God Bless Half Price Books

God bless Half Price Books.Texas has more than twice as many Half Price Books stores as any other state (there are a bunch in other states like Illinois and Ohio). I have spent so much time hunting around for used bookstores in every city i've traveled and then suddenly my pursuit became a joyfully easy one.  need those old, pulpy noir novels, those retro caper novels and straight up classic suspense-- many of the best are out of print. i need my Jim Thompson, John D. MacDonald, Donald Westlake, Dashiell Hammett, Margaret Millar, James M. Cain, Charles Williams, Elmore Leonard. And not just the series novels or the ones that have been made into movies--the ones that don't make it back on the shelves after that first try.  And the amazing thing about Austin is that suddenly, I don't have to hunt around for used books. I have five luscious branches to choose from in the city alone.  I do always still look for those tiny, unlikely places (and pledge deep devotion to Recycled Reads, 5335 Burnet Rd, where all hardcover books are 2$ and softcovers are 1$) but most of my needs can be satisfied by those five branches. Let us celebrate the phenomenon of the  of the chain-used bookstore. I cannot commend this institution strongly enough.