nirvana!

deborah- I love used book stores. We have one down the street from us and you can trade with them. It's perfect because I also live 5 minutes from my library and they also have great used book sales. People drop off brand new hardcovers and you can buy them for a buck. I am always the first in line too :.)

I bought The Historian for $5, hardcover, and it looks like it has never been read.

Deborah, enjoy! The Historian is a terrific book, I loved it.

I don't have a good used bookstore in my immediate area, but we do have really good library sales. I bought 15 books at the last one and am already looking forward to the next one. Not that I *need* any more books, but there is that thrill of the hunt ... you never know what you might find and that's half the fun. The library sale books are usually in very good condition, too.

I adore used book stores, especially the rambling, older ones we used to have in our cities. Unfortunately, they all closed around the time that B & N came on the scene. Now Charlottesville (home of the University of Virginia) is a real mecca for used book stores (or used to be). I recall browing for hours in several.I may be traveling to this charming town in August, so will have to check them out.

Meanwhile, I make do with our many libraries' used book sales.

DD is at UVA-as a poor grad student, she has to ration her bookshopping (she's just like her mum-the more books the better!) -but they do seem to have some great travelling sales and library sales down there. She has my list ;-)

Here is a link that might be useful: some of Charlottesville's used book shops

cece, thanks so much for posting that list! How does your DD like UVA (known to have one of the most beautiful and historic campuses in the U.S.)? Charlottesville is one of my favorite places to visit.

She adores it. In a perfcet world, she and her fiance who teaches in Maryland would love to live there forever-along with most of the students at UVa, I imagine.

I was talking to a used book dealer in Cooperstown NY last winter-she said that being able to put their lists online had saved their shop! In Cooperstown there is no competition from chain stores-they aren't allowed in to town!-but Cooperstown, while popular in the summer months with baseball fans, is very quiet over the winter and selling online has given them year-round customers.

Interesting -- real estate in the Albemarle County VA area is among the costliest in our nation. I love Cooperstown, also, but haven't been back there in many a year. Good for them for not allowing chain stores in that lovely village! I once dreamed of relocating there, but as you say, winters would be pretty dull and dead, unless you are a teacher of skiing!

I visited Rosefolly in California last week and she took me to a really nice used book store where I found treasures galore. (Bookbuyers in Mountain View) Unfortunately, I couldn't fit them all in my suitcase so she is going to mail the ones that didn't fit in the suitcase. Can't wait till they get here.....(hint, hint Rosefolly!) LOL

I love Cooperstown in the winter-at least when we have gone, between Christmas and New Year's, many of the shops are open and you can walk on the sidewalks and get a table in a nice restaurant without waiting-which you can't do in the summer or fall. We talked to a couple who had moved from NYC-they were both now telecommuting to their jobs, with trips to the city twice a month. They tried to organize those so that they could go together, stay a couple days and do fun things as well as work. They told us that there were a lot of telecommuters now living in and around C'town. My husband has figured out that I can write from anywhere and continue to supplement that with substitute teaching-they have an elementary school in the village-all we need is for him to get a job at the Baseball Hall of Fame. I said go ahead!