I realize we are all pretty geographically removed from one another, but for anyone visiting western massachiusetts sometime in the next couple of decades, I would like to strongly recommend Book Bear -- WOW -- 16' of just classical studies, most in great condition at wonderful prices, plus tons of other stuff with great depth in the fields I am interested in

http://www.thebookbear.com/

I'm heading over there now!

Dude it's past midnight... haha

That place looks amazing though. Definitely have to make a visit if I'm ever in western Mass again (who knows when that will be).

Just got back. The place was incredible! Even at this hour, business was brisk. And all on less than two tanks of gas. I don't know why we can't have a store like that in the NY area.

you have some wild middle of the night fantasies Stellar ...

In the night, I come alive....!

Actually, I think a 24-hour used bookstore (perhaps with attached café), for those of us who are night owls, would be pretty cool. :)

I'm always hoping for federal legislation that would require ALL used bookstores to be open 24 hours.

Yeah, great thinking, that would force another couple of thousand out of business...

No, the gov't would pay for the overtime.

Beer must be served at all hours, of course...

>11

That floats right along with my idea of a brewery/bookstore. A brewkery, perhaps? That's actually something my fiancee and I have (jokingly) talked about. She can't see a reason why I don't combine the two, and I can't see a reason to disagree.

> 12 That's such an obvious idea that I'm surprised nobody has actually done it (that I have seen). Particularly here in the Portland/beervana area, where people love their books and love their gourmet beers. Yet I can't recall seeing any alcohol-serving cafés attached to any of the bookstores here. Coffee, juice, pastries, yes; but no alcohol, that I can recall.

Seems like there is a huge untapped niche market out there ... :)

Message edited by its author, Sep 21, 2009, 12:39pm.

Des -- I like the way your fiancee thinks

Essa -- yes "untapped" is the word!

Message edited by its author, Sep 21, 2009, 9:00pm.

Made another trip to Book Bear today. Beautiful autumn day for a ride in the country. Spent over three hours there and there’s still a lot more to explore. Picked up two cool books in excellent condition for $13 total – Brutal Journey: The Epic Story of the First Crossing of North America by Paul Schneider in first edition hardcover & Time Detectives: How Scientists Use Modern Technology to Unravel the Secrets of the Past by Brian Fagan in trade paper. Both volumes were very lightly handled & in wonderful condition. Go Book Bear!

Message edited by its author, Sep 28, 2009, 7:05pm.

Time Detectives: A good book we now share! Along those lines, I also liked Timewalkers: The Prehistory of Global Colonization by Clive Gamble, though I have the sense that all books about human prehistorical whereabouts written before the recent revolution in human genetic origins (cf., and well known to Garp, Deep Ancestry: Inside the Genographic Project by Spencer Wells) may have serious gaps.

>6
I will personally vouch for Stellar's nocturnal proclivities!

Message edited by its author, Oct 2, 2009, 10:24am.

Naughty boy (or girl)! ;-)

>17,19
Guilty, and better to have it out than have it used against me!

Message edited by its author, Oct 2, 2009, 11:17am.

Have any of you ever made a pilgrimage to the Book Barn in Niantic, CT? Some of us from The Green Dragon group here on LT met there last Summer. I'm fantasizing about moving there at some point. No joke...

http://www.bookbarnniantic.com/

>21 Wow! I would spend so much time in there my family would file a missing persons report with the cops.

> 22 My family and friends wouldn't need to. They'd just figure that I was there and be resigned to it (and a few of them would be in there with me). :D

> 21 What a great place for a meet-up! Did you actually get any meeting-up done, though, or did you just shake hands and then wander, glassy-eyed, through the stacks of books? :)

Message edited by its author, Oct 2, 2009, 6:14pm.

If the rent in Niantic isn't enough to make you go hungry, the Book Barn might just take up the slack ;)

Yeah a number of is have. I think we should organize a LT pilgrimage there in the spring. Thee's a great restaurant/pub in town we could go afterwards to celebrate our good fortune.

#23 - We did. We met for breakfast first and then we went shopping. Let me see if I can dredge up a piccie or two of our loot for the day.

I think I'm going to cry because there is no Book Barn near me. There is only one used bookstore around here, and I hardly ever go because it never seems to have any books. Oh, the shelves are full, but I rarely find anything l want to read. I love used bookstores, but my local one just doesn't have the right atmosphere.

