Thursday, April 9, 2009

"Doesn't Hitler Look Handsome?"

So I went to Burbank for lunch today, Lord knows I have the time, and I was walking around their downtown - which really should be "Downtown" since it's more of a shopping district than a business district. Anyhoo... I came across a used bookstore that's an Aristotelian model of what a used bookstore should be. Small from side-to-side, it extends back for what seems like 100 yards, with books everywhere. Literally. The bookshelves are stacked two deep with paperbacks, not arranged vertically like they would be in a library rather piled one on top of the other, on seven-foot-tall racks. The shelves are full, of course, and so books are piled on top of the racks, and then stacked at your feet. So the tiny walkways between stacks are made tinier because you only have half the room to walk that you expect. Even the checkout counter is disguised under a thick layer of books, making it seem like just another shelf. Unlike most used bookstores I've been in, this one didn't smell like a musty attic. It's called, deceptively enough, Movie World, and because it's in Burbank the store carries movie scripts for the discerning actor, as well as books on writing and acting. It's worth a visit if you're in the area.
   It's a bibliophile's paradise, and probably a good place to spend a rainy afternoon, if we had rainy afternoons in LA. For example, I counted ten different copies of the exact same edition of Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451.'
   I bought: a $3 copy of 'Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone.' I've never read any Harry Potter books. Really. I figured I could risk $3 to see if they suck or not.
   Overheard in the stacks: 'Oh, doesn't Hitler look handsome?' From someone in the European History section. Don't know if they were being sarcastic or sincere.

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