Thread 24436627

Tell me about an experience you have had at a bookstore, /lit/.

I shit you not there was this huge ass bookstore nearby and suddenly its manga section started to get bigger and bigger and we are at a point when pretty much 1/3 of the bookstore is actually just manga and tranime shit, before it was just one little shelf. Everything happened so quickly and didn't even realize it at first.
Why are books getting phased out by manga? Does this happen in your country?

>>24436630
cool japan

>>24436627 (OP)
I saw an Indonesian girl and talked to her but she got super flustered and I just laughed and said nice meeting you then and went off to my friend.
Fumbled the shit out of that nigga she was really pretty too but at least I didn't crash out

I hung out in a bookstore waiting for my friends to show up at the theater next door (I got there hours early)
It was only after an hour or so that I asked myself “what the fuck are you doing here? The last book you bought you re-bought for iBooks because you’re crippled and can’t hold a physical book open for long without your arms hurting”

>>24436627 (OP)
>Me
>Went to used bookstore on a foreboding October evening.
>I am haunted by life and vexed by years that wince at my touch to my embarrassment, and which scurry to leave me baffled and wanton always.
>Had a bound "Lyrical Ballads" by Wordsworth & Coleridge, which is well regarded by a man I respect. $40
>Had $15 on me as I'd spent all my funds on Starbucks, LP's, and the train. Did not purchase.
>On a crisped and faint November day, where the world seemed as a vacuum, and I like a drifter, was dressed like Morrissey. As I'd been sojourning in Toronto having seen him play a casino in Niagara. With my winnings from said casino, and my houndstooth coat, I went and retrieved my volume which was there.

>>24436627 (OP)
>enter second book shop situated in the city
>shop stinks of mould
>shopkeeper is oddly passive aggressive
>Chinese tourists take up the very little space in the shop and it's difficult to move around
>pick up Penguin Classics edition of Lost Illusions by Balzac
>pages are foxing, spine has disintergrated,
>£8
>leave shop
>buy second hand copy online for half the price and of a much better quality

>>24436627 (OP)
>Be me
>go to bookstore
>look for a book i've wanted for a while
>they don't have it
>ohwell.jpg
>go home and order it online

>do you have this book?
>no.
The quintessential bookstore experience.

>>24436964
holy shit dude go take a first year class in word writing all your missing their is a french word that literally everybody knows

>go to bookstore in Berlin with gf in early 2000s
>some Polish camera guy picks us up and interviews us and has us recommend books in English into the camera
>somewhere out there I was on Polish television and never saw that footage

>>24437003
What dost thou mean by this? I'm half asleep, I write showy/retarded at this hour.

>>24436630
>Why are books getting phased out by manga?
because publishing has been taken over by jews and feminists. If you don't want to read a lecture about the evils of whiteness you have to read manga.

I was at the local Books-A-Million, browsing the mystery section with nothing in particular in mind, when I was suddenly overwhelmed with the need to fart. One moment I was fine and the next my intestines were twisted in pain. After looking around to make sure nobody could see me, I let it out. I didn't make a sound, not even the faintest squeak. The relief in my guts felt amazing.

Half a second later the smell hit me.

It was like a sewer rat covered in hot garbage juice crawled up my asshole and died. It was absolutely putrid. I almost gagged. A few moments passed when, from the next aisle over in the romance section, I heard a woman begin dry heaving. "Oh, God!" she cried out. Mortified, I headed towards the exit. I didn't go back to that store for a long time.

All my local bookstores took out anywhere to sit during covid and never brought seating back.
So I just get whatever reference book I am looking for and leave now.
I don't browse and sample what latest fiction is available to see if I might add it to my transaction. I also totally ignore the magazine section, which seems to shrink every time I visit. Do they expect you to just pick books based on the cover alone? Or stand there for a few minutes to give each book a skim?

Whatever the plan is the result is I buy a lot less books from in person book stores.

>>24436627 (OP)
This was back when Borders was around but it's a good memory, which I'll relay in greentext form.
>go to bookstore
>pick up Mein Kampf, Lolita, and The God Delusion
>waiting in line for ages
>light up a stogie
>start loudly chatting up old ladies and families in line next to me
>thumb through the expensive knick-knacks next to the checkout, knocking several onto the floor, and repeatedly tell my fellow line-goers to “look at all this horseshit”
>complain that there are too few cashiers per customer, allege that this is the fault of “kikes”
>finally reach the checkout
>array the books so their covers are all facing up
>toss them onto the counter in a radial formation, all facing directly at the cashier, a slightly overweight girl in her early 20s
>she looks down at them and pauses, her jaw dropping in disbelief as the fuhrer himself stares back up at her
>blow smoke into her face and ask “some kind of problem, toots?”
>she coughs and nervously stutters the name of the book, as if to verify that someone could ever purchase it intentionally
>“yeah” I reply, before placing my index finger on the cover of Lolita, and leaning across to her side of the counter
>“and this one’s about a pedophile”
>her face is now wan with shock and horror
>“oh my god,” she mutters
>“God’s dead, honey”
>everyone around us goes dead silent
>pick up the books and leave without paying
>no one even calls security

>>24436627 (OP)
>see that they have Lolita
>decide to buy it
>the guy at the register whisper under his breath "oh dear god"
I didn't even know that it was even 50% off until he scanned it.

>>24436627 (OP)
My first date with my girlfriend was at a used bookstore.

>>24437321
was she used too?

>>24437324
She was a virgin before we met. (I wasn't, but I doubt you care about that.)

>>24436627 (OP)
During Covid the fat lady that worked at the bookstore near me told me to stand back because I was standing too close to her on the escalator. Bitch was was just standing on the escalator instead of walking down it. How fat do you have to be to not be able to walk down? Use the elevator next time fatass and leave the escalator free for me. Did I mention she was a whale?

>>24436890
>what the fuck are you doing here
You just said you were waiting for your friends. Are you retarded?

>>24436627 (OP)
>go to HPB after work
>find cool titles
>pick up 15 books
>joke with the cashier afterwards
>he gives me half off total price

>go to EDB
>Know the owner
>gives me discounts on the 5 books and icons I bought

It pays to have connections I guess

I found a cozy used book store. Never been in one before, are they all like this? The smell, the rare finds and antiques. It's a very charming experience. I always find something that catches me by surprise and I've sort of made a ritual of buying the book when this occurs.

>Every time I go to a bookstore or library, I have to poop. Like without fail, if I don't go beforehand I inevitably feel the urge while looking through the aisles.
Why is this?

>>24437646
It means you're based and poop-pilled

Walked in. Saw "Twisted Love" on display. Walked out.
Cunts have ruined books forever.

>>24436990
>go to bookstore
>have a list of 18 books I'd like to get because I couldn't find epubs of them
>go to catalogue computer to find them
>they have 0/18
>go to local library
>0/18
>order it online

And this is why both are dying

>go to children's section
>employee comes in and pretends to look at the books right next to me
>she's clearly just watching me
>I ask her if she thinks I'm a pedo
>she says "excuse me?"
>I just leave out of annoyance

>>24437668
>New bookstore opens up in town
>Excited, I can finally buy unused books in walking distance
>Walk in
>All the books are popular bestsellers
>The "philosophy" section is just behavioral psychology and "think like a stoic" slop
>Leave and visit my local thrift shop that doesn't even specialize in books
>Find a Gorky collection and a decent edition of Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Why do thrift shops have better selections than book stores that specifically aim to sell books?

>>24436990
Then they ask if you want to get it ordered to the store, and when you say no they ask if you're sure with a look of disappointment.

>>24437698
They love selling books, they love bookstores, we all love bookstores, but most want them delivered to their place instead of coming back the following week, have a chat with the book seller about a recent read of his/hers, get a potential recommendation, have a good time among literature enjoyers. Shame on their lazy asses. I'll keep buying all my new books at independant bookstores. These guys are my people, it feels good supporting them.