Fun!

#27 - Awww. :o/ This place is still over an hour away from us, and in almost 9 years living here I've only managed to get there once. So, please, don't feel too badly.

I am on vacation in a week and Book Barn is on the itinerary and one called Book Bear.

Went on the Haj to Book Barn this summer. Grew in spirit and in library, but I had to lock the kids in the trunk to quiet their protests. I did not think three hours was unreasonable, but they differed.

Children (and sometimes spouses) don't seem to understand that a used bookstore is a destination, not a stopover.

#31 - Didn't you let them run wild with the cats and the goat? I brought my daughter with me last year, and I had to pry her out of the place. She's as much of a book nut as I am, though.

>33
Well, stellargirl is six, and she did like the dogs, but isn't yet a bibliophile. stellarkid is 12, and is decidedly against anything that causes him to remain in one place for more than thirty seconds, unless it's a video game.

It's Ok, if it's a choice between books and being popular with my kids, the answer is clear!

#34 - Mine are a bit older. My daughter just turned 18 and has her own lifetime account here on LT. My son, who is 14, feels the same as your 12 year old. *sigh* Although he usually enjoys what they make him read at school, he has only read a handful of books on his own in the last couple of years.

When garpette was a girl, she loved books as much as I. We used to go to bookstores together all the time and she had her own little library. Alas, as she grew into a beautiful, intelligent young woman her interest in printed matter declined considerably. At 21, she still reads, but not with that same vigor.

As for Garpon, he is 18 and has never liked books on any level, especially if he was told he had to read them. As a freshman in college, he realizes he must actually deal with them, but I don't think he'll ever be into books.

As for Mrs. Garp, she reads occasionally, usually horror genre, but again she doesn't have a thing for books like me.

I give you all of this by way of explanation -- and empathy -- for why I never take my family with me on trips to used bookstores. On vacation, there are two alternate images: my family sitting forlornly in the car together in front of a bookstore bored and complaining while Dad struggles to contain himself during his allocated minutes there, or Dad looking forlornly out the window as we drive past the bookstore.

That image is me, Garp!

So sorry to hear that, Garp & Stellar! I am very blessed in having a husband who is as much a book nut as I, though our areas of interest differ. He looks bemusedly at my purchases of dense tomes on history, while I mine his science fiction collection with great enjoyment!

My kids are around the same ages as the Stellarkids, and they are both full blown bookworms. However, they just don't have the staying power to spend hours on end in a bookstore. My husband reads newspapers, farming magazines, and tractor manuals. There don't tend to be many of those at used bookstores.

If we're travelling (which occurs infrequently), my husband always stops if we see a used bookstore. But I just can't get very absorbed in it when I know they are all waiting for me.

>38
Oh staffordcastle, stellarwoman is completely on board and loves books. It's the little brown dwarfs that are the problem!

Glad to hear it, Stellarexplorer! Hopefully the stellarkids will grow into it - there's still time!

Went to a huge antiquarian book fair at a high school in Northamption that was ... well, bloody awful. This after I spent most of yesterday trawling used bookstores and came away empty handed. But, afterwards we went to The Raven, a cool used bookstore in Northampton and: GREAT SUCCESS!

I'd like to make a quick plug for Library Used Book Sales. I have spent the last couple of months boxing and sorting books for my library's first ever used book sale. I ended up buying quite a few books over that time. (The volunteers got first dibs, so I had to show some restraint!) You can check out most of my loot here: http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott...

Between my daughter and I we probably brought home a total of 65 - 70 books, for about $45.

If you live in the US and have no idea where to find library books sales in your neck of the woods you can check here: http://booksalefinder.com/

Message edited by its author, Oct 18, 2009, 6:58pm.

I agree, clamairy. A large portion of my books are from library book sales. Probably about 80% of the hardcovers. There is a big sale next weekend in London, Ontario, and I'll be there, come hell or high water. Last year they started charging by the bagful.

Library sales are one of my favorites!

Library sales are wonderful - at some libraries. Thelibrary in my town has nothing, but I used to live near Southport CT & they have a huge book sale every year at the Pequot Library -- it is awesome. Another good one is often at the Belchertown MA library. I agree that those can be the most exciting sales, because professionals are rarely involved & the picks are great.

#43 - There's a listing of all the library book sales!!!! My wife will curse this day.

#47 - Yes, by the state/date!

