The Monica & Willie Buy too Many Books Hunt

I'd be lying if I didn't say that Monica and I are a mighty duo of book hunters. We're book addicts when teamed together. The total price for today's excursion was $24.96; the amount of books was twelve. That, by the way, was just me alone. Monica grabbed a few for herself, but I'm sure it was less than me. 

Firstly, we set off to Weslaco, Texas (a town devoid of literature culture, but in abundance of burned down, abandoned buildings) to hit up the much acclaimed bookshop, Poet's Corner Bookstore. I know what you're thinking. This place must be a haven for the book hunter, but that's still reserved for The Book Stop and will be for some time. It wasn't anything I'd imagine a book store called the Poet's Corner would look like. Sure there were a handful of decent paperbacks, but the prices were less than flattering. It's modeled more to be a college text bookstore than anything else. Woe is me. However, I'm determined not to make the drive to Weslaco in vain; I do find a copy of All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy for $1.99. I also slapped on Dover Press copies of Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters - someone I may or may not have read in college - and William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. The total price for Poet's Corner Bookstore - which I'll never be gracing with my presence again - $5.94. 

Back to McAllen. We browse our original haunt, Books -n- Things. While we've graduated from this store long ago, it's still fun to see if we can find anything worthwhile. I do. I find a copy of The Sinner by Tess Gerritsen - the third novel in the Rizzoli series - which I quickly add to my  building pile. Because I've put off its purchase for so long, I throw in a copy - the last one! - of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. In the true crime section, I am blessed to see the Hunter S. Thompson must-have-classic, Hell's Angels. Add in a dollar copy of the late Michael Crichton's Congo, and we have us a total of $10.79, just enough to select a book from the free shelf. I decide on James Patterson's 1st to Die because I had only just been talking about him, wondering if his books are any good. 

Off to Georgia's Thrift Store to see if Mike has added anything new to the shelf. Nothing too new, but I did pick up a copy of Clive Barker's The Great and Secret Show. Along with that book, I picked up The Dhammapada and Oscar Hijuelos's The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. Each book only cost a dollar, with a total price of $3.25. 

Because we're slightly still bummed that The Book Stop doesn't open on Mondays, we head over to Barnes & Nobel on 10th because I'm needing to use the restroom. Once out of the restroom - yes, I did remember to wash my hands - I decided to look at the books. Well they dun moved them around again, mirroring their old set up. Wonderful. Because book hunters normally don't buy books at full price - unless we're in dire need of a certain book, which we rarely are; or we have the money to splurge, which we rarely do - we take comfort in our window shopping. That is until Monica and I head over to the clearance table to find Lewis Black's Me of Little Faith for less than five dollars, before tax. Total price, $5.39. 

It's true, when separate, we don't buy as many books. Jyg usually puts a cap on my shopping and Monica makes slightly wiser decisions. But together we go mad with books. Most of which won't be touched again for about a year. This should be one of the many unwritten rules of Book Hunting: When trying to save cash or being conservative, never book hunt with another book hunter. Until next time, keep on huntin'.