The man in the picture has a $25 million book, and you can meet him this afternoon

We know that many of our friends are avid readers. Some are even avid book collectors and have remarkable volumes on their shelves. So when our friends at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair mentioned the gentleman in the picture, we knew he had to tell you about him. This is Owen Felix O'Neill. He lives far away from South St. Petersburg in Tipperary, Ireland. Mr. O'Neill possesses a fascinating little book he's offering for $25 million, not a sum we're likely to be spending on a book (or anything else, for that matter) anytime soon.

Still, Mr. O'Neill's story is compelling, and when we learned that this afternoon (Saturday) at 2:30 p.m. ET, sitting right here at the computer as you're doing now, it would be possible to meet the gentleman in person and hear his story, we thought some of our local avid readers and book collectors might like to know. Now you do.

If you follow the link above, you'll find a link to the live broadcast you can watch on Rare Book Cafe, which is a project of the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair. For your convenience, there's also a link on our Facebook page for Spare Room Mini Storage. (You've LIKED our Facebook page, haven't you? If not, you should right now.)

Anyway, if you're a reader and you watch the program, we'd love to hear about it. 

Florida Antiquarian Book Fair opens today

Earlier in the week, we mentioned the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, one of our favorite events every year. The book fair is now in it's 36th year and continues to offer book lovers a once-a-year treat of gathering together a gazillion* booksellers in The Coliseum in downtown to create a tiny book town with streets lined with purveyors of wonderful volumes with which one expands one's horizons. We came across the video above and had to share it. The video is actually the 30-second spot promoting the book fair that you may have seen on cable TV. The book fair opens today at 5 p.m.

*Not actual size.

36th annual Florida Antiquarian Book Fair gets under way Friday at The Coliseum

We are so fortunate to have an event the stature of the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair in our community. Every year we look forward to this amazing event. Booksellers from all over the country  gather at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg to present their offerings of books, maps, prints, ephemera, vintage photographs, and other collectible printed matter. The Florida book fair is the oldest and largest in the southeastern United States, and the third largest in the nation, behind New York and California.The event gets under way at 5 p.m. on Friday, April 21, and runs through Sunday. You can get lots of details, like what some of the booksellers are bringing, by flipping over to the book fair blog. You also can get a lot of information on Facebook, including live streaming updates every day at 10 a.m. this week leading up to the book fair. You'll find that live streaming report on our Facebook page.

Discoveries in Cuba: An amazing old book sale in a park and a beautiful 1950 Cadillac

Travel to Cuba is so easy now, and many of our friends and neighbors are making the trip to the Caribbean island that lies 90 miles off our shores. Students from Eckerd College have taken several trips down there in recent years. Our friend T. Allan Smith, who helps out with our social media efforts, just returned from a visit.

That's Allan in the photo at the top with his new best friend, Julio Cesar, a bookseller who seemed to have the largest collection of leather bound books in an open air market in Havana. Allan said the market springs to life three days a week in a city plaza in Old Havana and is a book lovers delight.

Allan would know. He's a former bookseller and works with the annual Florida Antiquarian Book Fair that is held at The Coliseum in St. Petersburg. Allan said he found not only books but also historic newspapers, magazines, antique cameras, vintage photographs, military campaign ribbons and pins, prints and posters, and a host of other collectible odds and ends.

No visit to Havana would be complete without tales of the 1940 and 1950s cars American cars still in operation today. They've become a popular focal point for tourists, and Allan said he saw plenty of them. The ride for him and his companions was a 1950 Cadillac with an International Harvester engine. (Click on the picture to enlarge it.) It's an eye-catching vehicle that even the locals stopped to look at as they rode around the city. Its colors were described as Lucifer Red and Champagne Gold. In the picture, that's Diego Luis, who Allan described as "the best driver in all of Havana."

As a book lover, Allan also visited Finca Vigia, the hilltop home of writer Ernest Hemingway, but that's a story for another time.

Have you taken a recent trip to Cuba? Share your story with us. Send an email to spareroomministorage@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you.