I'm back from NYC, and I had a great time. Worked hard, partied hard, read little. The guys I work with were on a mission to ensure I missed at least one of my half-seven meetings after a night out. Much to their dismay, they didn't succeed. I didn't do any sightseeing whatsoever, barring a couple of early morning runs at Central Park - not sure that counts though? However, on the Sunday that I landed, I did make my way to the Strand Bookstore: "18 miles of books".
I love books, I love bookstores, and the thought of eighteen miles of books was more than a little appealing. I half-thought I'd go crazy and buy half the store. As I approached the store, I told myself, "you will not spend more then $50 here," and I was quite uncertain as to whether I'd be able to stick to that resolve.
Before entering the store, I scoped the outside, where loads of secondhand books were stacked, but in no order or categorisation. I tried looking through them to find something, and considering there were about a few thousand books there, I thought finding three to four books to read would be easy - but nope! No such joy. The books were literally just dumped there, and while they were only $1 each, I just couldn't find anything even remotely interesting. Guess part of the charm is to search through loads and loads of books to find the gems, but.... I don't know.
Anyway, I strolled inside, thinking that I'd have more luck with books. Immediately, I was overwhelmed. The shelves were stacked from floor to the ceiling, and it was just - wow!
I started browsing, just enjoying myself in this apparent book-lover's haven. However, the whole place was a little strange, as in, the popular fiction books had tables devoted to them - completely random. The tables were called "Fiction-I", "Fiction-II" etc. and they were books that the store recommended (presumably). However, again, it was just idly scattered as in, it wasn't done by author or genre or anything. They did, however, have a "Best of the best" section, which I quite liked.
I picked up a couple of books and thumbed through them, only to be slightly turned off by the quality of the books. I now understand what Hanff meant in 84 Charing Cross Road, when she said that the books in New York felt cheap and not as beautiful as the books across the pond. I was carrying The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay at the time, and I picked up the same paperback at the store. While the number of pages were the same, the book was significantly thinner than my edition. It felt as though the pages would rip the minute I started turning them - does anyone feel the same way about American paperbacks? Or, is it just me?
What really got me going, though, was this beautiful edition of Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber that they had sitting on one of their fiction tables.
I already have two editions of this book: one sent to me by Claire in March last year, and one I found in a second-hand bookstore a couple of months later, which featured the cover art of Roxanne Bikadoroff. Anyway, I couldn't justify buying a third edition of this book, so I asked one of the employees if they had any other books by Angela Carter - and I just got a brusque "if it's not on the table, then no". Fair enough - other than the fact that about ten minutes later, I did find some more books by her - none in this kind-of edition though. :(
Ideally, people who work in book shops should be book lovers, but I didn't think that was the case here. Even the brand new books (full-priced books) weren't kept well. I almost bought Maus, but all six copies they had were torn - and they were all at full price. And when I say torn, I don't mean a slight crease at the edges. Parts of the cover of the book were definitely detached from the book itself, and unfortunately, in my little world, that's not okay!
I eventually did buy two books, just because it would be wrong to leave a bookstore that overwhelming empty-handed, but all in all, I was slightly disappointed by the experience. I love going to Foyles in London {Charing Cross Road}, because they have an amazing collection, but more importantly, each time I go to pay, I end up chatting with the cashiers about my purchases or/and request them to recommend some of their favourites to me. It's the same with the two Waterstones I frequent.
How about you? Do you have any such illusions about bookstores? Do you have a favourite store which you visit more for the experience than for the actual books? And am I just being idealistic and silly?