Shopping Local, pt. 1: Of Dust, Steele, and Nurses in Foreign Lands

Ages ago, I mentioned Books of Yesterday, a used book store in Logan that I love dearly. I attempted to describe the stacks and stacks of the printed word that live there, but didn't provide any pictures. Fortunately, I had the afternoon off last Thursday and decided to spend it in the basement of my favorite local book shop.

This is the tower of books sitting in an "employees only" area of the basement (I've never seen an employee down there, so felt safe taking a picture). They seem to be books on their way out - even the amount of books headed to the recycling bin is kind of amazing.

The section that always transfixes me. How can there be so many Harlequins? How can there be so many sub-categories of Harlequins? How can I possibly find the most hilarious covers when there are several thousand to go through? It blows my mind to bits.

This is the shelf I concentrated on most - it had the most vintage Harlequin covers. Lots of nurses in foreign lands. A surprising amount of nurses in foreign lands. Nearly every other book about nurses in foreign lands.

A collage depicting my contempt for Danielle Steele: this is the reason the lowest Cover Judging grade awarded is called the Steele Pendant. Not only do these covers display no originality, their sheer volume (three very full shelves) indicate how much "Danielle Steele" cares for her writing. The cover's color may change, but I doubt the stories do (although, as previously noted, I've never once read any of the books I feature in Cover Judging).

This is the front quarter of the basement - it's quite long and narrow (and fittingly, the horror section is placed in the poorly-lit corner at the very end). Even with pictures, it's hard to display the magnitude of this place. It's seriously crazy. In the best possible way, obvs.

And less you think I wasted all my time in the romance section, I came home with The Complete Book of Sewing, copyright 1943! Along with about ten 1960s Harlequins, but that hardly matters, right?

**Update: I just found this video that shows parts of the top floor (sadly, no basement).