Rizzoli & Isles Book Hunt

Mission: The Mephisto Club and The Keepsake by Tess Gerritsen

Location: Books 'n' Things, Georgia's Thrift Shop & The Book Shop

Price: $8.12 

I ordered Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen the other night on eBay for only $5.47. Ice Cold is the eighth novel in the series (seventh, actually, but I'm not keeping tabs) and I'm currently on the fourth novel, Body Double. The next is Vanish followed by The Mephisto Club and The Keepsake. I'm not foreseeing me finishing Body Double anytime soon, as I'm busy writing something (not for NaNoWriMo, by the way). 

My first stop for this hunt was at Books 'n' Things in on North 10th. I did my best to stray away from the other shelves and went straight for the Gerritsen section, finding a lone copy of The Keepsake. Gruffing, I picked it up and headed for the Science Fiction & Fantasy section to see what else I could find. Nothing, actually. At the back of the store there's a $1 shelf so I thought I'd see if - perhaps - The Mephisto Club would be stocked there. Nope. But I did find a dollar copy of Michael Crichton's Sphere there. Bingo. Added to the "cart." Checked out for a total price of $5.41.

Off to Georgia's Thrift Shop (on Pecan) where I turned up nothing. Though, I did see a 13-year-old girl pick up a stack of Stephen King novels. Even though I'm not the biggest fan (though I'm learning) of Stephen King, I was just happy to see that she wasn't reading anything lame like Twilight. 

Moving on. The Book Stop (also on Pecan) was my savior. For only $2.50 (before taxes), I found a copy of The Mephisto Club.

I searched The Book Stop hoping to find a copy of Batman: Fear Itself by Michael Reeves, Batman: Dead White by John Shirley, The Forensic Files of Batman by Doug Moench, or Batman: The Ultimate Evil by Andrew Vachss. Sadly, I didn't find a single copy (in either store, mind you). Oh well, perhaps a Batman book hunt is in store for future. Until next time, keep on huntin'.

My Erotica, or My Unquenchable Lust for Books

Monday afternoon, I woke up to find my copy of Coming & Crying at my doorstep. This, as you all know, is the book hunter equivalent to finding a baby in a basket. The book was edited by Melissa Gira Grant and Meaghan O'Connell and I only learned of it after the KickStarter for it had ended. If you're like me, you can purchase a copy here. 

Also, in the mail, my copy of Vladimir Nabokov's The Original of Laura arrived. If you recall, I mentioned the book last year when it was announced that Playboy was going to release an excerpt in their December issue.

After that, I got dressed and headed out with Monica and Binx to book hunt because that's what we do whenever we're together. First stop led us to Georgia's Thrift Shop where I picked up a copy of Brian Keene's Urban Gothic. Afterward, we wound up at Books -n- Things where I picked up a copy of The Stand - the unabridged copy, as I already have the original published piece - and William Gibson's Neuromancer.  

Today was another day of book hunting, where I purchased a copy of Brian Lumley's Maze of Worlds - only a $1.50! - and No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. 

I think that concludes - fingers crossed - my book hunting for the rest of the year. My queue is backed up to next December, I believe. Oh well, until next time, keep on huntin'.

Return to The Book Stop

A week ago, Jyg and I decided to head over to The Book Stop - the used book store that Monica and I ventured to the other day - mostly because I wanted to show her the place that I had fallen in love with. Sadly, however, there place is closed on Mondays - something I have to note when Monica and I venture out later today. Because it's so close to Georgia's Thrift Store, we headed over there instead where I purchased a baby name book, a copy of Clive Barker's The Damnation Game and a horror book for Jyg. 

Sadly, however, when I opened the copy of The Damnation Game, I discovered that the spine was cracked and the pages jumped from 52 to 67. I contacted Mike to tell him the situation and he apologized and offered to replace the book. Saturday, Jyg, Izzy and I returned to Georgia's to do just that. 

Because there wasn't anything I particularly wanted from the store, we headed off after I replaced the copy and gave Mike the bad one - I haven't a clue what he'd want with it, but I wanted to show him I wasn't making an attempt to screw him over. We were headed home bound when I said we should stop by The Book Shop so Jyg can have a look-see. 

