The Book Nook delivers...
I have theory about the best used bookstores, such as I've encountered in Portland, New Orleans, Saint Paul, Minneapolis, and now Prescott. They ought be cozy, or what some might regard as a little cramped. They should have lots of books, as in crammed into every possible nook and cranny. They ought to smell like old paper, not musty so much as ancient. The Book Nook, a 42 year old labor of love, operated by second generation owner, Marilyn Unruh, is all of these things and more.
Self-described as Prescott's Largest Used Bookstore, I'll note that it occupies half the space (or less) than some others in the quad cities. Cozy? Check! Marylin has 40,000 to 50,000 titles at any one time. Crammed to the gunnels? Check! The comforting presence of old books - printed on genuine cellulose, as in the days before books arrived on apps for viewing on computer tablets - envelopes you in an comforting embrace as you walk through the door. Bookish odors? Check!
The Book Nook is located at 324 W. Gurley, just a few feet east of Rosa's Pizzeria, one of my other favorite places in Prescott. Ms. Marilyn can be reached at booknook@northlink.com
or by calling (928) 778-2130.
I love it! If you don't, I'm afraid you're not my kind of people. Sorry, had to be said.
"If it's over $20..."
It was.
More on The Book Nook a little later.
Before I buy again...
I only half needed to go to the grocery store, which is across the parking lot from The Purple Cat used book store. The lure is usually irresistible, but I rarely get there before the 5:00 pm closing time. I alway enter looking only for a paperback copy of The Keep, by F. Paul Wilson. I always leave without it and, on average, three to five other volumes I didn't know I needed until I saw them. This time the haul was as follows:
, by Von Hardesty
Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan, by Clay Blair, Jr. [UPDATE: Oops, only the 2nd of two volumes...]
The Outline of History, Volume I, by H.G. Wells, which I already had a copy of.
The Outline of History, Volume II, by H.G. Wells, which I did not. Now I own matched set, and a spare copy of Volume I.
Does a strange job of plucking all the strings...
I've heard that Netflix analyzes its massive customer usage database to determine what its viewers will pay to see. The idea makes an interesting sort of sense in a business in the age of big data sort of way, but I've never felt it being done to me. Until now...
Stranger Things, starring Winona Ryder, offers up elements, touches, and tropes from a wide array of 1970-90s SciFi, Romcoms, Horror, and Coming of Age movies. It riffs on Close Encounters of the Third Kind (frazzled mom desperately seeking her missing son, check!), Ferris Bueller's Day Off (Mia Sara look-alike, check!), E.T. The Extraterrestrial (Drew Barrymore knock-off, blonde pigtails and all, check!), any Molly Ringwald movie (gangly redhead with big glasses, check!), Firestarter (psychokinetic waif preyed upon by nameless government agency, check!), Altered States (under water sensory deprivation tank, check!), Poltergeist (Craig T. Nelson stand-in, check!), The Lost Boys (improbably capable pubescent nerds to the rescue, check!), Alien (Giger-esque monster life cycle, check!), The Fury (death by SPOILER, check!), etc., etc...
The "old" cars, dated fashions, and pre-internet technology evokes a strange nostalgia (most of the 80s really were not the good old days). The storyline is compelling so far. I'm going to continue binging. I hope they have sussed out the sort of ending I'll enjoy.
[UPDATE: Yup, they did good. Fun stuff.]
[UPDATE: Sharon Hill @IDoubtIt at Twitter added: "Also X-Files derived, with some Stand By Me." Good points.]
[UPDATE: Others have suggested references to The Goonies, but I'm not quite feeling it...]
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