/lit/, can we get a bookstore thread going? > today in the

>lonely older woman is impressed by my taste and tries to strike up a conversation
>i ignore her

> not stealing books that are in the public domain

>>7514671
> not adapting famous books in the public domain for television or film, making millions by not having to pay for the rights

I have a soft spot for those book stores that are also a coffee shop. We have a Costa coffee in my local Waterstones. I know it's hugely pseudo, but something about it is just totally fine for me.

>>7514800

I'm guessing because it's not a Starbucks.

>>7514818
I'm also okay with Starbucks and bought at least one of each of the festive drinks they served three times a week until my christmas break

Maybe I AM the pseudo.

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>>7514839

>Go into local bookstore
>Haven't been there for 12 months
>Dennis, the owner, greets me by name, asks how my course is going
>makes me a cup of tea
>I buy one book I wanted specifically and two on his recommendations
>he invites me to one of their jazz nights
>I politely decline
>go to pub, read one of the books
>occasionally scribble poetry on a paper napkin
>stop reading when too drunk, get talking to the patrons
>they recognise my face but too drunk to remember my name
>get talking to a girl about the book
>go to another bar with her
>wake up the next day in a ditch somewhere in the countryside with her number scribbled on the back page

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>>7514839
They told me I wasn't ready and I should've listened.

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>>7514865
Sounds like you had one helluva night, anon. I envy you.

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>>7514569
>Frankenstein, Of mice and Men, The Great Gatsby, Grapes of Wrath
>>7514865
i've had that dream too

>>7514569
That made me smile when she said "just one of those days, really"

That's like, one of the few times it seems okay to spill a bit of spaghetti in a book store

>>7514569
> tfw no qt elderly waifu to share your extensive literary library with

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>Go to local bookstore
>Look around at the prices
>Cheapest book is $10
>360 and walk away
>Go to electronics store and steal an e-reader instead

> buying books
> ever

Have fun being poor af and having nowhere to put your Splatoon Amiibo because your shelves are filled with useless doorstoppers

today in the local libreria de viejo i stared at some hipster girl ass and got a copy of beowulf for cents because it has some highlight.

It was a good day.

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>enter local used bookstore
>smells of cat piss and mildew
>owner looks up at me from the counter briefly, grunts, and keeps reading her book
>pick out a few good editions
>wordlessly exchange $15-25 for books
>say "thank you" and leave

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> enter Bookstore
> they sell more vinyl, video games and DVDs than actual books
> Shake it Off by Taylor Swift comes on the in-store radio
> customers burst into a flash dance mob
> see the minuscule classics collection out back, near the back door
> try escape to the sanctuary of literature but get pulled into the flash dance mob
> never danced before and accidentally trip over when trying to hide
> fall over and the ravioli I was saving for later falls out of the pasta pocket of my coat (this pocket is my left interior pocket as it's closest to my chest and when the pasta is warm it keeps my chest warm and I can dip mouth into my coat on cold days and take a few bites)
> get pasta all down my face
> start crying
> everyone picks me up and pats me on the back for trying
> I cry saying sorry and that I'm not even allowed out the house at day time
> it's ok we're all unique
> buy a copy of Hunger Games Catching Fire and Fifty Shades of Grey on DVD
> qt gril at counter asks if I want them gift wrapped
> I say yes because I want it to be a surprise for myself and I ask her out
> she says no and blows a rape whistle

>>7514976
This
Every time

>>7514976
>>7515063
So… why do people want to support independent stores again?

I'm in love with a girl called elisabeth who works on the basement level of the strand bookstore in NYC

>>7515069
My name's Elizabeth and I work there sometimes... why don't you say hi next time?

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>>7515058
> she says no and blows a rape whistle

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>>7515058
Jesus christ

>Go to local bookstore
>Start browsing young adult novels
>Plan on getting the first Hunger Games book for my niece
>Check out
>Put book on counter
>Teller eyes me
>Grabs her phone and punches in some numbers
>"Code 449"
>Raise eyebrow
>Get tackled by burly looking individual
>Resist
>Inject something into me
>Hours later, wake up
>Find out that they are going to reeducate me for wanting to read pleb material
>Try to tell them it's for my niece to no avail
>Leave the store 2 weeks later with a newfound love for James Joyce
Honestly I don't feel all that different.

