Even though I was in Champaign, Illinois on family matters, I did breakaway for a short visit to a used book store I had driven past on several occasions—Say3 Books (900 South Mattis). I finally had the gumption to step inside because you never know what to expect.
It didn’t take long to scan most of the shelves as the inventory was compressed (read cluttered) into a few rooms. There was a good mix of quality fiction, (T.C. Boyle, Larry McMurtry) non-fiction, books about books (my favorite) mystery and romance and I picked up a copy of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, which I became interested in during Atlanta’s Big Read earlier this spring. The copy of the book was a little yellowed (like the bookstore itself) and it has an afterword written by Henry Louis Gates Jr. The cover included a dated promotional sticker from Oprah telling me to be sure and watch the television version of the book starring Halle Berry.
My favorite aspect of the store was the haphazard quotes about books stuck on the walls and on the shelves. One quip was part of a decorative mirror, which included essayist Joseph Epstein’s quote about how a person is reflected by the books one reads.
As she rang up my purchase, the owner of the store followed my personal dictum that “Book People Are Not Necessarily People People,” but she was kind enough interrupt her crossword puzzling and write down the title of the background music that was playing at the time of my visit—Keb Mo’s Just Like You.
Keb Mo - Good stuff Murray. If you liked it, we recommend his first self-titled album. It's still our favorite.
Posted by: Rube Ambler | May 12, 2010 at 06:54 PM