>>24437721
Right, I just order from Amazon.

>>24437692
Some of my best finds were at thrift stores. I got an entire set of Balzac, and the complete works of Theodore Roosevelt from a thrift store, and the guy didn't even know he had them. Just put em up as decoration.

>Be Anon.
>Go out shopping with Mum to a Barnes & Noble.
>Stop over in the Art Books and Architecture section since it’s right next to the Cafe, and I like the Architecture books.
>B&N has a couple books on the Bauhaus Art trining program and product design.
>The books look nice, but Anon is a bit broke at the moment and the books are $45-$55 each.
>Figure I’ll think it over a day.
>Go back a couple days later, and books are no longer on shelf.
>Spend 30+ minutes waiting for a staff member to help me.
>Both books have been sold.
>Only one other B&N in the country has copies, and it’s out of state, and B&N can’t have store ship the books in for me.
>Try finding books on Amazon.
>Nope.
>Later find out books are sold out and basically unobtanium.
>Eventually find used copies on eBay at $100+ each.
>Have to use sticky clothes roller to remove dirt and sticky labels from covers and page edges.
>Still happy I got copies of the books.
>The other option was learning German and buying the two books in the original German editions which are still in print.

>>24437744
That's in fact the only way in burger country when you're the average burger citizen.

>>24437685
Why are you like this

>>24437880
He was also holding 3 copies of Lolita

>>24437668
This is why I started buying so many books (physical); the library just doesn't have what I want to read, and they're constantly throwing things out. I think a majority of the books I checked out in the past have been withdrawn, so if I want to read it again, I have to purchase the book anyway. May as well do that to begin with.

>early 2000s
>14 years old
>go up to check out with copy of whatever book I had
>tall, fat black woman is the only cashier on duty
>as I'm walking up, she is chewing her long, gross fingernails
>place the book on the check out counter
>for several seconds she just stares at me, still biting her fingernails
>the tip of one cracks off her finger and lands on the counter with a loud clack
>I look from her nail to her face and back at the nail in disgust
>she continues to bite her fingernails
>finally she stops and picks up the fingernail that had landed on the counter and disposes of it
>finish the transaction
>I don't say anything at all, mean mug her as I walk away
>hear her suck her teeth as I leave

met my girlfriend there while the bookstore was holding a 10th anniversary celebration. we still go there frequently. the owners will receive a wedding invitation

>>24437668
For me, it was a 0/5 book experience, but it is frustrating. They only sell normieslop.

>>24437535
really depends on where you live, and that's kind of the charm of it. In the city where I used to live, the selection of used book stores was very good. I'll do a quick write-up, some of you might enjoy.

>beautiful, 2 storied-store in a fantastic old corner-building. Somewhat cheap. Very hard to find anything good literature-wise (almost felt like they were actively avoiding to bring in any good books) and the non-fiction section on the second floor looked like it had stayed the same since 2006. Overall, they seemed to stack whatever came in on the shelves. Had a fantastic graphic design/art section, though (not really my interest). In the 4 years I used to live there, the vinyls section crept into the books space more and more. Owner was always blasting extremely experimental underground electronic music (of the whale noises kind).
>extremely weird store that was never open, unless the owner felt like it. Only been able to visit it about ~3 times in the 4 years I lived in the city. Owner only took cash, was very old, extremely fat, always in a suit, went for a cigarette break every 10 minutes and always had either classical or jazz playing in the store, quite loudly. Extremely specialist/curated collection, somewhat hybrid between /lit/core and old cultured boomer. Had a very interesting art poster collection in the back, filled with posters from yearly collections/exhibitions from various random European museums. Books were moderately expensive. Almost half of the store was dedicated to French/Italian/Spanish/German books (non-translated).
>Charity (oxfam) book shop that was dirt cheap (2 bucks per book, mostly). Always populated by (at least) two old people that were talking about the grandchildren, and always wanted to talk about random stuff whenever you entered the store. Had no curation of their selection whatsoever, but I rarely left without buying anything there (I think my copies of Pynchon's V and Moby Dick are both from there and didn't cost more that 3 bucks). Always smelt like wet, cold, coffee and looked quite drab (grey tiles, mostly donated furniture). Barely ever had any other patrons in the store, even though it was on a busy through-road, next to a supermarket and across the road from a parking garage.
>Big chain second-hand bookstore (yes, they exist) that had about 4 floors and a large web shop where you could also buy second-hand books online from. Everything remotely interesting (from an antiques point of view) was locked behind glass. Had a huge collection without really any rhyme or reason. All paperbacks were buy 2, get one free, and the selection wasn't bad. The chain is somewhat as the party that the next of kin call when their bookworm family member had passed.

There were a few more less remarkable ones besides these.

>>24437912
You had a gf for 10 years without marrying her?

>>24437923
Can you read? The *bookstore* was holding a 10th anniversary celebration, i.e. for ten years of the bookstore being in operation. He *met* her there, so it couldn't have been their tenth anniversary together. He doesn't say how long it's been since they met.

>>24437923
bookstore was 10 yrs old when we met, we’ve been dating for 1.5 yrs now

>go to barnes and noble on multiple occasions
>each time pick up and open mein kampf
>open to parts where hitler is ranting about jews or leberaraum

>paying for a copy of old man and the sea
>female clerk asks if i have any interest in 'this' book they're promoting and hands me a copy
>its about a jewish runaway escaping WW2 germany
>no
>"maybe you should read more than just hemmingway"
>tell her "i despise jews and have no interest in this book"
>stunned, we carry out the rest of the transaction in silence
>leave
i know it sounds made up or makes me look like a sperg (which i am) but it's pretty much the single time in my life i had any balls to tell someone what i thought of something truthfully, unironically the highlight of my life.

>>24437936
whatever

>enter bookstore
>know what i'm there to buy
>walk around looking at books
>lady approaches me and asks me if i need help
>oh yeah i'm looking for Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
>ok follow me
>follow her to a cicular desk with computer in the middle of the store
>do you like books
>mhm
>she tells me the aisle it's in
>thanks very much
>I walk over to the aisle
>probably only fifteen semi-wide steps
>lots of books on the shelf she had determined was the right one from looking up the location of Less Than Zero
>I have been to this particular bookstore before and know it's organized alphabetically by authors last name
>look for Ellis as Less Than Zero is written by Bret Easton Ellis
>scan roughly three rows after starting from low Cs to find E-L
>pull book from shelf
>American Psycho on the left of it collapses onto another copy of Less Than Zero because The copy of Less Than Zero that I haf grabbed was no longer bearing its weight to prop it up
>leave aisle
>head towards the counter near the front of the store
>see the lady still at the computer as I walk down the center walkway
>thanks again
>mhm have a nice day
>you too
>make it to the counter
>no line
>hello how are you today
>good good
>do you have a rewards card
>no I dont
>would you like one
>nah no thanks
>okay thatll be 16.79
>scan my debit card
>she puts the book and receipt in a plastic bag
>she hands me the bag
This is a different lady by the way.
>have a good day sir
>you too
>I walk towards the exit which is the front door but the door on the other side of the entrance
>I make it
>I exit the store

>>24436627 (OP)
I bought the first book of A song of Ice and Fire when I was 16, that's pretty much it

>>24436627 (OP)
I was indirectly accused of stealing crappy Made in China bookmarks from B&N. The manager screamed it across the store and stared daggers at me because I was nearby and some tags were on the ground. I was wearing a tailored sportcoat and slacks. Meanwhile a homeless Mexican was 20 feet away scratching himself and mumbling in the children's section; she said nothing about him.

>>24438473
I lost hard. You’re an absolute madman.

