Used Bookstore Treasures

[osprey_archer]

I went to the used bookstore today and GUESS WHAT I FOUND! The third book in Pamela Dean's Secret Country trilogy, The Whim of the Dragon! Which means I only need to find the middle book in the trilogy and then I can read it!

I mean, yes, technically I could just order it from somewhere, but that takes all the thrill of the chase out of it. I'm also forever keeping my eyes open for Dorothy Sayer's Have His Carcase and Busman's Honeymoon, which are the two books in the Harriet Vane/Peter Wimsey sequence that I haven't got yet, and I would also really like to find Joan G. Robinson's When Marnie Was There (which the Studio Ghibli movie was based on - have I written about that movie? I really liked that movie, which somehow seems to make things harder to write about sometimes) - but I'm not sure that one was ever published in the United States.

They also had a couple of D. E. Stevenson's that I haven't read, which I looked at longingly, but on second thought D. E. Stevenson is an author whose books I enjoy but don't really reread, so I didn't get them. But then! Then I realized that moving means that I have a WHOLE NEW LIBRARY SYSTEM to check out, and WHO KNOWS which D. E. Stevenson novels they might have!

Have hied myself to the library catalog and discovered they have The Listening Valley, Celia's House, The Four Graces (set during World War II! Featuring sisters!)... Lots of choices!

I must check out their selection of Stella Gibbons and Rumer Godden too. Oh, and Ngaio Marsh. And of course Rosemary Sutcliff!

OH OH OH AND I JUST CHECKED AND THEY DO HAVE WHEN MARNIE WAS THERE! It's probably better to read it before I buy a copy anyway...

Comments

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!

I do the same thing with some books too – refusing to just sensibly order them, but forever hunting them down in secondhand shops. It's more fun!

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

It really is! And it gives a sense of purpose and direction to visiting used bookstores, because I have specific things to look for rather than just wandering about aimlessly.

It might be better if I started doing this for standalone books instead of series, though.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Ha, same! I'm forever stumbling across book #2 or book #3 in a series where I haven't read book #1. And then I have to decide if I should buy it, even though it might be months or years until I find book #1, and what if I don't like the first one? But on the other hand, what if I do like it and then never again get a chance to buy the sequel?

Such tough decisions!

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, yes, you need something to hunt down while in second hand bookshops and charity shops.

Yay, for a whole new library system with different treasures, though - that's also a lot of fun. (And cheap!)

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

So many authors to check out! I really ought to make a list of them so I don't stand around the bookstore going "So wait, which books was I looking for again?" But it takes some of the spontaneity out of it, having a list...

[lycoris.livejournal.com]

I know just what you mean. There is nothing more exciting than finding a book you really want in a bookshop, it's so much more exciting than just ordering it from the Internet somehow. It's that spark of "YES." it makes me very happy. Sometimes, I do just surrender but there's some things that I hold out for to enjoy the fun of! :)

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Right! It's like a treasure hunt, except there's not even a treasure map, so when you find the book it's like a little explosion of joy. Ordering it on the Internet is just so much less adventurous!