>>7515058
> fall over and the ravioli I was saving for later falls out of the pasta pocket of my coat (this pocket is my left interior pocket as it's closest to my chest and when the pasta is warm it keeps my chest warm and I can dip mouth into my coat on cold days and take a few bites)

Gets me every time

>in tokyo
>google an english language bookstore
>go on a sunday afternoon expecting a big place
>it's one room on the 3rd floor of a building
>blatantly the only visitor of the day
>owner makes me coffee
>sit and talk to his wife and her daughter for an hour about my travels
>bought a book about wilhem reich

>>7515058
Made my fucking day, anon.

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>>7514569
>mfw 18 year old qt3,14 good choices me on my purchase
>mfw any plebeian complements my taste in books

What's your face when plebeians condescend?

>>7515074

Seems unlikely

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>>7515058
> fall over and the ravioli I was saving for later falls out of the pasta pocket

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>>7515058
I've read this three times and I'm still laughing like a faggot. Good job, asshole.

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>>7515127
I'm usually a bit flattered if a pleb compliments my tastes, whether they've read it or not. I'm just a bit flattered if someone takes interest in what it is I'm doing.

>>7514569
>>7514865
>>7514924
>>7514976
>>7515058
>>7515094
>>7515101
All true stories.

>go to local used bookstore
>disappointed by lack of russian lit
>ask guy working at the front desk if they have any in case i'm looking in the wrong section (it's a confusing place with random piles of books everywhere)
>he calls another man over who shows me a copy of some dostoyevsky short stories i missed
>thank him and grab it and a random book of poetry
>total comes out to less than $10
Used bookstores are the best. I have so many shitty used paperbacks from them. Some of them are even annotated by hand <3

>go to local book shop
>romance, YA, and coloring books
>literature section is the high school summer reading for the last ten years
>everything priced about 30% above amazon

All of them are like this

My local bookstore is across the street from princeton U, you'd expect it to be mostly academic textbooks but its one of the best I've ever been to, they have all the classics and great literature section as well as contemporary stuff

>>7514569

When I was in high school, I decided to walk home once which is between five and ten miles. I buy gas station coffee on the way for kicks, somehow it comes out perfectly. Happen to find a small bookstore along the way that I never heard of. I come in with a flushed face and excited (it was winter). Browse for a long time, see a lot of cool books but have practically no cash on me. I bought a copy of that "ancient astronaut theorist" guy because it was less than a dollar and some other book, I think it was Culture of Narcissism by Snell or Nell. Forget my coffee cup at the register, and resolve to come back.

I am a regular now and the owner somewhat knows me, she seems like a nice lady.

>hang out during lunch at local bookstore almost every day
>workers see me every day and recognize me but we barely exchange anything
>awkward every time
>co workers see me with new books every day
>they never ask so its all good
>still feel like a weirdo

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This little nook is always comfy as fuck to shop at and always has a great selection. Also probably the easy as fuck to steal from with the black cashier out of view but always fear the yuppie cunt passers-by.

>>7515440

god yes. my city is not a literary city.

>>7516109
Hey hey, Reading Terminal Market.

I don't really like that place, but then Philadelphia kind of has a dearth of proper book shops at the moment. The Book Trader is okay, but I haven't been to that place (Spiral Staircase or something to that effect) in Manayunk. For new books there's basically just Joseph Fox and Barnes & Nobles.

Recs for stores in seattle?

Haslam's in St Petersburg. I go after work, dudes are cool, huge selection. I was eyeing the Story of Civilization of Will Durant and since I'm there all the damn time I can snag the whole volume for 80 and plan to do so quite soon.

Solid place. Kerouac apparently used to stumble into here after getting drunk as shit at the bars a few blocks away.

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>>7514569
>work at a bookstore
>today a woman was checking out and I asked casually like I usually do about her books
>realize one of them is about Japanese internment camps
>she is very old and Japanese
>I am Japanese

We talked for 40 minutes about what it is like to be Japanese in America. Pretty nice.

i got $100 for amazon
what should i get

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>go to a bookstore
>buy a history book since i need something to read over christmas
>get to the till
>Cashier says ' i bet you cant wait to get home and read this page turner' with a smug grin
>ha ha yeah.... mate

Was he judging me /lit/ ?

