Never let me near a used book store. Ever.
Case in point.
Zephyr Books in Reno. They carry used, rare, and out-of-print books. One of the largest collections I’ve ever seen. A bibliophile’s heaven and an economic nightmare to said bibliophile’s bank account.
Well, not really, it is a used book store after all. But I dare any book lover to walk out of there without spending at least $20. Or in my case, $23.62. (Thank goodness I hadn’t emptied my coin purse as I usually do when it gets unwieldy.)
I had gone there in search of the book Father of Frankenstein written by Christopher Bram. Last night I had come across the movie “God and Monsters” and was so taken with it, I had to do some research. Happy was I to discover it was adapted from a book that received excellent reviews.
So off I went this morning to try and find said book. Was not happening.
When they told me they didn’t carry a copy, I should’ve left and gone to one of those big commercial stores. But no. I’d made the drive into town, so I thought I would at least browse around, plus I really wasn’t up for the B & N or Borders experience.
I only really hit one aisle. And that’s all it took:
The Last Town on Earth by Tomas Mullen
Historical Fiction, 416 pages
A Random House Trade Paperback
Similar to Geraldine Brook’s the Year of Wonders, this is a story inspired by a true event. Set during the 1918 epidemic, it tells of a town quarantining itself against a modern plague and the consequences of this decision.
Last Tales by Isak Dinesen
Short Story Collection, 352 pages
Vintage International
Vintage Books a division of Random House
This is a collection of twelve of the last tales that Isak Dinesen wrote before her death in 1962. They include seven tales from Albondocani a projected novel that was never completed.
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Fiction, 336 pages
Vintage International
Vintage Books a division of Random House
One of the greatest novels of the twentieth century, this novel tells of the tragedy of the Compson family. This edition follows the text as it was corrected in 1984 and includes an editor’s note regarding those corrections.
Of Love and Other Demons by Gabriel García Márquez
Fiction, 160 pages
Penguin Books
In the slave market in a tropical Colombian seaport, the Marquis’s 12 year old daughter is bitten by a rabid dog. Marquez’s novel of doomed love tells of the girls incarceration in a convent where a young priest is sent to exorcize the demon of her sickness, but falls in love instead.
I walked out with only four books. But as the saying goes, quality is better than quantity.
And I couldn’t agree more.