>>24436640
You did good anon, dont worry about one fumble, keep trying

>>24436627 (OP)
Once at Half Price books I found a book that was transcribed telepathic conversations a lady had with her horse. I really wish I had bought it now.

>>24437721
>independant bookstores. These guys are my people
They're literally all trannylovers

>go to bookstore with gf
>she picks up 4 cooking books
>I head to the politics, history, philosophy and classics sections
>subtle art of not giving a f*ck, neo-con shilling, holocaust memoirs, don't recognise any authors in the classics section
>leave empty handed
this has happened at least 5 times now

>>24438609
Also found this book, I thought it was funny

>>24438282
That reminds me when the clinic nurse was pestering me about when I was going to get the jab and wouldn't my work fire me? and think of the old people and I told her "It's really none of your business" and she didn't say another word

>>24438631
I love that.

>>24438614
Oh no! This inconsequential thing!

>>24438282
based
one unsolicited opiniin deserves another

>>24438473
There is no way this happened

>>24436890
How are you crippled?

>>24436964
This is poor writing, sorry

>>24437321
Smart, keep first dates cheap

>>24437646
OK, George Costanza

>>24436976
This but sometimes they do have it but for twice the price I'd pay

>>24438282
>femoid dunking on trannyway

keyed. she was trying to help you anon, if you were to open the front cover you would have seen that it was actually a copy of revolt against the modern world

>>24438571
is this real?

>>24436627 (OP)
I worked as a cashier for three weeks and then never showed up again without answering any of their phone calls. That was a decade ago. I have never gone back.

>>24436890
Unironically do some push-ups and cat poses. Doesn’t have to be many. Ten at a time a couple times a day with hours in between, start elevated doing them propped up on the stairs if regular ones are too difficult. Keep adding more over months and years. Do some IYT sets too (google it, it’s easier than describing).

t. Had a herniated disc and perma-pinched nerve that left me unable to feel my dominant hand but went to PT which basically boiled down to them telling me to do the above.

>>24436976
>>24438745
Did this last week. How are paperbacks a minimum of 18 dollars now? No matter the size. One was a small mass market dimension with only like 250 pages, regular font size and still 18.99. I scoffed, shook my head at the fat blue haired worker who probably took pride in all the gay comics they flooded the western comics shelf with (also all incredibly overpriced but at least that’s glossy paper and ink) and left.

>>24436630
Related: every time I go into an Indigo at Christmastime the manga/comics aisle will be completely filled with chink kids sitting on the floor reading manga, completely blocking the aisle and reading the books for free all the while spilling bubble tea onto the pages and smearing the pages with their sticky fingers. I've seen this phenomenon many times (but not every time, it's usually when the store happens to be really busy, hence Christmastime).

>>24437646
You probably associate the toilet with reading books. When you see books, you want to go to the toilet.

>>24436630
>Why are books getting phased out by manga? Does this happen in your country?
Not really, in my local book store there's Marvel and DC crap plus some indies, and like a small table and couple shelves of manga and webtoon stuff.

>>24437295
kino

>>24437003
>>24438727
I was positively enchanted by it. Maybe you just were filtered, per chance?

>>24438473
You bloody bitch bastard made me read that

>Once a month go to Garbage store (Literal garbage, it's all stuff from the dump that isn't broken)
>The shop smells like the dump
>They have a whole wall of books
>Takes me 15minutes of craning my neck to scan through everything
>It's all garbage, cookbooks, travel guides, sports biographies, Best Sellers from 10 years ago
>everything is $1
>Sometimes I leave with nothing
>Picrelated is all the books I've bought from there, $7 total
I go when I have nothing to do and want to go for a motorbike ride, Couldn't believe my eyes when I pulled out a perfect condition Cormac McCarthy for $1, it's what keeps me going

>>24437646
When I feel very comfy, I feel a need to poop, maybe it’s something like that for you

>used bookstore in small Missouri Town
>Always have cool stuff, bought the Sot-Weed factor, several older sci Fi books, various classics, owner is super nice
>Records in the back, DVDs and shit kept to a tiny shelf in front, only decorations don't movie props/toys Hung up periodically
>Suddenly owner retires and the plane closes, turns into a furniture store
>Look into it on Facebook, turns out someone has bought the inventory and reopening at a new location
>Takes a year to open, go back soon after, excited to see the new place
>Smaller store, most of the sections gutted of anything interesting
>Giant trans flag on the window, new owners wife kind of a bitch when buying something
I don't really know what my point was, often I wonder if the world is just constantly getting shittier or if that's just how I see it growing older and I'm not sure which of those options is less depressing.

>>24437233
You should complain to the owner, send an email or just ask to talk to an owner/manager. Covid isn't going on anymore, and if it's a local place and not a big chain there's nothing that would stop them from putting chairs back.

>>24436627 (OP)
I went inside Barnes & Noble, took a copy of the God Delusion by Richard Dawkins into mens room, opened up a random and started pleasing myself on the shitter. It was all fun and games until the janitor walked in. To my surprise the old fucker actually finished me off and then we held hands and went into Starbucks, ate bagels and drank coffee while playing footsie until I had to leave.

>>24438473
>tfw no line

>>24439405
You can't just say "perchance"

I went into a Books-a-Million some years ago and someone had shit on the floor near the magazine racks in the back. I guess they were trying to get to the restroom but failed to make it in time and shit themselves. There were employees back there crying about it and how this wasn't their job blah blah. I thought it was pretty funny but as I was walking back towards the front I realized I had stepped in the shit somehow so I left really quick and it wasn't funny anymore.

>>24436627 (OP)
In the provincial eurotown where I lived there was a modest, soulless commercial bookstore that I used to frequent to find used books on offer when I was poorer than I am today. There, one day I came across Limonov who, in a small room in front of no more than 50 people, was presenting his new book. This was not long before he died.

>>24437692
I’ve bought most of my books at thrift stores. The more of a meme the book is, the more likely it is that the book hasn’t even been read. I’ve bought brand new unread copies of the Satanic Verses, Infinite Jest, Underworld, various Hemingway novels, Faulkner etc.

>>24439405
Have you ever been negatively enchanted?

>>24436990
>>24437668
>>24437692
>>24437920
I agree with you guys but you have to keep in mind that they stock books that Sell.
Most people that read voraciously these days, and spend actual money at bookstores, are normie housewife types that read several dozen smut novellas every single month.
It's gotten to a point where my city has had a couple shops open up in the past year or so that exclusively stock that swill, and nothing else.

>>24438614
>coping and sneeding that normal people aren't spastic chuds like (You)
oh teh noes not teh heckin bloo hare N pronowmz :.'.'.^'.'.'(

>>24436627 (OP)
Last time I went to Barnes and Noble was one of the few times I’ve seen a tranny, a particularly hideous one. He was with his boyfriend. He was wearing those school girl thigh-highs with a short skirt, his face visibly had facial hair and acne, and he had shitty makeup. His boyfriend was wearing a collar shirt and pants like he just came from the pine woods of Oregon. They were holding hands the whole time and they were tall as fuck, towering over everyone in the store. I wondered to myself, who could ever see such a sight and think that’s a woman?

>>24440691
>see random fags in public, minding their own business
>lose your spaghetti with directionless rage
are you going to become the jonkler now?

>>24440678
I know, I know... I'm just not gonna shop there is all!

>>24438609
Was it this?

https://www.sfwp.com/quarterly/lady-the-mind-reading-mare

>>24440703
All I ask is that you people stop demanding we see you as normal women

>>24436627 (OP)
>Tell me about an experience you have had at a bookstore, /lit/.
Simple as

>>24440914
I'm not a troon, you dumb fucking spastic. I just don't crash out like a drunk boomer when I see one.

