18 Miles of Books, and a Restroom
We visited the Strand last night for the first time since their renovation opened an elevator and a second floor. We must say we were impressed with the selection of art books and of course, the restroom.
Most of the time, conquering the Strand requires a pre-determined item to be sought and either found or not. Browsing the shelves for a treasure is tough to do because unlike most pre-owned bookstores, the Strand is simply too big to browse and find something of interest.
We came unprepared and so started to browse by author. Impressed with Heavy Water by Martin Amis [We read a good bit of this on a toilet in Cambridge], we decided to start with him. Sadly, the entire Amis section was on the top two shelves. We were impressed with the selection, but unable to reach it.
Instead we settled on searching through some carts with books littered on them hoping to find a jewel. One book caught our eye because the binding was facing the wrong direction. We pulled it out to see what it was: Night Train by Martin Amis. What a find.
We were confused becuase there was no price. We know the Strand usually has half off the publisher's price, but this was in pounds and Australian dollars. We don't carry either currency. Deciding though that finding this book was fate, we cut our losses and headed to pay.
The book rang up for $2.69. We had two single dollar bills in our pants pocket. then we pulled a virtual miracle: our jacket had exactly 69 cents. 1 Quarter, 1 nickel, 3 dimes, and 9 pennies. We're taking this as a sign.
Most of the time, conquering the Strand requires a pre-determined item to be sought and either found or not. Browsing the shelves for a treasure is tough to do because unlike most pre-owned bookstores, the Strand is simply too big to browse and find something of interest.
We came unprepared and so started to browse by author. Impressed with Heavy Water by Martin Amis [We read a good bit of this on a toilet in Cambridge], we decided to start with him. Sadly, the entire Amis section was on the top two shelves. We were impressed with the selection, but unable to reach it.
Instead we settled on searching through some carts with books littered on them hoping to find a jewel. One book caught our eye because the binding was facing the wrong direction. We pulled it out to see what it was: Night Train by Martin Amis. What a find.
We were confused becuase there was no price. We know the Strand usually has half off the publisher's price, but this was in pounds and Australian dollars. We don't carry either currency. Deciding though that finding this book was fate, we cut our losses and headed to pay.
The book rang up for $2.69. We had two single dollar bills in our pants pocket. then we pulled a virtual miracle: our jacket had exactly 69 cents. 1 Quarter, 1 nickel, 3 dimes, and 9 pennies. We're taking this as a sign.
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