>playing broken sword 1
>just finished a book and in doubt on what to read next
>pc freezes while they're talking about the celts
>decide to accept fate and start Ancient Celts

>>7516313
Maybe. He might have just been trying to say anything while he does his register business, and just said whatever came to mind and sounds safe to say/attempting to be humorous

The Writer's Block (for new) and Amber Unicorn (for used) in Las Vegas. Both have surprisingly good stock despite Las Vegas only offering, in terms of literary output, um....uh...erm...Well, uh...you know...nothing.

>>7515481
is that the one in the house? I like that one alot, found some great stuff in there over the years

>>7516323

This. OP you are worrying over small details that don't really matter. And if it was judging then he's outed himself as a pleb so either way who cares.

>going to bookstores
I just go to the thrift store to sate my lust for old, obscure fantasy and sci-fi books with rad water color cover art

I found one with a pterodactyl attacking a fighter jet the other day.

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>frequent my library's weekly used book sale meet
>old retired people always there volunteering, bringing fresh brownies and shit
>see some grills my age
>ask one where she was from, if she's going to school and where she found that book (it was kerouac, I must've missed it)
>she goes "uhh that's a lot of questions
>spaghetti my way home

I would stop going if the books weren't 25 cents each and a great selection

>>7516398
>3 questions is a lot of questions
Should a just made fun of her, dummy

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I got a few books at a discount book store and the guy looks through them and says "Well you didn't come in trying to impress me but you managed to".
One was a complete collection of twain short stories and he was thumbing through the index looking at the titles of the stories longingly.

It made me feel pretty good.

>>7516398
lol why did you ask all three at once, jesus

>>7515058
my shit that was satisfying

>>7514671
>stealing
>public domain
wew lad

>>7514569
i went to buy a death in venice at a bookstore and the bitch behind the counter wouldn't sell it to me because my credit card wasn't signed and i didn't have an id on me. i had had that card for months and no one had ever said anything about it not being signed.

like if you really want me to buy from amazon, i will.

>young man comes to my counter at the bookstore
>places three books on the counter, fucking hyper-pleb tastes
>it's like this is his first crack at reading (what did he do in his formative years? probably too much porn)
>feel embarrassed he's an adult and can't pay for his purchase, so I use my manager code to ring off 5 pounds/euros/whatever that symbol we use is
>he passes me the full amount after I've already taken the money off
What a fucking swindler. Mike, if you're reading this, I would rather be skinned alive than smile through bared teeth than assist you with your purchase you impoverished manchild

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>at local independent cafe, sitting outside
>reading nietzsche
>tilt book up so everyone can see i'm reading nietzsche
>put book down face down so the cover still shows on the table
>play idly with beard, contemplate deep thoughts, smoke cigarette
>young woman asks if she can share table with me, as there are three chairs but i'm the only one there
>i say sure
>she tells me she also likes nietzsche
>tell her that nietzsche is an entry level play-romp for eroticists, mystics and other bumbling pseudo-apes who either willfully ignore the awful truth or still have the wool pulled over their eyes
>she asks me what the hell i'm talking about
>i pull my pants down past my ass, start fondling myself and declare my masturbation a heroic testament to the idiocy and pretense of civilized society
>she is shocked but in a matter of seconds yells "Finally! Someone who understands!"
>she strips off her clothes and runs in circles around me, chanting gibberish
>after jizzing all over my paperback edition of thus spake zarathustra, i light the book on fire with my zippo and watch with curious intensity at how the semen fizzles in the heat
>she gives me her number
>i call it the next day, it's halliburton's customer service

>go to local book shoppe
>taste selection looks like it was picked by aspiring highschool hipster male queers, /lit/ 'patricians' and feminist blog readers
>find my selection, which is always a few good things, among the stacks of oppression lit (live in Canada) and anthologies of feminist vomit
>clerks meanwhile shout loudly about their tastes, opinions, etc, conversations with other customers, buying used books from ppl, etc.
>I go up to counter
>"so this is all then"
>yes
thankfully I'm not a neet starved for human connection