I beelined to the scifi section to see if the copy of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - a book later adapted to the scifi classic, Bladerunner. Lo and behold, the sacred copy was still there and I wasn't about to let it slip through my fingers as it once had over when Hastings was around. After I picked up that book, I started snooping around to see what I could find. Nothing interesting was catching my eye, so I decided to check out the classic section - because I'm a sadist and feel I have to torture myself that way - where I found a copy of Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. While it may not be a classic as of yet, the book has its memories in my mind - which is strange as I have never read the book, even though I love Chabon's writing. 

It took me back to the days in Creative Writing with Rene Saldana, Jr. and the many instances when he mentioned how awesome the book was. Having only read The Mysteries of Pittsburgh and Wonder Boys at the time - the latter being my favorite, but for some strange reason, not really that great in Saldana's eyes (hmm, I still don't really grasp why) - I knew I wouldn't be disappointed if and when I picked up The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. 

The total price turned out to be $9.20 - including tax - which is awesome considering the cover price for both them. The lady and gentlemen - whom I can only assume are the owners of the establishment - were well versed in the taking care of books, suggesting that I place my copies of the important novels in zip-loc bags to protect them from the elements. I'm beginning to assume that Monica and I aren't the only book hunters in the Valley, which is both a reassuring thing and a dreadful one - competition has never been our strong suit. But I'm feeling more at home at the store - us hunters need to stick together, I say. 

As I gave the gentleman exact change, he placed my receipt, a book mark advertising the establishment and a handful of fliers into my bag along with the books. Normally, I can't stand when people just assume I'm going to advertise for them. But this place deserves to stick around. I love it there. It's my new home. I hope they can accommodate me.

Book Hunt :The Catching Up With A Good Friend Edition

Nothing like a book hunt to bring to people together again, I say. Monica and I caught up after not hanging out for several months now, hitting Georgia's Thrift Shop, The Book Stop and Books 'n' Things - all of which are located in McAllen in about the same area.

Monica didn't find anything over at Mike's book shop (still inside Georgia's Thrift Shop), but I found a copy of St. Augustine's City of God, something I've been wanting to own since I read the excerpt in the Utopian Literature book I purchased. Along with that, I purchased The Last Known Residence of Mickey Acuna by Dagoberto Gilb (The Magic of Blood) and A Coney Island of the Mind by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. The total price for all three was $3.50 before tax.

After that, we headed over to The Book Stop, a store I'd seen many times in passing but never really ventured into it. There Monica found a copy of Heavier Than Heaven while I purchased a Buck Owens record ($3), a copy of The House on Mango Street ($2.50) for my mother, and Helter Skelter ($2).

Our adventure took us back to the original used book store we once haunted - though it's moved since our last visit - where I purchased four books by Arthur C. Clarke - The Songs of Distant Earth, The Wind From the Sun, The Sands of Mars and The Sentinel. Monica picked up some Shatner books - one of which, later, she realized she already owned. 

We exhausted our book hunting places by lunch, so we ate and then called it a day. It was good being in her company again. I hope we make a habit of it.

Shamelessly plugging a buddy of mine’s bookstore.

There’s one thing you need to survive as a book hunter and that’s making a deal. If you’re like me, you’re always low on cash because evey time you see a gem, you just have to own it. I have over half a thousand books scattered around this house and the number’s growing each passing month - insane, I know. I should get help, I know.

When you live in deep South Texas like I do, you know that there’s only one bookstore - two branches - that has us by the stronghold. While Barnes & Noble is the place to stop if you’re not in the mood of waiting for a cheap used copy to come your way, it’s not the sort of place you wanna buy more than two books at a time. We just can survive that way.

Now because Hastings closed in McAllen last month - shed your tears, I know it’s fucking sad - Barnes & Noble owns South Texas…with the new books. Used bookstores have been popping up everywhere. One of them is located inside of an awesome thrift store.