>>24441000
YWNBAW

>>24439459
>he hasn't found the page with cum on it yet

>>24440703
kys faggot

>>24440651
Yes, that one time that he pissed off a witch.

>>24441341
You also don't know how many times you've seen an invisible unicorn

>>24441341
No tranny passes.
>inb4 THIS PHOTO
All trannies use photoshop, filters, and AI extensively on their photos and videos.

>>24441344
>>24441351
Again, by definition if one passes you wouldn't know unless they told you, which they probably wouldn't given the attitude you're showing. So the data you have is insufficient to distinguish between the hypotheses "no tranny passes" and "no passing tranny has ever told me".

>>24441365
nta, but no tranny passes. not really. it's the same as how not all women are beautiful, even though any woman can be made to look beautiful in a picture. the real test is what they look like coming out of the shower. no lighting setup, no makeup, no manipulative angles, no clothes or hair styling to frame it better. and then, no one passes. and if you reject that, well, you make it meaningless, because outside of that anyone can look like anything.

>>24441384
If Anon didn't observe them coming out of the shower, then they don't really have the data to confirm or disconfirm that they pass under those conditions, only the conditions under which they saw them.

>>24436627 (OP)
As an adolescent I went to a library (close enough) and a girl with a cat ear headband started staring at me and baring her teeth. Suddenly her hand was on my arm-gripping. Squeezing! I wrested myself free and fled. Barely got out alive.

>>24441395
>under those conditions
so what? if i can't properly see him, i don't have the data to say, i have to accept the possibility of his passing? no, not until any one has ever been seen passing, observed properly, without manipulation -- but no such thing has ever been seen, so we say that no tranny passes

>>24441425
People have certainly reacted with surprise to being told someone was trans, do you think every single one, even the ones who reacted transphobically to it, was actually just lying/humoring them?

>>24441491
I'll also add that it's broadly more feasible for FtMs because the physical effects of testosterone are so drastic and irreversible (and also even if we're talking without medical intervention it's easier to disguise a woman as a man than vice versa) but that doesn't mean it never happens for MtFs.

>>24437295
This reminded me
>Dec 2020
>Fiancee and I decide to check out a used bookstore in town
>"muh masks"
>Go use the bathroom while she starts browsing
>Come out to hear her calling my name, sounding concerned
>Store cat has leapt onto her head while she was bent down looking at the bottom shelf
>Shoo it off

>Overhear old cashier talking to another customer about her coven and casting hexes and the aforementioned cat, whose name we learn is Mr. Moonbeam
>Sounds very serious about it all

>Finally check out
>Same cashier, double-masked and gloved (no witches' spell against COVID, apparently)
>She thoroughly wipes down every book with a bone-dry, thoroughly used Clorox wipe that audibly crinkles, doesn't leave any cleaner residue, even though the can of them is right there on the counter

We haven't been back

>>24441491
you're misunderstanding me, or more likely i'm misspeaking. by observed properly, i mean the "coming out of the shower" type: without manipulation and dressing. no, i do not believe anyone has ever been surprised to be told someone seen like that is trans.

>>24441527
I mean I've been called "ma'am" by strangers in a T-shirt and jeans and no makeup.

>>24441531
By the same logic that the other anon has no way of knowing whether or not he's ever known a passing tranny, you have no way of knowing whether or not this was being said to be polite. Most people don't want to experience a legendary trooner freakout in their place of business and will attempt to gender others according to their perceived intention.

>>24436627 (OP)
There's a big bookshop with a cafe in Waterford city, I once saw a guy blowing another guy in the bathroom there because they forgot to lock the door. I bought my mother a cool hardcover copy of the Lord of the Rings with illustrations for her birthday that day. It was pretty cool, she really liked it.

>>24441535
Also setting aside those who would pretend not to clock out of fear of some sort of backlash, a great many people would do so just out of genuine politeness and kindness.

It's not worth worrying about, the reason we have politeness culture is because the mind of the other will forever be a mystery, and that's probably for the best.

>>24441548
Again, if I'm dressed androgynously how exactly are they supposed to know without being told what I want to be addressed as one way or another?

>>24441554
It's possible they could do so by various things like gait, facial structure, scent, etc. Or not, that would vary from person to person.

>>24441563
>>24441554
Sorry, they couldn't tell what you'd want to be addressed as unless there was some strong distinguishing feature, or a conflux of distinguishing features, that would lead them to one or the other alternative. Apologies, I misread the question. I am drinking.

>>24441563
I doubt most people are thinking in that much depth about the gender of strangers, they just go with whatever the black box classifier in their head initially generates.

>>24441570
Sure, I didn't mean to suggest that a person would rationally, consciously calculate it based on those factors. But those factors could very easily be processed unconsciously in a way that could lead to clocking.

>>24441585
Maybe in her naivety she thought you were just an ugly, freakish, masculine woman instead of assuming you were a tranny.

>>24441585
I don't think whether that one specific person, her, clocked this one specific person, you, is really relevant. Some trans people are going to pass better or worse than others, and some people are going to be more or less perceptive than others when it comes to clocking trans people.

>>24441491
Yes.

>>24441544
Humans are exceptionally good at noticing minor sexual traits. Almost like evolution selected for it.

>>24440191
>line at a bookstore
>anytime after harry potter 7 came out

>thread about bookstores on /lit/
>butthurt tranny makes it all about himself
dilate

>>24436630
Yes. Manga and light novels are very popular among Gen Z, it's like the only shit they read. What your seeing is simply bookstores trying to appeal to the younger generation, because the older folks who read are dying off.

>be the only person in the store 1 hour before closing, it's storming outside and dark
>end up burning 45 minutes browsing books
>two cashier ladies chatting it up the whole time
>their registers are right next to the fantasy section
>feel their eyes on my back as I'm browsing the books
>actually find a copy of Urth of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
>check price, $25 what in the fuck
>the font is all blotchy and bold too, like wtf was the publisher thinking?
>The cashier girls probably wondering when the fuck I'm gonna buy something after being in the store for so long
>I say out loud "I hate the font in this book so I'm backing out" and I put the book back
>They think I'm complaining and just get silent
>I go to walk out, and the rain and wind is coming down so hard that I can't even see across the parking lot
>I decide to stay in the store and I tell the cashier girls I'm going to wait until the storm dies down so I don't get soaked
>They just nod and one says "oh yea that does look bad out there"
>I joke and say "it's a good thing I didn't buy a book or else it would get wet and ruined!"
>one forces a chuckle
>I spill my spaghetti and run out into the rain

>>24442286
>Urth of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
>the font is all blotchy and bold too, like wtf was the publisher thinking?
I ordered a copy of Urth recently and it was the same thing. None of the other Gene Wolfe books I have are like this.

Rest of your post was funny though.

>hot girl is trying to tell her friends what herme's staff was called
>walk by and say "the staff of asclepius"
>her eyes light up, she snaps her fingers and says "yeah!"
>walk away feeling good
>run into her again elsewhere in the store
>"did you guys have any more questions?"
>all laugh
>feel good
>back home remeber the staff is caduceus, which has two snakes, whereas the staff of asclepus has only one.

>>24442294
Yea I don't get it. I'd like to know what that type of font or print style is called. The Deadhouse Gates trade paperback is the same way.

>>24438585
I actually got thrown out of one for sexual harassment before. Women should not have jobs or be seen in public, ever.

>Order David McGowan's Programmed to Kill to a local bookstore to avoid shipping costs
>Go to the store to get it
>Show the order number to the young cashier
>The cashier brings me a box of crayons
>"This one, right?" t. cashier with a smiley face
>Tell her that she's mistaken
>She goes back to check the other ordered items
>She brings me my book. The smile on her face has turned into a face of disgust

>>24437353
Yes
But I could have been hanging out somewhere else
>>24438726
Some kind of arm pain
It’s mostly gone now
>>24438811
Thanks but at the end it was mostly psychosomatic

>>24442673
It's a based book. The Jonbenet Ramsey chapter is especially good.

