Screen capture of homepage, accessed 3/28/19
Website Review: Thriftbooks
Used books
Bookstore Review: Amaranth Books
Bookstores can be like old friends. I had a chance to visit one of those while in Evanston, Illinois this weekend. A number of years ago I was at meetings in Evanston and found a wonderful used and rare bookstore called Amaranth Books. C.S. Lewis lover that I am, I found a reasonably priced copy of Allegory of Love. So, when I had a break between morning and evening speaking engagements, I looked up bookstores near where I was staying and discovered it was .3 miles away, just a short walk.
One of my first impressions walking in was of a store neatly organized that optimized display, an extensive selection and ease of moving through the store’s three main aisles, lined with books on each side. Just inside the entry are a good selection of $1 and $2 books. I was tempted by several but limited myself to a biography of Cotton Mather, reflecting my interest in American religious history.
The store also features an extensive selection of used classical CDs, tempting me with another of my loves. I found a recording of Adolphus Hailstork music. Our choral group has sung some of his music and I was delighted to actually find something recorded by him.
The store’s website indicates that they buy and sell children’s literature, classical CDs and DVDs, cultural books, fiction, non-fiction, poetry and rare books. Given the location near Northwestern University, one gets the feel that its appeal is to an educated, literate clientele. In the fiction section there were a number of first editions. I was impressed to find the full Oxford English Dictionary in what looked like mint condition as well as the Grove Dictionary of Opera (four volumes) which I’d not seen a copy of before. I was particularly impressed that the books I looked at were in good condition and, I thought, reasonably priced.
The owner, Joe Warnick, has been in this location for 24 years. Like many booksellers, much of his business is done online and you can search their selection through AbeBooks website. Because he specializes in used and rare books he also buys collections, preferring to work within a 20 mile radius of the store (much of greater Chicago).
Like nearly all booksellers I’ve talked with, he spoke of the challenges of bookselling in the rapidly changing environment we are in–knowing what to buy and stock, how to promote, how to connect with customers. What impressed me, however, was the fine selection and display of books (as well as CDs and DVDs) he achieves in his space without the clutter, dust, disorganization, and indiscriminate attention to book condition one sees in many stores. My only regret was not getting back to see this “old friend” sooner.
Contact information and hours:
Amaranth Books, 828 Davis Street, Evanston, Illinois 60201
Phone: 847-328-2939 Email: amaranthbooks@gmail.com
Hours: Monday – Saturday, 11 – 5:30, Sunday 1-5 (their website indicates that they are closed Sunday, but often in from 1-5–best to call first!)
Bookstore Review: Paperback Exchange
We are taking some time off this week and love exploring some of the smaller towns around Columbus. On Tuesday, we were in Lancaster, Ohio and discovered a wonderful used paperback store right on the corner of N. Columbus and W. Main in the heart of downtown Lancaster. The Paperback Exchange has been in downtown Lancaster for about a dozen years but just moved to their current location in March. They were previously in a couple other downtown locations, one of which they vacated after a fire in the building and the building was torn down.
We found the store well and neatly laid out with large sections for current fiction, adventure and mystery stories, romance novels, science fiction, and a section of children’s books in the front of the store. The store has smaller sections of more “serious” religious literature, history and classical literature. They also feature a selection of cards, candles, and other gifts and sundries. True to its name, you can also receive store credit for many books and some other media. Consult with the store for its current policy on book and media credit.
“Dickens”
The sign outside the Paperback Exchange is reminiscent of the old Long’s Bookstore sign that now adorns the outside of the Barnes and Noble Store at Ohio State The Paperback Exchange sign came from a store in North Carolina. When you walk into the store, you will be greeted by one of two very friendly bookstore cats, either Dickens or Webster, or perhaps both. We only met Dickens on our visit.
Leanne
What impressed me about the owner, Leanne McClellan, is that she has not only created a welcoming space with a great selection of the books most people are reading that sell for very reasonable prices. She also is a proponent of downtown Lancaster and was one of the pioneers in the revitalization of the downtown. Lancaster now has several new eateries including Table 1, Ale House 1890, Signatures Restaurant and Sports Bar, as well as a Glass Blowing Museum, Art and Clay, which is a walk-in ceramics studio, and Blank Slate Artisans where you can buy handcrafted items from local artists and more. Destination Downtown Lancaster is a great resource for planning a visit but once you are there, Leanne can give you an up to the minute account of the good things going on in downtown Lancaster!
So, if it is the latest fiction, a good beach read, or the latest James Patterson thriller, the Paperback Exchange is a great place to go for books at half price or less, as well as an update on the latest attractions of downtown Lancaster. Also, look for the Paperback Exchange at the upcoming Lancaster Festival, July 23 to August 1.
Paperback Exchange is located at 201 W. Main St., Lancaster, OH 43130. Their phone is 740-654-5856.
A Different Best-Seller List
I’m a sucker for a book list–any book list. I’m always curious about what others find interesting enough to read. Best-seller lists tell me about what lots of people are interested in reading. That doesn’t mean I run out to buy the book, but rather that it gives me some ideas, when I talk to readers, what they might be reading. For lists that include “backlist” books, I’m always interested to find out how many of these books I’ve read, and the “holes” in the list give me ideas for things I might want to pick up some day.
AbeBooks, an Amazon company specializing in used, rare, and out of print books, came out with an interesting list recently that combines “book list” and “best-seller” list. It was their list of the 100 bestselling used books since 2000. The surprise for me was that at the top of the list was Stephen Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. They had an interesting explanation of why this came in ahead of more significant literary works like To Kill a Mockingbird (number 2) or one of my favorites that I did buy at a used bookstore, East of Eden (at number 44). They said, “This is a book that many people want to read, but no one wants to keep.”
Actually, that is an interesting statement, because to some degree, this must be true of every book on this list, because these all are used books. For various reasons, the original purchasers didn’t want to keep them, but others want to read them. Truthfully, there are a number on the list I would agree to this being true: Khaled Hosseini’s books, The Five Languages of Love by Chapman, One Hundred Years of Solitude, to name a few. I’m glad I read them, but had no desire to read them again or have them hanging around.
There are some I’ve read that I wouldn’t part with (my heirs might or probably will however!): East of Eden, and anything by Hemingway would be on the list as well as C.S. Lewis and Tolkien. And there are some I’d never touch, including the recent novels of Stieg Larsson and Eat, Pray, Love. (Sorry if that offends anybody–books are like ice cream and everyone has their own taste).
Then there were some I would like to read or re-read someday. To Kill a Mockingbird and The Great Gatsby are up on myu list of re-reads. Believe it or not, I’ve never made it through Gone with the Wind and given my love of all things Civil War, I probably should some day. Freakonomics and The Tipping Point are on one of my TBR piles. I’ll probably re-sell them as soon as I read them (if I do).
One of the most interesting things this reflects is the whole world of used bookselling. The truth is that probably over two-thirds of the books I read are used, or from a used bookstore. The new books I get, I almost always buy at significant discount or get free. I think one of the commandments in my universe is “thou shalt not pay full price for a book”. This means that the person who wants to read a book but not keep it is one of my best friends!
So, are you curious how many of the books on the AbeBooks list are ones I’ve read? To make this fun, I will invite you to guess, and post the answer on Friday.