Second Story Books.

As I mentioned in previous posts, from time to time I ride into work with Bobby and hang out in the Borders closest to where he works, have lunch with him, and often return to Borders for the rest of the day. But Bobby scored major points when he was driving into the city and pointed out a used bookstore on a corner close to his building.

I don’t quite know how to describe the difference between used bookstores I enjoy and used bookstores I don’t enjoy so much. I tend to prefer the musty bookstores that probably do not carry the current bestsellers, but I am always guaranteed to encounter a handful of wonderfully obscure finds, plus a handful of books I never even knew I wanted.

Second Story Books falls into this category. I spent a good three hours browsing the bookstore. It is not large, but it is crammed with books you would be hard-pressed to find elsewhere. It is one of those bookstores that may seem to be hit-or-miss, although the truth of the matter is that you could never miss if you love books enough. You may or may not find Dan Brown, but who among us cares deeply for that, anyway? What’s more, they have that gorgeous little website.

I was lucky to have escaped with as much money left to me as I did. I had not finished browsing before I forced my feet, one in front of the other, toward the lone cash register. I simply could not carry any more books. At the cash register I stood behind a rather good-looking fellow who quickly moved out of the way to let me lay down my pile of books. We talked briefly and he was as enchanted by the little store as I was.

I walked out of the store with a number of exciting finds… which I then carried several blocks back to Bobby’s office on top of a huge bag of books I had brought that morning to entertain me throughout the day. Bobby was kind enough to meet me out front, collect my books from me, and bring them back up to his office so that I could roam the streets tens of pounds lighter.

While none of these finds were un-exciting, I was perhaps most thrilled by an entire collection of Colette’s books, from which I freely selected the major works that I was missing. Behold my treasures:

The Dark Bride: Laura Restrepo
A Harlot High and Low: Honore de Balzac
The Book of the City of Ladies: Christine de Pizan
Fabliaux: Ribald Tales from the Old French: Robert Hellman and Richard O’Gorman
Wayward Nuns in Medieval Literature: Graciela S. Daichman
The Flower of Friendship: A Renaissance Dialogue Contesting Marriage: Edmund Tilney
The Shadow of the Sun: A.S. Byatt
Earthly Paradise: Colette
The Other One: Colette
The Innocent Libertine: Colette
The Shackle: Colette
My Apprenticeships: Colette
Mitsou and Music-Hall Sidelights: Colette