So after watching Fletch on Monday, I thought I would see if I could find a copy of the book or others in the series for my oldest son, whom I’m always encouraging to read a book with words in it instead of cartoons.
However, the Fletch series seems to have aged out of the used books–most of them would have been sold in the 1980s, remember–so I did not find books at either book store. Perhaps I will get lucky at the upcoming book sales this year.
I did, however, pick up a couple things:
At ABC Books, I got:
- Semper Fidelis by M. L. Brummett, a local author. I had just been at the Air and Military Museum of the Ozarks, as you might recall.
- Earth Games, a short collection of poetry by Ruth Loring.
At Hooked on Books, I got a couple of $1 books:
- The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman.
- Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.
- Blood and Thunder by Max Allan Collins.
- Neon Prey by John Sandford. I know, I know, I swore these off, but it was only a buck. And note that this went from a new book at the library in April 2019 to the dollar cart outside a used book store in under two years. I wonder if his popularity is widely suffering.
The sale room in the back was pretty bare, but I still saw some books with red dots on the spines. Gentle reader, Hooked on Books used to mark their discount books with the red dot (which, two years ago, a cashier there didn’t know because it had been so long ago). So those books had been in the building for quite some time indeed. I expect that young man no longer works there, so they outlasted him by quite a margin.
At any rate, now that Spring Break is over, I hope I can get back to my normal reading schedule. I realize you have not had a book report in quite some time, gentle reader (eleven days since Mission: Impossible), and I know I am your primary source for book reports on twee books of decades past. Soon. Soon.
We had a brief comment exchange back when I read “Neon Prey.” I’ll be interested to see what you make of it.
https://friarsfires.blogspot.com/2019/05/average-and-not.html
I know, I know, but it was only a buck.
But, as I said, it looks like his audience is becoming more selective.
There were a couple of other Sandford books on the outside book carts, but they were old enough that I might already have them. Normally, in cases where I’m not sure, I will spend the dollar and give it to someone else if I find I do have it.
However, Sandford’s not worth that to me any more.
I once said that Hooked on Books had an awesome collection of John D. MacDonald books, but they don’t have any anymore. Or, as I said, anything by Gregory McDonald.
They must have some good machine learning/informatics/sabremetrics to tell used bookstores what to stock these days. Which, unfortunately, is probably not the kind of books I want to buy.
This isn’t scientific, but on Goodreads the last two “Prey” series entries have about 600 1- and 2-star reviews apiece, compared with 400 or fewer on most of the earlier books, so I think you’re right that he’s wearing out his fanbase.
As for bookstore stock, you may also be right. The days of prowling through enameled shelves, eternally tacky because the paint wasn’t allowed to dry before installation, sporting stacks of series paperbacks seem to have passed on.
It’s not so much that the used bookstores no longer exist–it’s that the series they do have do not interest me. I am not into a lot of the more recent thrillers.
Probably plenty of Lee Child to go around.