Reading Outside the Box
by our literary correspondent, E. N. Beej
I have been a patron of used bookstores ever since I can remember. There's just something about the musty comfortable ambience of the used bookstore. But I must admit that of late, my regard for the used bookstore has risen in direct relationship to the spread of the bigbox bookstore.
The things I like about used bookstores are several, and coincidentally the things that I find lacking in the bigbox chains. For starters, they're quiet. At most, there may be one person talking at a time and never people trying to talk over each other or competing with Neil Diamond's greatest hits being piped over the state-of-the-art sound system. To my mind, quiet and bookstores go together.
Most used bookstores are owner-operated and invariably this means that they are operated by booklovers. Who else would knowingly go into a business with low profit margins, no benefits, long hours and increasing competition from the bigboxes and the internet sellers? But these folks know books, both their own and literature in general. They can talk knowledgeably and passionately about books. To them a sale can make or break a day and they will often go the extra step to help you. And their interest is genuine unlike the programmed little ditty that I hear from the teenaged salesperson at my local Chapters (i.e. "Did you find everything you were looking for?"; I doubt if anyone at Chapters could help me locate anything that I hadn't found on my own).
Of course, the prices at used bookstores are always better than those found at the bigboxes. Typically, they are half of the cover price, and when even softcovered books can easily be $20 or more, the savings are not insignificant. And they often have their own version of the remainders bin where some really interesting books can be found at giveaway prices (and often they are being given away).
I have seen books at used bookstores that would never make it to the bigboxes. For example, I recently came across all of the entries to the Pacific Rim literary competition at a local used bookstore. There were books put out by the mainstream publishers but also by university publishers, independent publishers and author-publishers. I purchased three and discovered authors that I would never have come across at the bigbox stores.
As well, review copies, which are often interesting for what they are, can be found at the used bookstore. It looks as if book reviewers and editors take the books that are sent to them for editing and/or review purposes to the used bookstores for a few extra dollars. I was once able to compare a proof copy of a biography of Billie Holiday with the eventually released sanitized version. It was interesting to see how political correctness influenced the changes in the book.
Similarly, it is amazing what out-of-print items turn up at used bookstores. For example, if one went to the children's book department of Chapters, you might be forgiven if you concluded that children's literature started and ended with Harry Potter. But at the used bookstore, you get a sense of the history of this form of literature. Similarly, books on topics and perspectives that have gone out of vogue can be found at the used bookstore. While Chapters will have many titles and copies on the topics of the day, try finding something that is not current.
If you've never been to a used bookstore, you may be pleasantly surprised by paying a visit to one. If you have but have fallen out of the habit, do yourself a favour and spend an hour or two in a used bookstore and rekindle some pleasant memories.
Reading Outside the Box © E. N. Beej, 2001
