Life Without Half Price Books

It's kinda sucky. Especially for an avid reader who now has too much time on her hands. About a week ago I finished my latest read - Pillars of The Earth. For all the hype and Oprah-love it got I was hoping for a modern novel that would finally grab me like my go-to classics do. I think my aim was set a little to high for a former fantasy writer taking a foray into the medieval realm. There was a whole 5 pages devoted to a circus bear fighting a pack of dogs while church building peasants cheered the spectacle on. Seriously. But, it was entertaining about 1/2 the time, and over 1,000 pages - a must have when a lot of your time is spent sitting at DMVs/Social Security Divisions/Title Offices. I did finally finish this not-so-classic, and I was at the awkward time when I need a new book to read and don't have one lined up in the queue.

I finally settled on Gone With The Wind, another 1,000+ pager that I have been meaning to read for a while. I got it into my head that I should get the hardback version since it is such a long book and the spines tend to break in paperbacks if they are too legnthy. Also, GWTW is was a classic that I'll want to keep around for a long time, or at least have on my bookshelf to look impressive. So, I hopped on the google and tried to find my nearest Half Price Books. As indicated in the title, they do not exist here. In fact, I have yet to find a single used book store in Denver. There was  a place called Tattered Cover that sounded just the place to go - but when I researched it, turns out it considers itself one of the boutique book stores that can charge triple the price for the 'unique' atmosphere. I'd rather grab a pumpkin latte from Starbucks at my nearest Barnes & Noble while only paying twice as much thankyouverymuch. 

I next tried to get it online through Half.com, an associate of ebay. I found a hardback for only 8 bucks and quickly put my bid in. But that fates were against me again, and days later I found out my order had been canceled. No notification, I only noticed that the money had been put back on my debt card statement. There goes that option for future literature purchases. 

So I sucked it up, found my local Barnes & Noble (got my latte) and bought the book there for full price. Thus, instead of the $8 hardback I expected to keep on my shelves forever, I got a $15 paperback whose binding will no doubt break by page 600. I just don't understand a large city with a fairly educated population not having a good used book store. Maybe I have just not found it yet, but then again, if it is so hard to find, then who is turning in their used books there? It all seems pretty suspect to me. Maybe there is a conspiracy hiding all used book stores from newcomers so all the locals can get the good used books first. I think that makes the most sense. At least it would in the Pillars' pseudo fantasy, bear-fighting-dog medieval world.