Best Used Bookstore Find Ever
After 20 minutes of browsing through the fiction racks of my favorite used bookstore on Sunday - Rainbow Music and Books - I had no heart-stopping find yet, but I had managed to select three little-known novels that sparked my interest. On a whim, I decided to give my favorite authors’ places in the ABC-ordered shelves a quick, second glance.

Burroughs, for Augusten Burroughs’s newest novel A Wolf at the Table (2008), which is his only published work that I have not yet devoured. Nothing was there.
Chevlier, for Tracy Chevalier’s latest, Burning Bright (2007), the only of hers that I have not yet savored. Score!
I picked up the hardback copy of Burning Bright. It was gorgeous: perfect condition, with a fake torn edge effect on the pages to elude an antique feel. It was inexpensive: a book that would cost $25 brand new or $8 used (the store’s seemingly standard pricing for new hardbacks), it was a mere $5.
I fear my true book nerd side showed as I cheered over my find; but, who could blame me? A favorite author? Check. An awesome copy of a book I’ve been coveting? Check. Money-saving price? Check.
Burning Bright follows suit with Chevalier’s other novels, weaving a story together of carefully researched historical aspects with well-written fiction characters. This one turns to look at poet and painter William Blake, with the title coming from one of his most-famous opening lines: “Tyger, tyger, burning bright/ In the forests of the night. …”
Now I just have to finish Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Dreams (1990), which I am only 30 pages into, so that I can start reading Burning Bright!


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