I only have a waterstones near me and I don't really have any stories from there except this girl trying to fake a conversation with me about having read anything by Neil Gaiman and this guy sperging out because I told him I didn't want the penguin copy of Nausea
I'm pretty pseudo-normie though so I cope well in these situations

>>7515440
This so much. At my local bookstore, I went to the psychology section to buy the Kamasutra and I was expecting a lot of Freud and Jung but it was all identity politics and other useless shite.

i can't even remember the last time i went to a bookstore. libraries 4 lyfe. it's fun to hear the librarians gossip and laugh at everyone

At my local bookshop there's a pretty qt looking girl who I keep having awkward interactions with, ie i walk into her accidentally, somehow make awkward eye contact for a bit too long, reach for a book while she's putting one on shelf and our hands touch.

Once I asked the girl if they had breece d'j pancake's book and they didn't, so i just said 'oh... okay' and left because it was awkward. the next day i came in and ordered it. came in again a few days later to ask if they had it but they didn't, then when i finally picked it up i left without paying (i thought i had payed in advance), so the bleeper things at the door went off. anyway, every sling time i was in there the girl either served me or the other cashier asked her for help checking the system for the book or whatever.

Anyway, a few weeks ago i went in there with my gf and we couldn't find the new joanna newsom CD so she was like 'I'll ask someone if they know where it is' and she asked the same god damned girl.

>>7516310
a girlfriend :^)

>>7516304

damn i was expecting some 'hitler didn't happen' /pol/ type stuff as soon as you mention internment camps but that was a pretty cool story, thanks for sharing anon

>>7514569
why pay that much? those books are always in UK charity shops in great condition. it's the harder to find ones you should buy in waterstones and stuff

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>Go to local salvation army
> All books except Textbooks are 1$
>mfw

>>7514569
>last February, hanging around in a tiny bookstore inside a hospital, waiting for an appointment I had to make 10 months in advance
>nervous as fuck I'm going to miss my appointment so I turn up 2 and half hours early
>thumbing through some drivel I found on the "Our picks" table.
>middle aged woman edges up to me holding an open book
>somehow she gets my attention and starts reading bits of the book to me and explaining why she finds them funny.
>(it's the kind of book you leave on top of the toilet for your guests to read.)
>become aware of the smell of fried liver emanating from her person
>laugh nervously and scan around for an exit
>she tells me she's very sick
>I tell her oh no, that's terrible
>pause
>ask her what time it is
>she tells me 2.45
>my appointment is at 2.40
>freak out and sprint to the building where my appointment is
>arrive at elevatoe
>yell at nearby woman to tell me the time as it dawns on me that I hadn't spent an hour and a half in the bookstore
>she tells me 1.45
>collapse into nearby chair
>weirdly feel bad for abandoning the poor sick woman with no friends
>start to feel socially anxious
>appointment was unfulfilling
>results depressed me
>until just now I had forgotten all about it
>life is just one compromise after another
>my cat died today

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>>7514569
>huge, fantastic bookstore and record shop in Downtown LA called Last Bookstore
>great selection of used books
>pick up Life of Samuel Johnson, Memoirs of an Anti-Semite, and Chekhov: The Major Plays
>spend less than $10
>hear there's an open-mic night every month
>aspiring poet and musician
>think, "This will be great! I'll play some songs and meet some new people!"
>show up
>open mic night hosts are a lesbian filipina and a chubby, liturgical black dude
>fat black women everywhere of the Toni Morrison generation
>permavirgin, old white weirdos of the Zappa type
>tryhard young females turning around in their seats to look at everyone really eagerly
>one guy does a somewhat clever song about cigarette addiction
>one big black woman does an extended poem about getting fucked by her big black boyfriend only to end it with "and then we hung up our phones"
>"omg lel so funee"
>old, weird permavirgin tells very lewd story about scammer photographer that sounds like he's told it a hundred times before
>realize in Downtown LA
>peak of #blacklivesmatter
>my type of introspective and fantastical lyrics and songs will get a terrible response and make people feel bad about their lives
>take my guitar and leave
>still haven't been back

>>7517877

The Last Bookstore is shit lad.
Go to the used bookstore next to Pasadena college.