Secrets of the City

My personal favorite is the trunk of Paul D. Dickinson’s car outside the Turf Club. I don’t where that guy digs up some of the stuff he has.

The one in Dinkytown with all the critters. I rarely buy books there, but it’s fun to see the crazy-looking French bulldogs and the parrot, and half the time there’s a cat traipsing along a bookshelf like he’s going to ask me if I need help finding something.

though i haven’t been there in a while, i love Midway Used & Rare books.

I semi-frequent Midway Books on University.  It has a huge selection and a bargain basement with cheap books.  If I could read, I would probably go there more often.  The owners is a kook though.

Yeah. The kookiness of the owner drove me away from Midway. I hit the Dinkytown used bookstores with some frequency.

That explains all the Max-sized dents in the outside walls of those bookstores.

Central Library. Price is right.

In my opinion you can’t beat any of the Half Priced Books. Also, Rare and Used Books in Stillwater.

Ditto on Central Library.

The Dinkytown shops are excellent. Cummings Books has a great selection and the awesome pets running around are great. The Book House is a LOT cleaner and easier to browse than it was when I was an undergrad at the U – no more boxes of dusty, unsorted books shoved in every nook and cranny. I have no patience for filthy used bookstores.

i third the libraries (i go to merriam park right now, soon midway). i got tired of buying all these used books, reading them once & having them take up space.

That due date thing that libraries have … too much pressure!

Magers and Quinn is my favorite. I have this habit of blanking out in book stores and record stores. I can’t remember the list in my head of books I want to read. The employees at M&Q always have good recommendations, and anything I have bought with a “staff pick” sticker on it has been awesome. They’re knowledgable, have great taste and are just blocks from my house. Win!

My pick.

The Book House in Dinkytown is easily the best book store in the Twin Cities. I’ve never walked out of there empty-handed. They’ve got a lot of rarities and their prices are dirt-cheap.

+1 halfpriced books

Libraries let you renew electronically twice, gives you lots of time to get them read.

Loome Books in Stillwater is fascinating, especially if you are interested in the arcane Latin crap that I am.

Tara_r, me too! I wish there was a Netflix for books, so I could have a list and mail back the one I finish with the next one arriving in a couple days. Then I could read my New Yorkers in those couple days.

I think someone once told me this type of site exists, and I got all lazy and refused to research it.

Mostly I just borrow books. I bought one used the other day and it kind of sucks, so that was $7 wasted.

jane, Ramsey county libraries allows you to make a list on line. Granted, rather than mailing it to you, you do have to actually go to the library to pick it up.

I definitely love M&G and the Dinkytown stores. 6th Chamber has a good feel in St. Paul…wish there were more over here.

Booksmart in Uptown doesn’t always get its deserved props. I can usually find what I’m looking for, and come away with some surprises sometimes too.

I can never keep the ones in Uptown straight, and I was just in them last Thursday. I like M&Q the most, if that’s the one farthest down. I found an R.A. Salvatore book there in pretty good shape for only $10 hardcover.

Speaking of R.A. Salvatore, when I talked to him last month (that’s right, I’ve talked to R.A. Salvatore) he said he really likes Uncle Hugo’s, which is right near where I live on Chicago across from the Sheraton.

I just don’t have the patience to search through books at those places. If there was one in the metro with good selection and a real system of organization I’d be all over it.

for now it’s half.com

You can find just about anything there

Booksmart in Uptown. It’s no secret and it’s been around for a while but I always score on graphic novels and art books when I’m in there. They buy a lot of pop culture stuff. I bought and almost entire collection of MOME on the last trip and they have a complete run of the Cerebus trades sitting there now. I also got an issue of Raw there…which is impossible.

Unfortunately the graphic novels have risen from the basement to the main floor by the art books and the prices have risen with them.

The used section at Har Mar Barnes and Nobel can have treasures too.