Good Book Hunting: August 9, 2014: BrightLight Books, Orlando, Florida

Back when we were young, my beautiful wife and I would always look for a used bookstore in places to which we traveled. At some point, we got away from that. Well, at some point we got away from both traveling and from going to used bookstores when we traveled. That point might be called “childbirth,” and it’s possible we only got away from traveling.

Regardless, we went on an excursion recently to Orlando, Florida, and we got out of the tourist corner of the city to find the BrightLights book store in Fern Park. And as we did not drive to Florida, we were pleased to discover, after inquiry, that they would, in fact, ship the bulk of our purchases home for us so we didn’t have to transport them expensively on our plane.

It’s not like we got a whole lot:

Books from BrightLights Books

I got a trio of 3 ex-library books by John Ringo because I heard he’s a libertarian science fiction writer and they were only a buck each; a signed uncorrected proof of Robert B. Parker’s Wilderness; and a biography of Hemingway (not pictured because it’s a small paperback that I carried with me onto the plane and was not hence unboxed yesterday).

My beautiful wife got a set of The Teaching Company lectures for $14 and a couple other books in her interest areas.

It’s a good tradition, and since we’re starting to do these “family vacations” now, we’ll have to ensure we visit used bookstores wherever we go.

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6 thoughts on “Good Book Hunting: August 9, 2014: BrightLight Books, Orlando, Florida

  1. Strangely enough, now that I look, I already have an uncorrected proof of Wilderness that I bought off of eBay when I was actively, avidly collecting Parkerphernalia.

    Want to hear all about how I might have the best Parker collection west of the Mississippi?

    I’ve read Wilderness, but only once. I’ve read the sequel, Pastime, a couple times, though.

  2. I don’t own a proof, but bought a hardcover online once. When I read it, I remembered thinking how the detailed descriptions in the sex scenes made me glad for the restraint Parker showed in his series novels.

    I’m not a huge collector; I own copies of the novels (except for the “Surrogate” novella) and my main collection jones has been to get them in the smaller-sized book club editions; as much for ease of moving as anything else.

  3. I own most of the novels up until the very last of them (although for some reason, I don’t own Mortal Stakes). I have a number of uncorrected proofs and advanced reading copies. I have a number of scripts from Spenser: For Hire. I’ve got a copy of The Private Eye in Hammett and Chandler (265 of 300). I’ve got Parker on Writing (74 of 300). I’ve got Boston: History in the Making, A Year at the Races, Sports Illustrated Training With Weights. I’ve got two copies of Gallery magazine where “The Surrogate” first appeared (I bought one on eBay for a hundred bucks and one for a buck after spending over an hour flipping through an unorganized adult magazines room in a bookstore in downtown Milwaukee). I’ve got magazines with Parker book reviews in them, magazines with interviews in them, and other ephemera. I’ve even got a Japanese paperback copy of The Judas Goat.

    When I collected Parker, I collected a lot of Parker. But his twenty-first century work really soured me on him and I haven’t really sought his works out on the Internet.

    Although I’m still a Spenserian Sonnet short in my collection, and I have a pretty good PayPal balance currently…..

  4. I own the post-95 books mostly for completeness’ sake, although rereads of them are rare. But “Double Play” is kind of fun.

    A friend in NYC who knows some publishing biz folks would send me some of the uncorrected proofs (and still does for the nosferatu versions of the characters) but my job involves moving often enough and there’s nothing special enough about them to keep hold. Half-Price Books is always pleased to receive them from me.

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