I'm not a big fan of used book stores. I don't know - something about their smell, maybe, or the grubby chaos of those I've visited. Of course, there are exceptions: Shakespeare & Company in Paris being most prominent among them. About five years ago my brother and I were browsing the shelves there on the Rue de la Bûcherie when owner George Whitman appeared out of the blue and called us "two weeds in a beautiful garden," because, I suppose, he felt like it. Some would have been offended; I wasn't. I was pleased he'd deigned to address us. It's not every day a 90-year old legend insults you.
My other used book store exceptions are not stores at all. They're the annual used book sales at U of T's Victoria, UC and Trinity, a sure sign fall has landed in Hogtown. Vic's sale is already over, and UC's is finished tomorrow (Oct. 18). I missed the Vic sale but hit the one at UC on Saturday. It took some rooting around but there was gold among the pyrites. I found a text by Sigmund Freud that I actually haven't read ($2) and The Mind in Conflict ($4) by Charles Brenner, the hugely accomplished and respected New York psychoanalyst.
Trinity's sale runs Oct. 20-24 and I'll be there for one of those days. It will be a couple of hours of near bliss and bargain hunting, a weird combination to be sure, but great sport nevertheless. It's at Seeley Hall on Hoskins Ave. There's a small entrance fee on the first day but admission is free after that.
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