I 'saved myself' this year for the one in my own town. It was our first, but I have been going to them since I was 13 and living in Southold, NY. It was one of the bright points of the Summer for me as a yoot.

That's funny, they have my schools "ongoing sale" on there... but unfortunately all they have is utter trash ... I looked through the "for sale" shelf the other day and there is absolutely nothing even remotely interesting haha

Oh wait... :-(

#49 - Ongoing sales are a mixed blessing. Once in a while I find something wonderful, but mostly it's already been picked over and over and over. :o/

Library book sales can be wonderful.

I've discovered that as a stamp collector (who's just started to get serious about it in the last couple of years), the big city library's fall sale is treasure trove: get there early and you can find the previous couple of years stamp catalogues on the cheap.

Other than that, though I by far prefer used book stores: if I find I don't care for a book, I can pass it on or sell it back. Library booksales are primarily library discards, and none of my local used bookstores will take them (even the thrift stores are starting to turn up their noses at them).

#51 - I guess it depends on which libraries' sale you are frequenting. Most of the ones I've been to have donated books for sale and only about 10% of the books are discards.

#51. You can also donate them back to the library so they can resell them at the next sale.

Thank goodness! You guys just reminded me of a big library sale near me tomorrow!!

Mine was today. I got about 40 books, mostly hardcover. I had to stop when I reached the limit I could carry out to the car.

Good hunting, stellar!

Thx -- I'll try to be the early bird!

SylviaC, let us know when you add them to LT. I get a thrill out of looking through other people's loot.

Same with you, stellar. Good luck today. (I'm guessing you've already filled up a few boxes.)

Message edited by its author, Oct 24, 2009, 10:23am.

Well, rain had a big impact on the sale. It was outdoors, under temporary large plastic structures. It was hard to put books aside, because space was at a premium and there was a danger of water.

So I felt fortunate to come away with 9 good books. The most satisfying acquisition was a nice hardback copy of volume 1 of Meier's A Marginal Jew, one of the best and more scholarly considerations of the historical Jesus. Also, the large and comprehensive Rodale Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening. I'm moving more toward dietary reform. Just this morning finished In Defense of Food, the logical and almost obligatory follow-up to Pollan's earlier The Omnivore's Dilemma.

Message edited by its author, Oct 24, 2009, 4:27pm.

I read this thread this morning and felt somewhat jealous, then happaned to drive by a BOOK SALE at a senior center. Walked out with 9 solid books, most history hardcovers in excellent condition, for a grand total of $6.50!!! Yay!

You live a charmed life, Garp!

21 - A spring field trip to the Book Barn would be great!

62 --I'm in on Book Barn field trip!!!

61 -- Stellar -- you too buddy!

I'm in, but I might have to stop at this place on the way home:

http://www.catocornerfarm.com/cheese.php

Nice hauls, Grap (AKA Garp) and stellar.

Bravo, Garp & Stellar!

>64 clamairy

Oh, right. You get cheese and Book Barn. I am definitely going to cry.

Sorry, SylviaC. You'd be with us in spirit, right?

Message edited by its author, Oct 24, 2009, 11:16pm.

The spirit is willing, but the location is wrong.

That cheese looks really good!! I want in! (I'm ordering some Womanchego!)

Library book sales around here are about the reverse: 80% discards and 20% or so donations, or so I've found.

Either way, I've missed the big one this year, I think.

You lot are finding some great books it sounds like.

> 62-69: Considering the costs of transatlantic travel - better spent on books - you'll have to count me out too. ;-(

I was at both Book Bear and Book Barn last week, while on vacation. WOW! I returned home with 70 books and probably half came from those two stores.

If you are in the area again, please let me know. I'll buy you a beer!

Here's the loot I got on Saturday at the local senior center for a grand total of $6.50:

Books from the book sale

 Daughter Of Fortune -- Isabel Allende (trade paper)
 The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story Of Those Who Survived The Great American Dust Bowl – Timothy Egan (trade paper)
 The Bonus Army: An American Epic – Dickson & Allen (trade paper)
 Titan: The Life Of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. – Ron Chernow (hardcover)
 Mystic River: A Novel – Dennis Lehane (hardcover first edition)
 Nixon And Kissinger: Partners In Power – Robert Dallek (hardcover)
 In Suspect Terrain – John McPhee (trade paper)
 The Best And The Brightest – David Halberstam (hardcover)

Nice haul, and can' beat the price!

