raining again

It is still raining, and looks like it will be all day. I don't look forward to another day stuck indoors, there is nowhere worth going, really though. If I had money, I would be tempted to go to the used book store, to see what I could find. It is sad that the used bookstore in Troy seems to have a better selection than the regular book store in Troy.

The sad thing about Miami County, in Ohio, is that we are truly lacking in bookstores of quality. We have a few used bookstores, the nicest one being downtown in Troy, which I believe is actually larger than the normal bookstore there. It is part of an interesting office building complex, if you go out a back door and turn you can go in the back door of the coffee shop. The coffee shop has another location built connected to the new book store, and a location here in Piqua that is adjacent to the library.

The used bookstore doesn't really have a lot that I am looking for most times, but what they have is random, and often old, usually cheap. Granted, last time I was there I bought a hardback book for $12, but damn it, I wanted that book that day. J&M doesn't even seem to carry that author!

I really do like the used book store though; but it is closed on Sundays, the day I am usually most inclined to go. It's also fun to go into the coffee shop next to it and order a Highland Grogg coffee while wearing a kilt. You kinda see some gears trying to work in the staffs' heads. I just looked it up, and it is supposed to taste like Carmel and Whiskey. I dunno, it's coffee. That's all I know.

Jay & Mary's Bookcenter, as far as a lot of us can tell, used to be a Little Professor bookstore. Little Professor had some issues a number of years back, the company, not the local place, and no longer seems have branded franchises. I think they dropped the name when they moved from the Walmart strip mall to a new building behind it. They staff is nice, but they really can't make up for me never finding a book on my list of books I am looking for. My list is well over 100 books long, so how hard could it be? I went to Springfield mall (Upper Valley Mall is the real name) a few months back, and both of their bookstores were closing. I found more of what I was looking for, and plenty of things that looked like they might be good, in both of the stores. To be fair, or self demoting, not sure which, perhaps they are now closed and Little Professor is still open because the books I like don't sell. I don't think that is the case though, since Borders usually has a lot that I am looking for, as well as Barns & Noble. If both those stores were closer than 45 minutes away... It would make an epic bike ride though, once the bike path is better built up.

You might be wondering, what kinds of authors am I looking for that the local bookstore fails me on. I recognize that Martin Millar is under-appreciated around here, but I used to be able to get Jack Higgins books at Kroger, and he is still writing them, not that you could tell at J&M. (At the used bookstore, you can find a hell of a lot of Higgins's books, usually.) The sad thing with Higgins is that it does become a bit to repetitive at times, I essentially just read 4 of his in a row, and it burned me from the genre for a while. There are a few other authors I look for in general, Lawrence Watt-Evans is a general favorite, if you can find "Among the Gods," it is a good read. I had just read his fantasy series "Lords of Dus" or something like that, and I began to realize some of the influence in his story. I like Robert E Howard's work, and in "Among the Gods" there is a direct reference to REH's work. (Also called Drunner's Wreck if you find it in a used bookstore, it seemed to have been a book club exclusive for a while, like 15 years or something.)

I get most of my books via Paperback Swap which helps keep the price down, and helps find the more obscure books as well. Also a decent way to get rid of books you don't really like.