>go to a 2nd and charles to check out a store closing/moving sale
>air conditioning busted, hot as fuck inside
>pick up john scalzi interdependency trilogy box for only 15 dolla
>go eat a shitload of food court slop because i'm a fatass

it was a good day. haven't started reading those yet nor have I read anything else from scalzi but i've heard he's good stuff in scifi.

>>24441523
When my gym started implementing covid wipes, as if our sweat contained covid, I started taking giant fuck-you wads of them, wipe down the machine, and then throw them out. Over the course of three years I probably cost that dumb gym over $500 in sanitary wipes. They still replenish them for everyone. I keep using them a quarter stack at a time.

>>24442317
Quite the faux pas.

>>24437535
>used book store
Any rare finds you have come across?

>>24437535
dude no way lmao i think i've been to that store its in some extremely obscure strip mall in south jersey right? lmao i browsed the shit out of it but it didn't have much to t b h

>>24442891
Sanitary wipes were common in gyms way before covid...I'm sorry you're retarded.

>rundown used bookstore
>see many I want, get a couple
>at register price is much lower than expected
>oh we're having an unadvertised sale, everything is half off
>end up buying a dozen books and spending way more than I intended

>>24444366
Holy based

>>24442317
kek

>>24436627 (OP)
>browsing random bookstore
>they also have old knickknacks
>ask if they have any pens on a whim
>there's a boxed set of a fountain pen and pencil
>doesn't cost much since it's a budget model (but vintage so still great)
Another time I found an astrology book with notes in it from the astrologer who owned it. Used bookstores are great, you never know what you'll find.

>>24436627 (OP)
Oh shit. Here goes.
I'm pushing 60.
>be me. 17 y/o autist-lite.
>back then, book stores in malls? Are also software sales places.
>This, is 1985.
>We were taken to mall, for "apple user group meeting"
>Meet in some back room for this.
>Whole point, is to we all copy games and other software, and trade.
>fuck everything else
>asshole running meet? They shut power off, for talking time. How to use for...next loops.
>Fuck this shit. I walk around, bored. Everyone is ignoring sperg asshole talking. This is every month.
>I find breaker box. Huh. One breaker? Off. Flip back on.
>BEEP! of 50 or 60 Apple II+ computers turning on and booting up, all at once. I hear chuckling. I am hero.
>Fellow autists, start ignoring asshole talking, and resume copying (illegally) software.
>achievement unlocked.
>Professor congratulates me, on being really cool. He's happy.
>Me and anon-friend, walk around mall.
>Book store, software in back. Is up on deck, in back. Was? Different time.
>Anon friend? Wants SDCv3.6. (this, is super disk copy, version 3.6... big deal, in 1985)
>I look at anon fiend. How bd you want this.
>More than anything.
>I give autistic smile. We? Are fren. I shoeb it down my underwear in front.
>Don't know about "beeper" technology.
>autists? Are not perfect.
>I walk down steps from software deck. BEEP BEEP BEEP.
>Shit. What do.
>There, is magazine racks, out to end of store. I am autist. Read many spy novels. I? Have secret plans. Must get plana out. I dive behind magazine racks.
>{MassConfusion.BMP]
>I crawl to frint of store, behing mag racks.
>I hit storefront? I bolt.
>is took time. Here comes security,.
>SHIT.jpg
>slow as fuck. I am autist. I run long distance track. Realize, they can;t catch me. Middle age fuck sticks. Uniforms are useless.
>I escape
>Because of.. Monroeville Apple User Group Meeting location? I know back alleys, BEHIND stores.
>I am autist. Friend, is fellow autist. We know these tunnels, like back of hand.
>I escape. I end up back at MAUG meeting.
>Anon. Why are you wearing...
>I had ditched my sweatshirt. Changed look.
>Security everywhere. Looking for kid in sweatshirt X.
>I come clean to professor took us there.
>Profesor laughs, in autist.
>[GoodJob.BMP]
>can i have copy, of SDCv3.6?
>damn straight
>All good. Amazed. Professor, is on board.
>Professor, out in hippie van.
>Anon. Was awesome, when Apple computers, all came on. We copied thru talking. Was awesome.
>[HolySHit.JPG]
>Professor, and autist friend? Pitch in, and buy HUGE bucket of... KFC
>Achievement unlocked
>I feel.. awesome.
True story. BTW, Monroeville mall? later became, mall zombie movie, filmed at.
>Autist friend? Later became actual criminal. I, did not.
>Good feels, man.

>>24436627 (OP)
A nearby secondhand bookshop was closing down and the owner wanted to get rid of all the books so he was selling them all by the box. I ended up buying a box of ~50 classics which I'm still working through. It contains a few hardcovers but most are paperbacks that are still in good quality.

>>24436627 (OP)
>be me
>understand French and Portuguese quite well, but have very little practise speaking
>go to bookstore in France
>start looking at books, reading the backs etc
>girl working there comes up to me
>asks me in French if she can help me
>so caught of guard I instantly reply I don't speak French, while holding a French book
>realise what just happened
>leave the bookstore utterly defeated

>>24444642
>can you teach me?
4 words from sperg to Chad

>>24436627 (OP)
I went to Barnes and noble a bit ago and bought asops fables. It was cool. Lots of nice books and classics and manga and whatever for anybody. And surprisingly there was a lot of people there to. I didn’t expect that seeing as just about everyone says people are reading less and most people in my life don’t read other then a few. But I’m happy my expectation was wrong. It didn’t seem like they were just buying silly books either. The only thing I was disappointed by was the religion section. It didn’t have anything much on other religions other then Christianity and the books on other religions were written by Christians so they were silly. I wish there was a bit more philosophy there to but I just saw some stoicism stuff and maybe that Nietzsche. I still haven’t finished the fables because I partly forgot about it and probably cuz I’m lazy to.

>>24436990
Literally happened to me despite the pleasant experience. I saw a vid saying Barnes and noble changes their stock in certain stores depending on the people in the area so that could be why. That bookstore could be doing something similar. People in your region don’t like these or that type of books

>>24436990
Yeah, I order books online because without doubt, every single time I go to a bookshop, I'm told they don't have what I'm looking for.

But they do have 5 different editions of Meditations!

>>24436640
Why would you ever ask out an Indonesian woman

>>24445474
Wagie manager at B&N here. The company is doing surprisingly well. New ownership 5 or so years ago really turned the company around. Not sold on a lot of the in store aesthetic and merchandising changes, but the numbers at my store are very strong so I don't gripe too much. Granted, I work at a store in a well reputed university town (if that means anything nowadays). We're always busy. Makes it hard to get shit shelved and do the constant changes and section rejiggering and moves that corporate wants us to do, but that's life.

If it wasn't for the occasional thieves and junkies/homeless, I'd fucking adore the job, even with the meh pay. I enjoy it anyways, but it does get tarnished by the scum I have to deal with some days. I have some great regulars who love me because I'm good at my job and have a personality instead of being your stereotypical dead eyed wagie. Best part is the children who get excited about books. We have some incredibly bright and inquisitive kids who are always there with their family and it's a joy to help them find books and chat with them. Also, it's a university town, so there is no shortage of absolute smokeshow college students and I work with a few cuties as well.

Any questions for a B&N employee of 6 or so years? Will try to answer them as I see them.

>>24437721
Just feels like charity.

>>24442790
our 2nd and charles sucks ass
we only have two actual used bookstores left in my town which is really unfortunate. i miss roaming them.

I bought a copy of Revolt Against the Modern world at a goodwill once

>>24446001
You sound like an insufferable loser.