I am now going to admit something on the morbid side. I'm not proud of it, but the fact remains. It's in my mind. I sometimes think about my parents' books. About the fact that neither of my siblings will have any interest in them, and that one day, hopefully a long time from now (my folks are both 75), I may be looking at the library and selecting which ones I will have. (I told you it was a morbid thought.)

I bring it up because I spoke to them today, and they are selling their house and moving to a smaller place. They indicated that "some books will be available". I think I may soon be freed of the morbid association I have at looking at their collection!

Hmmm ... yes morbid perhaps but it's nice to know the books will go somewhere where they will be appreciated. I don't have anyone looking forward to inheriting my books

Mine from Saturday, for $10, not including an extra dollar for a reusable environmentally-friendly tote bag to tote them off in:


The origins of Christianity: Sources and documents by Howard Clark Kee
Questions of the French Revolution : a historical overview by Jacques Solé
The Reformation by George L. Mosse
Luther and the Reformation by Heather Cubitt
Ivanhoe: A Romance (Modern Library Classics) by Sir Walter Scott (Spanking new paperback)
Those Who Prayed: An Anthology of Medieval Sources by Peter Speed
The First Moderns: Profiles in the Origins of Twentieth-Century Thought by William R. Everdell (hardcover)
A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus by John P. Meier (hardcover)
The Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening by J. I. Rodale (hardcover)

Message edited by its author, Oct 25, 2009, 9:04pm.

#75. Oh good, I'm not the only one. I thought perhaps there was something wrong with me.

Stellar -- now your list is eclectic, isn't it? From Jesus to Ivanhoe to Gardening .... well, there is a "hoe" in Ivanhoe so maybe its subliminal ...

My haul was almost all fiction. They had an excellent selection of children's books, all in great condition, but not much adult non-fiction. They were mostly library discards, which I really like. Many of them look like they've hardly ever been used, which is nice in a way, but makes me kind of sad to think that no one has been reading them.

>75 stellarexplorer
When I particularly liked one of my mother's books, she always used to say to me, "I'll leave it to you when I die." Naturally, I wasn't in any hurry to acquire her books that way, so I always tried to find my own copies. Unfortunately, that time came far sooner than anyone expected, and I inherited all of her books. It look me four years to whittle our combined libraries down to a manageable size. Where there were duplicates, I kept the copy that was in best condition, and if both were equal, I would usually keep her copy. I received some very good books, but I would have preferred to wait longer.

Fortunately, both my kids are readers, so I know that at least some of my books will continue to be appreciated after my time.

Those Who Prayed looks interesting, as does A Marginal Jew.

>80
Sylvia, thanks for that. I believe my parents -- especially my mother, who is more the reader and book acquirer -- are very pleased that one of their children will appreciate their books. As I will be should one of mine prove to value books as I do....!

>79
A bit eclectic, maybe. But that is what I'd expect, as I'm an eclectic kind of guy. (I hope that doesn't sound like a boast? I pride myself on well-intentioned passionate dilettantism!)

>76
Garp, I would love to inherit your books!

> 75: Yes, I can see how you would think of that as morbid. But on the other hand, I'm sure - when the time comes, and may it still be many years away - your parents would rather see their books find a good home.

A couple of years ago, when he passed away at 89, I inherited most of my father's books (my brothers not being interested) - some of them even came down from my grandparents. And while not all of them are really my "cup of tea", I'll treasure them all.

> 76: Yeah, it's a bit sad to think that my library will probably simply be dissolved when I go. Sigh...

Ted I will keep you in mind!

>85
Uh Garp, I know we are about he same age, but I have good genes for longevity...give a look in my direction, if you would! ;-D

LOL

Stella, don't be proud. Claim your parents books while you have the chance. I told my parents before they moved what books I wanted, but they didn't remember when they actually cleared out the house. It took me years to find some of them again.

Good advice jennieg! I hope I won't return with the story that they were offended, and cut me completely out of the literary will! ;-)

No, you're doing them a favor! They won't have as much room in the new place, after all.

Put post-it notes in the books you want. It will make it easier for everyone.

Anyone remember the old TV show "Supermarket Sweep"?

92>

So, we should visit used book stores with a shopping cart and a large timer?

LOL. Maybe some modifications would be necessary.

Keep the shopping cart, can the timer. :-)