Take a look at a book

Story by Michelle R. Harris and Bob Massey

We read, therefore we are.

Or should it say, “we read, therefore we are blowing off all the pressing stuff we should be doing right now”? And why? No one knows really, probably habit, or boredom, or escape. No matter, most people in our general demographic group have spent between 14 and 22 years, from pre-school through that really useful post-graduate candidacy, reading stuff on a full-time basis. Usually stuff assigned by someone else, or fascinating soul-satisfying stuff which is really a detour from a decent resume. Usually just stuff, plain, old, tired stuff.

But the climb up the educational staircase eventually brings your weight down on that final imaginary step, which sends you sprawling into so-called real life. You have a meager consolation prize: you may now read whatever you wish. Since you have cultivated the addiction, you can go in search of the good junk.

We will take you where the junkies go.

Barnes and Noble

This place falls into the same phylum as Tower Records and Blockbuster video. It’s a chain on the NYSE, and it has buying power on its side. Untouchable for sheer quantity, but forget about obscure titles or small-press offerings. This is the comfortable mainstream. And not unlike the neighborhood Ukrops, you’ll want to dress before you go, ‘cause it’s a buyers market, baby! Scope and be scoped.

“So, uh, I see you’re into Oscar Wilde. Hey, and speaking of wild...”

Outgoing staff, too.

Books First

Don Beyer shops here. And he probably bought Mad Monks on the Road and the Vampire Encyclopedia. Books First is an old fashioned bookstore that carries the most up to date books. They have extensive fiction, travel, poetry and cooking sections—along with books on local and regional interest.

It is easy to see that the powers that be at First Books choose the titles they offer, and that these powers are thoughtful ones. The store space is very comfortable, which is good, since you will probably want to browse. The travel section included the definitive alternative travel guide, Mad Monks on the Road. They also have The Life and Cuisine of Elvis. One word titles are intriguing, and they not only have Decadence (it’s literary criticism—don’t get your hopes up) but Coffee, as well.

A minority-owned business (it’s a woman this time), this is the perfect bookstore to go to after Barnes and Nobles’ monstrous selection has driven you mad.

Novel Futures

If you are into fantasy, science fiction, horror or mystery, welcome to Mecca. Circle three times and get on your knees. Thirty-two square feet of Star Trek fiction. The really cool offerings here don’t fit any category.

For instance, if you and your roommates find yourself arguing over which was the taller Darren, Dick Sargeant or Dick York, there is The Bewitched Book, an exhaustive guide to the television series.

Frustrated theatre majors will lust for Creatures of the Night, which compares various presentations of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” from around the world.

The Monty Python oeuvre is well represented for the hip intellectual, as is the Church of the Subgenius for all gurus of Slack.

Not that there isn’t some cheese. Like New Generation lapel pins and zippy SciFi mags. But it is balanced by copies of original dime-store pulps by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Phillip K. Dick and Poul Anderson, albeit somewhat marked up from the original dime. Oh yeah, and hardback copies of Spock, Messiah!

One Force

This isn’t the place to find Tom Clancy. But you will find African American and Afro-centric literature at One Force. While they have bestsellers like Cornel West’s Race Matters, the store doesn’t model itself on the African American section at your favorite mall bookstore. They do have Amiri Baraka, Malcolm X, Nikki Giovanni. But they also carry children’s books on Kwaanza, and clothing.

This is the place to find the book on how white capitalist society subverts black culture and then reinvents it for a mass audience. And books on black peer groups and revisionist history (his/story). But, hey, if you are a whiter shade of pale, the store isn’t going to call out special security forces to remove you. In fact, they’ll even help you find what you need. So check it out.

Carriage House

This establishment falls in the same phylum as Plan 9 and the Video Fan. You can’t buy shares in it and you can’t get six copies of Patricia Cornwell’s latest for your garden club cronies. Which is fine, because you can get Hank Rollins’ latest thesaurus of despair, as well as other offerings from 2.13.61., Autonomedia, Semiotext(e), Skoob and like-minded small presses.

There is a tarot section and a relatively cool children’s section, replete with all the greats such as Silverstein, Sendak, MaCauley and Seuss, as well as interesting titles like Extremely Weird Micromonsters. The periodic racks, while physically tight, are spacious in scope, including Mondo, Voice Literary Supplement, High Times, Option, Sassy, chapbooks and regional ’zines.

Wanderers will find no better selection of foreign road maps this side of the Rand McNally store in Tyson’s Corner. Lovers of esoterica can find the complete Re-Search Series, and there is roughly 25 feet of women’s studies. Nick Cave’s And the Ass Saw the Angel, which was called “a modern epic ... a truly awesome tale” by that bastion of critical thinking, Elle magazine, is here in paperback. So is the John Waters autobiography, Shock Value: A Tasteful Book About Bad Taste. Plus, this is the only store which carried David Foster Wallace, my favorite contemporary author, and the staff actually knew who I was talking about when I asked.

Phoenix Rising

Sure, it may be hard to browse when there are Obsession-type posters staring at you, but this is a great place to browse. As Richmond’s only gay and lesbian bookstore (strictly that is), Phoenix Rising carries serious academic works and those of a less lofty nature. They have the strange titles and the expected titles—Djuna Barnes’ Ladies Almanac, Virginia Woolf, et. al.

Jennifer Clayton, who helps run the store with owner Rex Mitchell, says “We offer a lot of things you couldn’t find anywhere else.” From gay pride T-shirts to bumper stickers to pins with pink triangles, Phoenix Rising offers merchandise not found anywhere else in the city. They carry calendars, tapes, videos, cards and jewelry along with books on gay and lesbian issues, AIDS care, recovery, women’s studies and transsexual issues. You get the point.

A community bulletin board is a focal point of the shop. Clayton screens what notices go up, and makes sure that it doesn’t become the equivalent of Style personals. It is a way to advertise meetings, look for a roommate or a find a pet.

But above all Phoenix Rising is a bookstore and Clayton says, “We try to keep up with new titles.”

Don’t worry that the store isn’t for you. Clayton notes, “there’s stuff here for straight people too.”

Biff's

Besides the chance that you may hear Gus, the Biffstore cat, choking on a fur ball, there are tons of reasons to make this a stop on any Carytown tour. Biff’s is a small store carrying contemporary titles ranging from anthologies of black women’s writing, to Chicano literature and Greil Marcus’ Dead Elvis. They may have one of the best periodical sections in Richmond with magazines from here and overseas. Pay attention to their offerings in fashion and design magazines.

Biff’s may be capitalizing on the Carytown crowd, but it will keep you up to date on what is being published and selling (They display New York Times’ bestsellers ). John Spencer, manager, says “We are a general bookstore, specializing in contemporary fiction and alternative lifestyle publications.”

They are under new ownership and have added new sections, including a mythology/folklore section. Now you can pick up a copy of Beowulf or Myths To Live By on your way home from a Carytown shopping spree.

Spencer will tell you that everyone from Westover Hills to poor students paying in pennies visit their store. “People feel comfortable here,” he explains. The cozy space and easygoing atmosphere help make this the case.