Turnt pages

Those of us inclined to observe National Book Lovers’ Day on Sunday, August 9, are likely the type whose idea of a celebration is curling up on the couch with a book, interacting with our favorite type of people: fictional ones. But this, of course, can also be done on any of the other 364 days of the year, so why not take this opportunity to change out of your reading sweats and celebrate your love for all things printed and bound? It's the perfect opportunity to indulge in a new book or even a rare title stocked at Time Tested Books (1114 21st Street), like the signed first-edition of Stranger Music: Selected Poems by Leonard Cohen ($500), or A Thousand Acres signed by Jane Smiley ($75). If neither of those fit your holiday budget, last month saw the release of one of the most highly anticipated and hotly debated novels in recent memory: Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee ($28.99).

For the roving reader, consider a day trip to the Angels Camp Museum (753 South Main Street in Angels Camp), which features a Mark Twain exhibit dedicated to his formative writing years and the short story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” Finish up your day by following the routine of Joan Didion, pride of Sacramento book nerds, which she revealed in a Paris Review interview in 1978: “I need an hour alone before dinner, with a drink, to go over what I've done that day.” Post solitary imbibing, you could stroll by her gorgeous former home (2000 22nd Street). Then again, maybe all this celebratory effort is superfluous; on the topic of why she enjoyed coming home, Didion had this to say: “In Sacramento nobody cares if I appear or not. I can just get up and start typing.” If that's true for Didion, it's true for you too, so in the end, there's no shame if you want to just get up and start reading.