her many family members) and her struggles as a woman in this period.
Foot binding, which I had heard of but had never understood the full extent of, was standard practice amongst women of that time- nearly all women (except for lowly peasants and servants who needed bigger, stronger feet to work the fields) had their feet bound at age 6 or 7, and the details of this process were just astonishing. Foot binding involves a process of wrapping the toes beneath the foot, leaving just the big toe to bear the full weight of the body. Once feet are bound, the young girls are forced to walk daily back and forth, to encourage the breaking of all of the bones in the toes, and eventually all of those throughout the foot. Many young girls die during this process, with infection spreading from their toes up through their legs to the rest of their bodies. However, if a young lady survives, the ultimate goal is to break all bones in the foot, form a perfect point led by the big toe, and the result should be a foot around 7 centimeters in length, known as a “perfect lily.” The process sounded absolutely brutal and even after two years of walking in agony until the foot formed correctly, these feet then hindered women for the rest of their lives. When later fleeing their village from attack, many women died because their feet simply could not carry them the distance or over the terrain that was covered. I was surprised to hear that second to only a son, these well-formed feet were probably a woman’s most prized possession in this time. They were certainly her ticket to a better life, and were also an aphrodisiac to men, who were perpetually in awe of and fascinated by them.
Women in these times were considered useless and worthless, their only contribution to society being that of bearing a son. The story is about the secret language that women in these times developed for themselves in order to communicate to one another during their long periods of isolation in the upper chambers of their homes. ”Nu Shu” was a phonetic language developed by women, for women, to assist them in sharing tales of woe, loneliness, heartache, and suffering.
Lily, the young girl in the story, becomes lifelong best friends (laotangs) with another young girl, Snow Flower, and over their many years of friendship they pass a secret fan back and forth that contains the “nu shu” language. Both girls and their families witness much suffering and despair throughout their lives, as was typical of women in 19th Century China. The story of their unfaltering friendship throughout the many hardships they both face is an incredible one, and must be read to be understood.
The book was wonderful in that it provided such a large piece of history without feeling at all historical. The life lessons are priceless, and it is eye-opening in so many ways- we truly have a lot to be thankful for. Remember to stay away from judgement when you read this book- it is difficult to understand these traditions but we gain so much wisdom if we do.
This picture is not for the weak-stomached, but below is a photo of and older woman who has had her feet bound and actually has what is close to “a perfect pair of lilies.”
