Random Finds

The cool thing about going into a second hand bookstore is that you never know what you'll find.  When you go into one, you do know what you are going to get.  That musty smell.  You know it.  It's usually a little bit darker.  And every once in a great while, you'll find a bookstore with a cat in it.  Those are the best ones.  The great thing about second hand bookstores are usually locally owned and help drive the local economy.  There has been a great drive to buy local across the country recently, and that is pretty cool.

We have yet to find a cool second hand bookstore in our new city, but I'm always on the look out.  When I find my way into a second hand store, there are a few things I look for.  Classic novels.  They're called classics for a reason and even if you don't end up liking the book at least you can say that you read it.  Or is that just a pretentious thing to do?  You might find a book that is a classic that you end up falling in love with even though you had little to no idea what it was about.  For example, I found a copy of 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' many years ago in a second hand store.  I had heard of the book and the character and took advantage of finding it.  I enjoyed the book.  I'm glad I bought it and it is still on my bookshelf.  However, I don't know if I would have bought it if I had seen it at a normal full price bookstore. 

Second hand bookstores also give you the opportunity to find an author or genre you might not have ever seen or given a thought to pick up.  I started reading more fantasy books this way.  You can maybe find a trilogy or a two part book series and can buy the entire set for fairly cheap.  I've bought some books that ended up not being very good, but when you only pay four or five dollars for them, it's not as disappointing as if you had paid full price.  Not that long ago, my wife and I made our way up to a Half Price Books.  It's a nationwide chain of second hand bookstores.  You can also sell your used books there for credit if you so desire.  I found a book called 'The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared'.  The main reason it caught my eye?  The interesting title.  So far, I'm about one hundred and twenty pages into it.  It's a fun book and so far I am glad I found it. 

Find a used bookstore.  Take a chance on a book or a genre you wouldn't normally buy.  You never know what you will find.  You might go down a genre rabbit hole you wouldn't have gone down.