Half a month late on this one. Oh well. Let’s get into it.
The month started off with the Half-Priced Books “Warehouse” Sale. I imagined a giant warehouse in an industrial part of town with tables and tables of books with boxes stacked to the brim underneath. Everything for .50. As I was voicing my ridiculous fantasy my wife was like, “You know, it’s probably just going to be all of their clearance garbage from all of their local stores.” As soon as she said it, I figured she was right. Was she??
Hell yes she was. I got down there early and waited in line with the other cheapies. Doors open, I go in. The first thing I noticed is this is definitely not a warehouse. It wasn’t even half the size of their regular sized stores. I passed the couple boxes of paperbacks in the front hallway to get to the bulk. I went from small room to room. Nothing. I was so confused. I walked back out to the hallway and asked the ladies working where the paperbacks were. They said, right there. I was crushed. It was mostly romance, best sellers and westerns. I grabbed a grip of westerns. I do like to read them every once in awhile and hey, they were .50.
I headed into the hardcover room. Found some decent hardcovers, the Alistair Maclean, Agatha Christie etc. BUT THEN I stumbled upon that Michael McDowell Blackwater hardcover. How that made it into this clearance sale boggles the mind. At that point I was happy I came. I checked out with my little haul. While checking out the ladies said there were more paperbacks outside. I had seen them coming in and it was nothing but best sellers. I said thanks and walked out the door. To my surprise there were more tables than I had originally seen. On these tables were the crime pulp, spy books, sci-fi etc. Fuckin’ A. I grabbed everything that was even halfway decent. There still wasn’t a lot but I did fill some holes in my James Bond collection and was especially excited to find a Pan James Bond. I watch those Jules Burt videos on YouTube and drool over his Bond collection so it really made my day to find an actual UK edition of Diamonds are Forever even if it was a later printing and run.
Next up we made a little trip up to Tipp City Ohio to a bookstore we’d never been to called, Browse Awhile Books. Shoutout to @thebookabyss for the heads up. As soon as we walked in, we knew we were in the right place. They had shelves and shelves of old paperback books in bags. It’s a deceptively big place with a book filled basement. As soon as I seen the ultra-clean and organized shop with books in bags, I knew we probably weren’t pulling any cheap deals but at the same time I knew we were going to be getting quality stuff with tons of choices. I grabbed a bunch of crime. Some men’s adventure. Some horror. The horror was priced high. It’s a bummer but it’s kind of how things have been lately, so I don’t fault them for it. If they put it low some jackass would just buy it all and put it online for three times as much. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, don’t buy overpriced books online!
Anyway. They had lots of great stuff and if you’re in the area make sure you stop there. It’s one of those places where there’s so much to choose from that you’ll stand there with a stack having to make the what’s-going-to-have-to-get-cut choices.
Another great store that we often frequent is The Bookery in Fairborn Ohio. The Bookery is more known for their comics, but they do have a couple shelves of paperbacks. All of it is finely curated. Pulp, spy, crime, sci-fi and fantasy and that’s it. Everything is $5. It’s all in great shape. In fact, the whole store is like that. Old movie posters. Pulp magazines. Even the comics. They only have classic sought-after items. Many very expensive comics behind glass cases that you’ve only seen pictures of before. But we’re talking about paperbacks. It was a tight weekend with not much extra cash, so I only picked up four but each one I’m really happy with. Sometimes it’s more fun to pick out just a few really intriguing ones than a bulk of just ok books.
As we always do, we stopped in at our local Half Priced Books to see about any new stock. They got rid of their spinner racks and put everything on shelves. At first, I was into it as it would be easier to look at them but as I was browsing, I found I missed the spins. Oh well. Got a couple more crime books, that Blade which I learned about on Paperback Warrior podcast. They said it was like a spy series but with time travel. I’m excited to check it out. Also picked up the remaining Leo Malet book. I previously purchased the others they had but put this one off because of the higher sticker price. They reduced it and it had been sitting there too long and I didn’t want to risk someone else buying it so today was the day.
Last and definitely least was the Goodwill Outlet. We made the mistake of going right before opening. Usually, we go later in the day. Apparently, this was the flipper hour. Fucking human parasites. They go into the bins and just start throwing shit around. Shoving mounds right on you. For a second I thought it was about to be fist fight time. I took a deep breath and found some space. Set up some boundaries with body language and they backed off a little. They literally grab every mildly interesting book and throw it in their shopping cart. Then after it’s full they stand there and scan the barcodes, throwing 90 percent of what they grabbed like hyenas back into the bins. They have no respect for books. They probably can’t even read. This is how places like Thriftbooks get their stock. Just so you know.
Anyway. There wasn’t much this go around. I wasn’t even going to post it, but I liked that Pete Rose pre-gambling scandal Autobiography and I wanted to share it. I also wanted to complain once again about flippers. Ha.
And that concludes this month’s haul. I’ve already picked up some homeruns for May so be on the lookout for that post and hopefully it won’t be 15 days late like this one.
Book haul by Nick Anderson
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