On Sun, 13 Feb 2005 13:29:07 -0500, (J T)
wrote:


I sometimes go to new bookstores with the specific goal of checking
specific books. A few time have found a book I wanted, but waaaay too
expensive; so I've bought a used copy on-line. I shop around on-line
too. A number of times I've gotten out-of-print books I really wanted,
for less than $20 (ncluding shipping), and most places were asking way
more, like $30-35, not including shipping. Nice thing about used
bookstores, you can run across books you've never even heard of, at some
really reasonable prices - $4-7 usually.

Just outside of the town where I grew up there was a place called
Baldwin's Book Barn.

http://www.bookbarn.com/

It was just like what its name says; a barn full of books.

It was an easy bike ride and I used to go there maybe every other
weekend when I was a kid.

A lot of the books were only a dime or a quarter and they would take
old books in trade.

Unfortunately I traded in my Tom Swift Jr. collection to buy some
stuff that was probably far less memorable. I'd like to have those
books today. I'm just glad I didn't trade my Hornblower books, or the
Albert Payson Terhune (sp?) series, because my kids read them now.

Baldwin's Book Barn may have been the cause of my becoming a
Philosophy major in college. When I was in my teens I was a great fan
of anything having to do with The American Civil War (cf: War Between
The States, War Of Northern Aggression, et al.)

On one trip I picked up a book that I intended to use for a book
report. I figured it would fit right in with my current interests of
the time. It was called, "The Rebel", by some dude named Albert Camus
(which I pronounced as "Caymuss"). I maybe should have paged through
it before writing it down as my choice for the report.

My tenth grade English teacher was both surprised and intrigued by my
choice - and my life took a sharp left turn - from which it has yet to
recover.

I still love old books and the places that hold them. I love the
musty smell and browned edges - and the connection between me and
someone of another time.


tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)
http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1 (webpage)