The Great Used Book Hunt

Last week as a bit of a lark, I mentioned to Na Clann that one thing we had never done was make a one day run of the Local Used Book Chain in our area.  While we have been to the stores in our area many times, there are stores farther away which we have been to infrequently and at least one that we have never been to since it opened.

(I know, I know - me not making it to a used book store in my area.  Shocking.)

It is not that I need a "new" book of course; I have many good ones and frankly my purchases over the last 4 years have dwindled somewhat due to narrowing interests (and, perhaps, available space).  And yet, still in my mind there is always the chance that some volume I am searching for is out there and I am going to miss it by not going, the "Great White Whale" will breach the shelf of a bookstore and I will miss it because I was not diligent enough to check.

I did not think much of the comment after that, until two things happened.  The first was the notification that the aforementioned Local Used Book Chain was having a 20% sale for 3 days after Christmas.  The second was Nighean Dhonn pointing out aforementioned 20% sale, along with "When are we going?"

And so, The Great Used Book Hunt was on.

The plan was simple:  We would start at the store farthest away from us (25 miles or so) and then work our way back up, hitting every one on the way  (7 total).  Lunch would be provided (thanks, parental responsibility) and there was no time table on staying in each store or how long we would be out.  This was what we were doing for the day.

And so, out I, Nighean Gheal, and Nighean Dhonn went.

Total time on out was just about 8 hours. Some general observations on the experience as a whole:

- Even for a chain, not every store was the same.  That was good and bad - good in the sense that there was always some variety in what we were looking at, bad in the sense that there seemed to be an unequal distribution of categories of books.  I knew different stores seemed to "specialize" in book types; this was confirmed.

- As we rolled into our routine, we all immediately hit up specific sections to look at.  In my case, this was history, science fiction, and theology.  After one or two stores, you get pretty quick at making passes for the obvious things you are looking for.

- One of the joys of a used book store is that sometimes you find the unexpected gem.  Or the thing you did not anticipating wanting - but it went out the door with you all the same.

- For lunch, we stopped at a creperie.  This one was special in that it was staffed by hearing impaired/deaf staff, so you point to order.  I managed to remember how to say "thanks" in sign language.  Funny how just a simple thing like not being able to speak can put you off your game (The crepes were delicious.  I had one filled with salmon, onions and cream cheese with capers on the top.).

- In total we walked away with 27 books, 8 of which were mine.  I would have paid $168 if I had bought them all new; I actually paid $60.  

-  7 book stores in a day seems to be the outer limit of what I can manage.  Much more than than and I would start to loose interest pretty quickly.

The best part, of course, was having spending time with the Na Clann.  We did not necessarily discuss any sorts of deep subjects, but just chatted about this and that.  I got grafted into their Social Media narratives, which almost never happens.

I am looking forward to next year's marathon.