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Austin, again
Jun. 5th, 2011 05:11 pmLast time we went to Austin was for the World Horror Convention, and I spent a day (since I don't really like horror) just wandering around bookstores and checking the place out. I found a copy of something I wanted, Lucifer, at a Half-Price Books; the one way out in the middle of nowhere on north I-35, half an hour from the city. Unfortunately, since I had already bought a few things that day, I broke the cardinal rule of used book store shopping: I decided not to get it right then.
Shopping in used book stores teaches you patience. It may be years before you find a particular book you want, but if you go every so often and look around, you will find it. When you do, be aware that you'll never find it again, and buy it right then.
So last Thursday was my birthday, and I decided that what I really wanted to do to celebrate it was drive up there this weekend and see if I could get those books. We also met up with some friends to watch Master Pancake Theater mock Braveheart, so that even if the books weren't there the trip would still contain fun. See, I was figuring that they wouldn't be there. I was prepared to just buy them all new from Austin Books & Comics, if that's what it took.
Well, they had them! Nine of eleven volumes. I had to pick up 1 and 3 new from ABC, but most of the series cost only $75. So, now I own both of the really good Sandman-universe series, on paper.
We also went to another Half-Price (Austin has like five) where I found most of Strangers in Paradise (weirdly, ABC was also missing the volumes they didn't have; I'll have to use Amazon) and a book I've been eyeing called Land of Lisp. So that was cool. Also picked up a nonfiction science book by Asimov ('X' Stands for Unknown') and a graphic novel called How I Made it to Eighteen. All told, I got 18 new books, which meant some shifting around things on shelves, but it all fits. And I'm not even counting the book Cassie got me, the first volume of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing. Which is very good, so far.
Shopping in used book stores teaches you patience. It may be years before you find a particular book you want, but if you go every so often and look around, you will find it. When you do, be aware that you'll never find it again, and buy it right then.
So last Thursday was my birthday, and I decided that what I really wanted to do to celebrate it was drive up there this weekend and see if I could get those books. We also met up with some friends to watch Master Pancake Theater mock Braveheart, so that even if the books weren't there the trip would still contain fun. See, I was figuring that they wouldn't be there. I was prepared to just buy them all new from Austin Books & Comics, if that's what it took.
Well, they had them! Nine of eleven volumes. I had to pick up 1 and 3 new from ABC, but most of the series cost only $75. So, now I own both of the really good Sandman-universe series, on paper.
We also went to another Half-Price (Austin has like five) where I found most of Strangers in Paradise (weirdly, ABC was also missing the volumes they didn't have; I'll have to use Amazon) and a book I've been eyeing called Land of Lisp. So that was cool. Also picked up a nonfiction science book by Asimov ('X' Stands for Unknown') and a graphic novel called How I Made it to Eighteen. All told, I got 18 new books, which meant some shifting around things on shelves, but it all fits. And I'm not even counting the book Cassie got me, the first volume of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing. Which is very good, so far.
