Bookseller Review: The Book Room -- Richmond

The Book Room

5458 W. Broad St.

Richmond, VA

804.282.0633

The Book Room is a new and used-book store specializing in Sci-Fi/Fantasy and Romance paperbacks. They offer their used books at 50% off the list price and have frequent sales. They have stores in both Richmond and Charlottesville, VA.

What we like: For us, finding a Riverside Editions copy of Charles Dickens' Bleak House made us love The Book Room in Richmond.  

What we don't like: It is paperbacks only, and the selection of classics is limited ... unless you're after new Penguin Classic editions of great works.

Would we go again? We'd have to, since we had such a good experience there. We might walk out emptyhanded more often than not, but we certainly would make a plan to stop each time we visit Richmond.

Bookseller Review: Book People

Book People

536 Granite Ave. 

Richmond, VA

804.288.4346

www.bookpeoplerichmond.com

Book People is an old-fashioned books shop that prides itself on personal service, above all else. They have four rooms and over 20,000 titles in stock of half new, half used and collectible volumes. 

What we like: Off-the-beaten-path bookstore that's simply a house full of books. We definitely like that. Fair collection of fiction, with many older editions. The woman who appears to run it is extremely kind, and very helpful.

What we don't like: The organization system is unique, and not the easiest for browsing, let alone finding what you're looking for. Prices are kind of all over the place, and seem much too high for some items.

Would we go again? Yes, we would make a point to stop here anytime we make the trip over to Richmond.

Bookseller Review: Richmond Book Shop

Richmond Book Shop

808 W. Broad St.

Richmond, VA

804.644.9970

www.facebook.com/RichmondBookShop

Richmond Book Shop sells used books, records, back-issue comics, underground comix and vintage magazines. They also have a large collection of prints, posters and postcards, and some original artwork. They keep irregular hours and it is best to call before going. 

What we like: There is a great long shelf full of classics, many older editions and a good amount of hardbacks in the mix.

What we don't like: Parking isn't that great -- we got lucky with a spot right out front. It is basically right on the VCU campus and tends to skew more to college kids. 

Would we go again? Yes. Even if we don't end up finding anything there is enough in the store to keep us entertained. 

Overheard at Richmond Book Shop

While checking out our purchase of the latest addition ("The Prairie") to our Signet Classics collection of James Fenimore Cooper's "Leatherstocking Tales," we heard the following exchange at the counter:

Girl, late teens, after seeing our daughter: "I wish my sister would have a baby."

Guy, also late teens, with girl: "If you want your sister to have a baby, you should introduce her to me."

--------------------

And scene.

That made that little trip worth it.

Four down, one more to go

Richmond Book Shop was the last of our stops on our trip to Virginia's capital Tuesday. There is a wide variety of materials sold at Richmond Book Shop, and not all of it books. We had high hopes on our way through the door, but we were only able to find one item of interest on this trip, another edition of Cooper's The Prairie.

Maybe we were fatigued from a long day. But now we have four of the five "Leatherstocking Tales" in this style of Signet Classics, but the final piece will likely be the hardest to find, as it is the most popular one: Last of the Mohicans.

I am sure we'll see you again, Richmond Book Shop.

Book added: The Prairie, James Fenimore Cooper

Publisher:  Signet Classics, The New American Library

Year: 1964

Where obtained: Richmond Book Shop, Richmond, Va.

Price: $3.00

Pretty Bleak-ing awesome find

For a while now, Deborah has been telling me that I should read Charles Dickens' Bleak House. She believes I will like it. I don't have any reason to doubt her. But in addition to having some other planned reading to get through before I am ready to get my Bleak on, there was one small problem we were finding: despite the abundance of Charles Dickens works out there, for some reason, we were coming up empty on Bleak House.

Enter The Book Room in Richmond, the first of the booksellers we visited on our trip Tuesday. We arrived at around the same time that our daughter was a bit hungry, so I suggested that I go in alone to scope the place out, to see if it was worth us all piling out of the car.

On first glance, once I entered, I wasn't so sure. Not that there weren't a lot of books there, but it didn't appear that we were going to find anything on our unwritten list. I wandered through the shelves of current fiction, mostly the kind of stuff you might find at an airport bookstore, until spotting a single, narrow yet tall bookcase in the back. It was marked "Classics" and had a small sign on it saying "Minimum $1.75." 

They were all paperbacks on these shelves, and many were fairly recent editions. As I scanned, I believed I was closer and closer to leaving and moving on to the next bookstore, but then I saw it. I couldn't believe it. I did walk out, and went straight to the car to tell Deborah she needed to come in.

I brought her to the same shelves, and picked up my discovery. I don't remember exactly, but she may have squealed when she saw that not only did I find Bleak House, but it was a Riverside Editions Bleak House in the style of Riverside Editions that we have been slowly collecting as we find them. And I think it's the earliest-dated one in our collection.

Bliss at The Book Room in Richmond. It was our first stop of the day, but already the trip was a rousing success.

Book added: Bleak House, Charles Dickens

Publisher:  Riverside Editions, Houghton Mifflin, B4

Year: 1956

Where obtained: The Book Room, Richmond, Va.

Price: $2.00

The books and the bees

A small parking lot to the side of a house, a few tables out front lining the sidewalk on the way toward the front door, a man either asleep or passed out taking in the sun from one of the Adirondack chairs on the lawn.

Welcome to Book People in Richmond, our next stop on today's adventure.

It's literally a house filled with books, and upon first entering, there was a small cart up front with some older editions of Hawthorne and others, but nothing that jumped out at us. After getting our tour of their very unique way of organizing their shelves (read: not really organized that much at all), Deborah headed toward the back rooms and I started in the front.

I eventually made my way to the back, where I located a Riverside Edition. Maybe the most obscure Riverside Edition out there -- Minor Classics of Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Vol. I -- and though it had clearly seen better days (and some water), it had to come home with us.

Deborah also found a cookbook there, for recipes using honey, and while checking out, the owner (or one of the owners) of Book People, a nice lady probably in her 60s with a northern European accent, said to me: "My mother used to have the northern-most beehive in the world, in Iceland. It didn't last very long, it's too cold."

That's kind of an impressive distinction, though, no matter how long it lasted.

Book added: Minor Classics of Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Vol. I, Buckler, William E., ed.

Publisher:  Riverside Editions, Houghton Mifflin, B107

Year: 1967

Where obtained: Book People, Richmond, Va.

Price: $2.00