I had to be on Sanibel Island to help out with some merchandising and visit some stores on the island before noon. Using Android Navigation, I found that there was a Goodwill on the island in a little shopping plaza. I had to stop by. Quite possibly the smallest Goodwill ever. Maybe 600 sq. feet of floor space.
This is the Sanibel Island book selection. The guy who was behind the counter followed me around and talked to me for most of my visit. I told him I have a blog and he said taking pictures was okay by him. I learned that a long time ago.. always ask before taking pictures. I only found one book here that was a fantasy or sci-fi book, so I felt obligated to buy that. One other book looked interesting....
It's like they knew I was coming. Treating an alcoholic was right next to two beat up late printing Harry Potter books with water damage.
I had to go to a store back off the island, and there was a Goodwill book store in the same parking lot. My luck! I have talked about Goodwill Book Stores before and how they mark their prices up needlessly. If you click on the picture, you can see two clearance racks outside.. I shopped primarily from those and found a few books.
Two little sections had fantasy and sci-fi, and they were all priced as marked. Some of the prices did not make sense, but, if the book looked new and in good shape, it was eight bucks or thereabout. Good thing I'm more interested in the old crappy books. I did see some interesting books that I may go back and get. A Fred Saberhagen book club edition was mixed in, and I wanted it, but had to stay within my daily budget of $10. I spent the most at this store, $5.85, and got the least amount of books. Sigh.
I had to stop a little further down the road at a 711 and talk to a manager about some beer stuff, and within walking distance is a paperback exchange. I've been here before, she does not let me take pictures inside which sucks. I did not buy anything here as the selection is pretty slim. If you want some romance novels, this is your place! Floor to ceiling smutty barn romance here ladies.
My last stop of the day was at the Book Rack, my favorite national chain paperback exchange. This place is crazy.. and tends to be expensive. Only open four days a week for about seven hours, so I had to get in-get out.
Oh my god. I say it every time I walk in. My lord the inventory they have on hand makes Books-a-million cry and go to their room with no dinner. Sham on you any other book store that does not look like this. Literally seven feet tall, six or seven shelves total in the shape of a square with chairs in the middle. The lady here knows me, she organizes the books by series, alphabet and by awesomeness. I could spend all day in a place like this. The downside? Price. If the book looks nice, she puts $4.50 on it, period. If it looks old and shitty, .50 cents. If it is part of a series, its $2.50 which is pretty nice if your fleshing out you're Dragonlance books or something...
....and she has over 75 Dragonlance alone, and more in the back when it runs low. My budget dwindling and me having picked over all the best books, I only got to spend $3.00 here. There was a time about seven or eight years ago I would spend $80 a week in this store alone. I could do it now with all the books I'm missing, but again, I have this fictional budget of $10.00 per day, so I can buy something every day if I want to. Why the budget? Well $10 a day is around $300 a month, which is much more than many people spend on books. My budget is high and if I went over it, I would be straining to buy gas and food! Anyways, let's recap:
1) Rainbow Mars - Larry Niven
2) Starswarm - Brian Aldiss
3) Man from Tomorrow - Wilson Tucker
4) A Private Cosmos - Phillip Jose Farmer
5) The Ring of Ritornel - Charles L. Harness
6) The Eagle and the Sword - Harvey K. Schreiber
7) A Small Armageddon - Mordeon Roshwald
8) Talon Silverhawk - Raymond Feist
9) Being a Green Mother - Piers Anthony
10) Star Trek Log Three - Phillip Jose Farmer
11) Star Trek Log Two - Phillip Jose Farmer
Not a bad day. Picked up 11 books, 9 of which were new to my collection. Nothing very valuable, but some stuff I have not seen, or seen in a while. Tied to the constraints of my budget I could not go crazy at the Book Rack and their vast inventory. Maybe some eBay money will come in soon and I can put that back into the system and go nuts. My cat Artax helped me put the books away. Yes, Artax from the Neverending Story.
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