The Strand

I did some damage at the Strand last Tuesday. The famed bookshop happens to be on my work commute route, which is both awesome and dangerous. Books are to me as shoes are to most ladies. And having finished Not That Kind of Girlthe previous week, I had been going barefoot. So I had to stop by the "home to 18 miles of books." There was a whole shrine to Lena Dunham and her literary picks both in the store window and inside. Having been there and done that, I was drawn to an ICYM section ("in case you missed it," for those not familiar with the language of hashtagsAKA my parents). It turns out I had missed The Secret History, the first novel by Donna Tartt. I loved Tartt's recent bestseller The Goldfinch, and I can't wait to dig into the author's first book.

Next I hit up the "Best of the Best" table. I picked up Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami and Hector and the Search for Happiness by Francois Lelord. I'm halfway through Hector and it's fantastic. Review to come. The Strand always steers me in the right reading direction.

The Strand is always packed with browsers, but the checkout line is typically null. This probably doesn't bode well for business, but it makes the shopping experience pretty painless. (Just like stationery shopping!)

Another great thing about the Strand is that the store buys back books. I think I got about four dollars and change the last time I sold a stack of used books. You don't exactly get rich quick from selling your old tomes, but you can earn cash or store credit. And here's an insider's tip: If you select the in-store credit option, you get a 10% bonus. Even more incentive to keep purchasing bound beauties! Try finding a deal like that at your local shoe store.

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