So Valley-ites, why should you shop at Your Bargain Bookstore? Well it’s simple:

• reasonable prices
• nice selection ranging in all genres
• located inside an awesome thrift store, so if books isn’t your hunting partner’s thing, they can look around while you hunt
• you’re a college student - perhaps even an English major - who’s taking a literature course and don’t want to pay a butt load of money to procure the required reading

That’s not enough? Seriously? How about this, some of the books I’ve bought from there were as low as $.50! I’m talking about best sellers here, not obscure writers or crappy romance - don’t even think they have a romance section - leave that to the other bookstore.

But seriously, if you’re in the McAllen area and you’re looking for some deals, head over to Georgia’s Thrift Shop and venture into the the book section. Awesome selection, awesome prices and if they don’t have what you’re looking for, there’s a little box where you can drop in a request. I just message the guy on Facebook, but, yeah, I know him. It’s located on Pecan, about a block or two away from 10th. Can’t miss it. It’s a yellow house with a yellow sign.

Return to Georgia's Thrift Shop

Jyg wanted to do something today, so I dragged her and Izzy to Georgia's Thrift Shop so I can see what Mike had in stock today. My hunt was cut short because Jyg needed to take care of certain business. Never go hunting after she's eaten, I've made of note of that.

However, I didn't come out empty handed. I bought The Epic of Gilgamesh - something I'm told is an important read for English majors - and the piece of shit book that I've been meaning to read, A Million Little Pieces by novelist and liar, James Frey. Why am I reading that book, you might be asking yourself. Well, it's simple. I want to see if it's believable as nonfiction.

The price for both, $1.50 plus tax. Nice, hu? Until next time, happy huntin'. 

Goodnight, Sweet Prince

Thursday 11 February 2010: Hastings in McAllen, Texas will be officially closed. This marks a bitter blow to the book readers of the McAllen/Edinburg area as we are forced to march the lines to Barnes & Noble. This isn't a big deal, though. Barnes & Noble is still a respectable store (even though the one on 10th St. has an incredible douche working for them), and still a haven for a book hunter like myself. But it lacks one thing: used books. 

Hastings was my small heaven for this reason. I strive for a cheap copy of a first edition, salivate for the five dollar copy of a beloved collection of poems. I walked through the doors one last time, today. Most of it was blocked off, boxed away and ready for the shipment to the great beyond. Frothing book hunters, music diggers and movie aficionados were running rampant looking for a deal. Along with the books (photo above) I bought Crime & Punishment in Suburbia.

Other than Barnes & Noble, book hunters of the area still have Books -n- Things and Georgia's Thrift Shop, but in the end, it's never the same.  Not to mention the various Friends of the Library book sales.

Still, there will be a void in our hearts by the end of the week. And no matter  how many books we collect, it will never be filled.

Until next time, happy huntin'.

Raising Hell

It's a little known fact about me: I don't scare easily. I'm a person of logic. I can figure out a movie's ending, its twist, before the evidence is laid out for us - that is, with the exception of Saw, which blinded sided me. But surprise endings are only of stuff of psychological horror. There's no room for Jigsaw in the ranks of the greats: Freddy, Jason, Leatherface and so on. 

However, those mothers - disfigured by the hatred of others - never so much as sent a chill down my spine. I was immune to them. To their ways. To their tricks. Their slaughters. And I've always been. Nothing could scare me as a kid that wasn't real. Nothing until I was introduced to one ghastly creature.

Call him demon, or call him angel. He is what you seek in your deepest fantasies. He is the vision of your lusts, the search for raw pleasures. Call him The Engineer. But to many of us who are horror fans, he is only known by one name: PINHEAD.

Several times I watched Hellraiser as a kid, never knowing it was based on a novella written by Clive Barker. And several times - despite its cheap effects - the sheer thought of something so metaphysically neutral scared me. (Of course, I had to ration my reasons later in life.) There wasn't anything good about Pinhead, nor was there anything pure evil about him and his gang of Cenobites. There was just something that seemed rather in the between - like the Grim Reaper, who is thought to be as an evil entity, but really, he's just a wraith doing his job.