>>24446072
Nah, I'm a delight.

>>24446010
charity is a good thing, especially when it comes to preserving access to art.

>>24446001
You sound like a good dude.

>>24446001
How do you feel about the ever-shrinking area for books in favor of games, dvds, legos etc.? My B&N is a shell of its former self, though it remains relatively busy. All the other book chains closed so there's that

>>24446109
thx bby :)

>>24446127
I get sick of it. It hasn't been as egregious in my store as others since my store is in an older building and has a smaller footprint than many other stores, so we have finite room to begin with. I really haven't lost much room to toys and games over the last few years, but the gift merchandise is a big push lately. B&N acquired a company called Paper Source a couple of years back, so pens, journals, etc. are flooding in. Tons of candles. Lots of cheapy, Chinese made gift shit too. T&G I don't mind as I enjoy having that facet in the store. LEGO is a great money maker for us as well. B&N just recently entered a deal with LEGO to have some new sets exclusive and available only to B&N for the first few months of release which helps us even further as LEGO has been a big deal since the covid bullshit, I guess. DVDs take up almost no room, we have a decent amount (especially Criterion), but we got rid of 4 full bays of DVDs a few years back and it's just one cube display now. Same with music. My store doesn't have a huge, separate music section like many others stores, so we just have a table for Vinyl which sells like crazy nowadays and a separate display for K-Pop which also does well as it has a very dedicated fanbase.

As much as I'd love it to be just a book store, the variety is a huge benefit for us. With Toys 'R' Us going under, we have become the de facto T&G store in town with the exception of another high end, independently owned toy store and maybe a card/game shop. In my current position, sales of the store take precedent over just about anything else. Also, yearly bonuses and raises (of which we have received both every year with I think just last year being the only year we received just one) are determined by sales across the company. It's something I have to pay attention to a lot more now as I continue to advance.

There was a really old antique bookstore in York in a Dickensian building that looked like it had built in the Middle Ages. You had to go up this tiny narrow winding creaky staircase to get to the second floor and they had just a trove of old books. Now they've turned it into a cafe or something, it's gay. It was right across the street from another cafe where I took a date from the University of York once and had a panic attack and left her there because I wasn't used to talking to girls. Worst experience of my life and the memories never stop haunting me.

>>24436630
Perchance is this Barnes & Noble?

As a little kid, I'm old enough there was a Kmart.
om and dad would shop for at least an hour or more, usually once a week.
I would either hang out at the video games aisle, where kids took turns playing atari 2600...
of the book section.
I rememeber paperbacks all over.
sci-fi, spy novels, thrillers, gumshoes, pulp and pulp serials.
Sometimes, I would read 20 pages of a paperback.
Next time? Next 20 pages.
You can (slowly, but still) read a 200page paperback, like that.
drugstores had a little paperback section, too.
But the MALL. Those big book stores, wow.
I would spend the whole mall time, in the two bookstores. I wanna say, B.DaltonBooksellers, and... B&N.
In my 20s, my old lady knew how mall time went.
I would hit cutlery world, then the coffee store. The pet store, then she would find me at either book store to leave.
she accused me of being... whatever.
I told her, about being a kid.
she understood. It made me happy like a kid again, to be there.
The world was still something resembling normal back then.
God, I wish I could go back.

>enter local bookstore
>ask staff member to direct me to the Houellebecq section
>he looks over his shoulder then says "follow me"
>takes me through long hidden corridor
>storage boxes, exposed pipes
>finally takes me through locked steel door
>it's the back alley
>door slams behind me

>>24446109
>hurr durr im gonna say the opposite of that other anon
>wait why did he call me bby condescendingly?
you learned something today anon

>>24437342
You're not supposed to walk on escalators anon

>>24446240
I can deal with being called bby by a stranger, I'm an adult of sound mind. I def can learn something of your dubious choice of words and reaction to a polite interaction though.

>>24442623
Do tell

>>24442286
I'm cackling

>go to barnes and noble
>it's gayer and more pozz'd than ever
>everyone is some softboy or egirl
>tabletop and manga section gets bigger every year
>some of these vinyls would be cool if I had a record player I guess
>get some Eric Carle books for my daughter

>>24442317
hearty kek

>>24444581
Kek
how long you been on the chan?

>>24444581
you're an awful writer
give up

>>24444581
My grandfather was part of these "Apple User Groups" back in the 1980s and 1990s, he ended up accumulating a fuckton of pirated software.

At borders
Return chuck palahiunivk book
Peruse the aisles looking for something interesting, book or maybe girls to fail miserable at flirting with.
Cashier comes up to me, she’s in one of my college classes.
“We know what you’re doing.”
How does she know I’m trying to get laid by going to borders everyday and scaring away Asian girls?
“You can’t keep reading the books in one day then returning them.”
“Uh oh oh ok”
Borders closes

>>24436627 (OP)
i met a young qt whom i talked to for like 3 hours about books and her upcoming trip to europe. she said she'd probably go to wales and never come back. i bought her a novel and left it on her windshield with my number. got a text back a year later saying thanks. but never heard from her again. hope she's happy, she was really cute and feminine.

>peruse sci-fi and fantasy shelves
>buy novel
>cashier was 75% of the way through twink death
>go outside and it starts to rain
i misread the OP as most recent but i guess this still applies

>bookstore has decent events
>end of a shelf has combined anti-cop/anti-Israel section
>sign says both are the same as KKK
>don't buy anything
>go home, buy IDF shirt on Amazon
>wear it to events now

>>24446269
Mhm.

>>24438282

>no: I prefer to read about African pygmies who are under threat from dysentery and their local warlord. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

>>24437178
Based.

>>24446486
Had a similar interaction except I just replied "Yes I can." Then Borders did indeed close.

>>24436627 (OP)
this morning I went to a used book sale at our local library and there was a guy that had a IR scanner on his phone and was clearly tying to find valuable books he could scalp on ebay
i don't know why it bothers me so much, but it does.

>>24436627 (OP)
I picked up a book with a blank cover in the fiction aisle and tested my new speed reading techniques on it. It was nothing but garbled verbiage. When I put it back on the shelf I got a phone call but I did not answer because only telemarketers call me. A week later I went to the kitchen and found the book open on the table. I got spooked when I saw the black haired head of a ghost rise off the centerfold. After some awkward embarrassment I took down my pants and leaned against the table and the book ghost gave me hands free succ. I am in the process of scanning so I can pull her out of a PDF from my gaming computer.

>>24442317
my entire life is made of this

>>24442673
>The smile on her face has turned into a face of disgust
LMFAO, natural bluepill reaction to such a book

>>24437326
I care! Congrats on having sex at least once, anon! :^)

>>24442673
KEK

>>24449222
Because it commodifies reading. Someone might stumble across a book they normally wouldn't pick up but buy it because of the low price, take it home and enjoy it, maybe even get something out of it. Instead some jew or kike-adjacent golem will snatch it and rub his hands as he lists it online above the average value.
Same type of people ruined the retro video and TT game scenes

>>24436627 (OP)
>What? I can get this cheaper on Amazon.

>>24446229
I wish I could be based enough to play elaborate pranks on customers

>>24449222
Sounds like an amateur. Pro scalpers donate $5 to get into the special early access Friends of the Library sale the day before the general sale opens and grab the expensive shit before everyone else gets a chance

>>24450747
Fuck Amazon.

>>24451320
I don't care about small shops if they're going to simply sell vagslop, then charge me extra to order through Amazon for me when I want something.

Either stock things I want or I'll simply go to Amazon and I don't give a fuck about your gay ass small business. Well, except for buying the classics, with them I can just go to my library's shop can get them a buck a piece.

>>24436627 (OP)
>be me
>wife left me
>day drink and smoke weed in the mall parking lot
>go into barnes and noble to read
>to drunk
>stare at attractive women
>jerk off in the bathroom
>leave quickly and cry in the car

>>24444581
feels like i'm reading a /b/ greentext from 2010. thank you

>>24450530
the internet ruined everything

the only good bookstores are used book stores

>>24436630
The Department of Education sucks.

>>24451883
the internet didn't ruin anything. making the internet accessible to the average normalnigger is what ruined everything
average people are walking trash

>>24450530
ya but on the other hand that arbitrage creates value because now those goods are available to a larger market and will be accessible to people who really want them rather than some guy who saw it at a yard sale, bought it because it was cheap, and leaves it molding in his basement for the next 30 years unappreciated.

>>24436627 (OP)
>go to bookstore
>woman hunched over a book has a whale tail
>had heard about that but never actually seen one
>check her out several times
>go home
>fap
>tfw

>>24436627 (OP)
The other day I got a French-English dictionary, a German-English dictionary, an Italian-English dictionary, a Russian-English dictionary, and an anthology of ancient Chinese poetry (古詩源) for a total of 15 dollars. I love used book stores.

>>24450873

Witnessed this first-hand at a university library book sale. Front of the lineup was filled with pretentious book-store owners/scalpers in tweed jackets and lit professor clothing. The moment the door opened they fucking started running around the tables picking up specific books in very specific places. All parasites.

>>24437321
same here. we had a grand old time.

>>24452494
The one we went to was also a used record store, which was pretty cool, especially since she's a music nerd. Also a religion nerd; I've found some good books to give her as presents there since.

>>24442673
This is why I suck it up and eat the shipping costs when I buy schizo books

>>24438745
Do other countries don't have fixed book prices? It's the only thing that keeps book stores alive here in Germania

>>24442673
I thought women loved le true crime

I had not been in a book store since maybe 2004ish? I used to hang out in big shopping centers I would ride my bike to as a kid. I probably went into Barnes and Noble and other book stores weekly from age 10-18.

When I returned to book stores earlier last year I immediately noticed how soulless everything had become. I've never been on Tik-Tok but there was a Tik Tok section with absolute trash looking art covers which all share some sort of hideous theme of not being actual art?

I also noticed there were tables of books that all shared this similar art trait of bright colors and then just text. No actual art on the books outside of really awful design. Made me think these are just terribly written books meant to sell to women. Just some kind of slop if I had to guess. Anyways they also all had these sprayed colored edges which, up until then, I had no idea existed.

Another thing I noticed is that everything was EXTREMELY expensive. Made me glad that I got most of my books from book swaps or this other used book store I go to.

There was also a section for heavily discounted stuff that nobody bought or they were trying to get rid of. Those were reasonably priced but everything looked absolutely awful. I'd never really judged books based on their covers before this day. At least negatively I hadn't judged books. But holy shit it's hard to see 200 books all sharing this art theme and not instantly realize there is just a market for selling slop to, what i assume, is women.

I noticed there was a very very minor horror section which was dominated by three authors. The fantasy section was also just pure slop. There were minimal 1900's-1980's sci-fi or fantasy reprints of actual good books. Just slop everywhere.

Massive manga section. Tons of funko pops. Cheap fake leather notebooks being sold for $40. Every IP in the world being transformed and sold into board games, cheap trinkets. Everything was so commercialized

I guess the commercialization and milking of IPs was always there but it didn't seem to soulless or cheap. Book stores used to feel more "expensive" and nice but now they just feel like convenience stores for books if that makes sense.

Anyways I'm done rambling. I'm going to go read now.

>>24438631
name of book?

>>24452154
>muh gdp
>Krugmaneatingshit.jpg

>>24444581
lmao this made kind of nostalgic

>>24452944
Nostalgic for what, zoomcuck? That leadbrained garbage just reads like a reddit copy of an old 4chan post.

>>24436627 (OP)
Most bookstores are irredeemable slop merchants at this point.

>>24453216
I remember being at a Barnes and Noble recently and feeling very much that I was surrounded predominantly by literary pabulum for people who had never had a thought outside the Matrix in their lives.

>>24452649
filtered

>>24451919
The job? Tree climbing.

>>24446219
No, are you retarded? Manga doesn't even approach 1/5th of book sales in the US.

>>24436630
Shitty bait anchor-post by an obsessed weeb.

>>24453220

Every new book in these store has the same overly-simplistic, brightly colored globo-homo jacket. It will be a deep color with simple SVG art, or a white background with abstract shapes in confetti colors. This is done to catch the readers eye while paying the absolute minimal price for design - modern streamlined marketing at its finest.

I am never going back.

In retrospect, I stopped making fun of Penguin covers. At least some generations of them had a modicum of soul.

>>24453508
B&N employee here again. Understandable. Most are absolute slop. I particularly can't stand how many Romance and YA Fiction books have the identical art style. That blocky, bright, low-detail shit. Young teens will see the covers to explicit Romance books and think they're age appropriate due to the art style on the cover. I frequently suggest parents flip through the book real quick as it isn't just some cute and quirky love story, but a book about some slut sucking and fucking her way through a coastal town after her boyfriend broke up with her or something.

It's funny.... the parent will flip through the book, immediately see how explicit it is, ask where their daughter heard about this book. The kid will tell them their friend's name and it immediately makes sense to the parent because that other kid is a slut or raised by trash parents, etc. That or Tik Tok. Depressing shit.

Lots of the covers suck now. I'm partial to the newer Penguin Signature Editions, though. I think a number of them were really well done. The price point is unbeatable for new books as well. Gotta keep a little faith in the book world. Lots of shit and slop, but there are lots of true readers out there as well. I'm not some incredibly well-read guy, but I love books and it's still fun to work around them, even if a lot of pozzed slop takes main stage now.

>>24453220
That's the case. You have to dig a bit to find anything of substance. There are a FEW new releases here and there that are worth a damn, but not many. You have to remember that women consoom like crazy, so 80%+ of the store is catered almost exclusively towards vapid women. When you learn to wade through the normal bullshit, you can still find some incredibly intelligent and interesting people who read.

Most of my true intellectuals stick to themselves and almost never need help unless they want to try and order an obscure book. I go out of my way to talk to them as they're in my store all the time anyways. Some want to be left alone, which I respect. Some are very eager to share what they're reading or talk about their passions. Once you break that initial barrier, they always come and say hey to me and let me know what they're reading or something interesting they learned, etc. Sounds silly, but it's a great way to engage the customers and I enjoy the connection. I think the customers do as well. I've befriended a lot of odd, but wildly interesting people. I just had to take the first step and introduce myself, now they seek me out and love to say hey and share.

The 5 or maybe 10% of those customers make the job more than worth it. That and the exuberance of kids who love books and still get excited about reading.

>>24453731
I wonder how much of modern books seeming on the whole crappy is just a matter of old books coming pre-filtered by time because the crap is forgotten.

>>24453723
>>24453731
some of those signature editions are pretty nice, considering how cheap they are

>>24453723
>>24453731
Also, sorry. I was mistaken. No idea why I thought these were Penguin. They're Union Square & Co, which used to be Sterling and owned by B&N. Looks like Hachette Book Group bought it in 2024. either way, I enjoy these covers. Price point is usually $9.99-$12.99 as well which, while still not cheap, is more affordable than other editions.

On a side note which I thought funny. I saw this book at our Info desk yesterday. Asked what the hell it was doing here, had to be a return. One of my employees said that someone returned it because the cover was misrepresented on the website. Sure enough, I looked and the edition that customer meant to order was a much nicer looking cover, but still listed as a Wordsworth Pub. edition. These covers still crack me up.

This is what they ended up getting. Next pic is what was represented on our site and they thought they were receiving.

>>24453757
He was trying to collect all of these editions. Definitely not what he received.