Flash forward several years: I'm twenty-six years old and I've finally decided it's time for me to read the novella that started it all. I call up my buddy Mike over at Georgia's Thrift Shop (actually, I messaged him on Facebook) and asked if he could find me a copy of The Hellbound Heart. He told me sure, worked his magic and quickly responded it would be in within two weeks and it would only cost me three dollars. Awesome f'ing possum! 

Because I've working on reading my 100+ books for the 2010 challenge, I knew that it would a nice quick read. I wasn't wrong about that. However, I was slightly wrong in my expectations of the book. 

Thinking sheer genius, because Clive Barker is  a genius, what I got was a play by play of the motion picture adaptation. While I read Barker's words, scenes from the movie played in my head. I shouldn't be at all surprised by this, as Barker was both director and writer of the film. There are notable changes from the novella and its adaptation brethren - like there being no actual Pinhead.

Nevertheless, it was a good book, and I praise it higher than most others have on Good Reads. Still, it's not enough to say it's five-star worthy. Four stars at most.

Another Trip to Georiga's Thrift Shop

Got a message from Mike on Facebook yesterday telling me that The Hellbound Heart was going to be left in the store for me. So, of course, I went today. The price, as you can see, was $3 for a new copy.

Georgia's Thrift Shop has a way with me. I go there looking or to pick up just one thing and I come out with more than I anticipated. It's an addiction, book shopping. You can never have too many.

While there, I noted they had The Tale of the Body Thief by Anne Rice. Naturally, I wanted to ignore it. But I've tangled myself in this web and I like to see things through. It was just a dollar more. Total price was $4.33, which isn't bad.

In other news, I might be able to annoy readers more often as I now have a better, savvier phone from which to mobile blog from. So yeah. You all have something to look forward to.

Until next time, happy huntin'.

A book hunt comes to an end

The book hunt for Interview with the Vampire comes to an end. Mike Marino, who runs Bargain Book Store (located inside Georgia's Thrift Shop, 1305 W. Pecan, McAllen, TX), e-mailed me yesterday to tell me the book had arrived. It's a book I've been anticipating for quite some time.

Like all visits to any thrift bookstore, I leave with more than expected. Thankfully, they're all cheap. Along with the mass printing of Interview, I bought first printings of In The Flesh by Clive Barker,  Misery and Pet Sematary by Stephen King. The total price came out to be only $4.33.

In other news, I've been working on a how-to guide of hunting for books. It's pretty basic, filled with common sense, but I thought it might be useful to some of you.

Order by 12/20 to receive FREE shipping in time for Christmas! See site for details.

Your Bargain Book Store Hunt

Hunt: 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King & Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

Partner: Meester Binx

Location: Your Bargain Book Store (inside Georgia's Thrift Stop) 1305 W. Pecan, McAllen, TX

Success rate: 1/2 - though I did manage to buy four other books

Cost: $3.50 (before tax)

My failure to find the other two books in last week hunt left me a little down. So I got around to thinking, I know a guy who owns a used book store so why not contact him to see if he had them. I contacted Mike, owner of Your Bargain Book Store which is located inside Georgia's Thrift Shop, and asked if he had 'Salem's Lot and Interview of the Vampire and got the answer I wanted to hear - Yes. I called Meester Binx and headed out there on the mission.

I've never been to Georgia's before, so the whole set up was sort of shocking. They have a little bit of everything. I snaked my way to the back where Mike's book corner was. It was a little slice of heaven. Not more books than Books -n- Things, but a much better selection - classical & contemporary literature, Chicano studies, tons of Stephen King, poetry and erotica.

He had 'Salem's Lot in stock, but no sign of Interview with the Vampire - and if he had it, it was in hardback and I wasn't willing to buy hardback because I don't know if I'd like the book. Along side, 'Salem's Lot, I picked up a copy of The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (recommended by a friend) and Brian Keene's The Rising. Contemporary literature had two gems for only a dollar each - The Human Stain by Philip Roth - one of my favorite authors who still breathes - and The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro - a book recommended by my former creative writing professor & author, Rene Saldana, Jr.

Mike said that tomorrow is when he's there restocking his inventory. I might make an appearance then to check out what he put up.