>>24453750
I really don't know. The power of social media nowadays can't be underestimated. It is fucking ridiculous how quickly something can blow up because one celebrity or personality endorsed it. It still catches me off guard. People are unbelievably easily influenced.

>>24453754
I agree. There are a number of other nice ones. Some of them are a bit on the nose, but I do enjoy the artwork and colors in many of them.

>>24436627 (OP)
I've gotten much of my Christmas shopping done at a used book store for sometimes as little as $20.

>>24436627 (OP)
>walk around bookshop for an hour
>buy nothing
>walk out

>>24440713
NOOOOOOOOOOOO YOU CANT DO THAT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

>>24436627 (OP)
When we were in kids in school we would walk to the library like once every two weeks and when we got there someone would always immediately go to find the funny book with cartoon vaginas and dicks and show it around so everyone could have a giggle.

>>24437047
>implying books weren't already taken by jews

>>24437685
based

>>24451827
living the dream

any of you who got a gf in a bookstore?

>>24454655
No but I regularly get checked out by at least 1 indie sleaze style gay twink whenever I go.

>>24454661
lmao why? theyre horny?

>>24436627 (OP)
>Decide to make my day off getting used books
>I have four places in mind
>First place had a first edition Against the Day with the dust jacket
>Perfect condition
>second place had three Burroughs paperbacks with beautiful covers, a pocket-sized refined 90's hardcover of Huckleberry Finn, and a New Directions copy of Journey to the End of the Night
>Third place, ND Maldoror, Samuel Beckett's three novels, and a 1Q84 First edition with the iconic dust jacket, a little bit of wear at the top edge, couldn't care less
>Fourth place had a vintage The Life of Samuel Johnson in three volumes with black/tan swirling book holders, Chaucer and the Imagery of the Narrative with no annotations, The Cheese and the Worms, 1st ed The Last Samurai Dewitt, Light Years Salter, and Sister Carrie, good quality overall
>I only paid forty-five for everything in the last store
>Pretty good day

>>24440691
lmao they were taller than you

>>24454774
Why make up a story like this? Post Johnson set and others

>>24436627 (OP)
I went to the midnight release event for one of the Harry Potter books. It felt awkward as hell since I was the only person there alone.

I don't go to bookstores. Amazon is my bookstore.

>>24454661
Sounds like you could be drowning in bussy if you wanted to be.

>>24436627 (OP)
oy vey! what a thrill! i'm still shaking!

>>24455497
Why weren't you there with your girlfriend, anon?

>>24455957
luna was there in the book the whole time

>>24437295
kek

>>24453731
>Most of my true intellectuals stick to themselves and almost never need help unless they want to try and order an obscure book. I go out of my way to talk to them as they're in my store all the time anyways. Some want to be left alone, which I respect. Some are very eager to share what they're reading or talk about their passions. Once you break that initial barrier, they always come and say hey to me and let me know what they're reading or something interesting they learned, etc. Sounds silly, but it's a great way to engage the customers and I enjoy the connection. I think the customers do as well. I've befriended a lot of odd, but wildly interesting people. I just had to take the first step and introduce myself, now they seek me out and love to say hey and share.
where are these people. where do i find them. so lonely... considering sudoku...

There is a small used bookstore I like that has a fat stack of Maigret and Montalbano novels. so whenever I want a comfy 20th century European detective novel I go to that bookstore, spend 4 bucks and walk out with pure kino.

Rainy, overcast, lazy Saturday mornings in a good used bookstore are bliss. Follow it up with a walk in a heavily wooded area so the rain barely reaches me, maybe a movie with some friends later and some takeout followed up with cracking open my new book and it’s as perfect a day as is possible on this Earth.

>>24457353
Don't sudoki, bookbro. They're around . I'm quite lonely as well, though I am a very sociable person. Hard for me to find people that I seriously connect with. Maybe find some local book clubs? Ask around at indie bookshops and see if they know any lit book clubs going on. Or just wander bookstores until you kind of ingratiate yourself into the culture and meet a few people. If you're at a store enough, you'll eventually get to know the workers and regulars and might have a chance at meeting someone.

>>24440691
>school girl thigh-highs with a short skirt
You probably won't be surprised, but many trans women are informed on their concept of femininity by their anime

>>24437646
there was a legitimate conspiracy theory originating on tiktok that B&N puts aerosolized laxatives into their stores to encourage people to spend more time in store by pooping. Also, this is a "documented" phenomenon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariko_Aoki_phenomenon

I worked at a bookstore for 4 months when I was 23. I read so many comics and short books there when the store was mostly empty.

It was the time when Instagram was becoming a thing 10 years ago, the manager was putting books together in arrangement on the desk and taking photos all day then going to the Starbucks next shop and spending the whole day there. He made us follow him on Instagram and couple of weeks later I unfollowed. Next day he asked me why I unfollowed him lmao the dude was using a follower tracker or something I guess. I said I lost all my followers or some bullshit like this lol

>>24436630
>tranime
neck yourself frogposter.

>>24436627 (OP)
>Walk into used bookstore
>go downstairs to SF section
>see I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream
>wtf that is worth like $100
>$7
>go upstairs to fiction
>first edition hardcover Cannery Row
>wtf that has got to be worth a lot
>$20
>buy both
>go home and sell them on eBay for $100 each

I was looking for a collection of wizard of oz stories that I had seen in the store before, so I asked a worker behind the till. He asked if I knew what it was called specifically and I said I didn't know, then he looked stumped. So I suggested perhaps if he searched the authors name, then he gave me a rude and sarcastic response, so I told him to watch his fucking mouth and he got pissier still but also flustered and stuttery and did as he was told. I still boil with rage just thinking back to it.

do you have a comfy bookstore ou like to go, like a kind of hidden bookstore/ or used bookstore like in those anime where the protagonist is lost in the city and then he finds a eerie bookstore

>>24438571
>The 4channer is immunized against all dangers: One may call him an incel, nazi, virgin, racist, it all runs off him like water off a raincoat. But call him a 4channer and you will be astonished at how he recoils, how injured he is, how he suddenly shrinks back: "I’ve been found out".

>>24459585
call him a low iq*

Only buy stuff there if its on sale for less then 2 dollars.

>>24446178
Whats the shoplifting rules at most B and Nobles?
The last book i shoved in my pants made the alarm go off (no one cared), it must have had a hidden tag in the binder?

>>24436627 (OP)
>go to local bookstore
>’classics’ used old books section
>see an original copy of Just So Stories by Kipling
>ask clerk what he thinks of Kipling
>’not fond of him really, bit of an imperialist’
>buy the book
>realize the staff had tried to scratch the swastika cover off with pen
The stories were a little highbrow for kids tbqh, one was a poem about East Indian shipping lanes

>>24436640
nigga out here fumbling like he HHH

>>24458448
That's wild, had never heard of that before. B&N anon here. It is ridiculous how often our bathrooms are used. They're nothing special. I do think one of the previous anons is correct in that the store is pretty comfy and people feel very safe and comfortable there, so they relax and then have the urge. Our bathrooms are CONSTANTLY getting blown up. Hell, half of the people in the first hour or so of opening are just walking in to get their scheduled morning shit in for the day. It's funny, you can always tell when someone is looking for the bathroom. I've thought about setting a piece of paper at the Info desk and have everyone mark a tally when someone asks for the bathroom. I would bet money it's well over 50 a day. And that's just the people who ASK where the bathroom is, even though if they just lifted up their heads and looked around, they'd see a bright Exit sign and a Restrooms sign hanging right under it.

>>24460541
Don't be a nigger.

>>24460629
Love me some Kipling, simple as.

>>24437326
yes typically rape victims aren’t virgins

>>24461029
I know where I'm headed today!