I’m a hunter. My prey aren’t deer. I don’t rise before dawn to stalk lakes and marshes in search of waterfowl. I have no desire to roam the Serengeti and bag a trophy to hang on the wall of my study. I don’t own a gun. I’ve never shot a gun. A bow and arrow? Leave those for Cupid. My unsuspecting prey sit mutely on the shelves of used bookstores, inside cardboard boxes at yard sales, in an unorganized jumble at the back of thrift stores. My prey always surrenders without a fight, coming along meekly as I pile them into my arms. Yep, I’m a hunter and I hunt books.

My love of books began when I was a young boy. I’d accompany my mom on weekly trips to the small public library in my hometown where  I’d sit in the children’s section for what seemed like hours, hungrily devouring books. I was hooked at an early age, the all-consuming aspect of getting lost inside a good book has been a life-long passion of mine. I have my mom to thank for many things, introducing me to the joy of reading is near the top of that list. I’ve been honing my book hunting skills ever since.

If you want to be a successful book hunter you’ve got to be familiar with their habitats: used book stores, small independent bookstores, yard sales and thrift shops. Yard sales are where you’ll find by far the best bargains. Folks at yard sales practically give their books away, I think the most I ever paid was $1.00, usually it’s more like .25 or .50. The selection at yard sales is totally random: kid’s books next to literature next to romance novels. I can tell a lot about a person by the types of books they lay out on their driveway, sometimes doing my own sociological studies right there on the spot. When I was a classroom teacher I bagged some of my best children’s books at yard sales, us teachers had to be thrifty. Weird anecdote: One night years ago I dreamed about the classic novel by Peter Matthiessen At Play In The Fields Of The Lord. The next day I found that very book waiting for me at a yard sale! 

Thrift shops are where the real hunting begins,  the book sections there are loosely organized if they’re organized at all. If you’re lucky, books are sometimes separated into genres but forget about the alphabetizing. My preferred hunting method is to scan the spines, look for the name of a familiar author and read the synopsis on the back cover. If a book piques my interest, I bag it. Some of the most provocative reads of my life were discovered using this method. There are always bargains to be had in the book section of a thrift shop.

If your preferred habitat is organized chaos, then used book stores are for you. This is where I’ve really honed my book hunting skills. The feel, the hushed atmosphere, the dim lighting and of course that old book smell all make used bookstores my favorite hunting grounds. Treehorn Books here in Santa Rosa, CA is the gold standard of used bookstores. To enter Treehorn is to enter a dusty old shop straight out of Diagon Alley of the Harry Potter series. The one rule I have while hunting here or at other used bookstores is to never, ever go in looking for a specific author or title. When I wander around these dusty stacks with an open mind and a curious spirit the right book usually finds its way to me. The owners of the store, my fellow hunters and myself all help to create an atmosphere of mystery and discovery.

If you’re fortunate enough to have an independent bookstore in your community, this is definitely a happy hunting ground for us bibliophiles. A good indie bookseller will stock authors and titles that you won’t find at the chain stores. I stalk the “leftovers” table, this is where you’ll find newer titles that didn’t sell well in their first go-around. These books are offered at steep discounts. There are always a few diamonds in the rough here.

With advances in technology more and more people read their books on screens. That’s all well and good for them but for me there’s nothing like the smell and the feel of an actual book. It’s such a wonderfully tactile experience to hold one in my hands, to turn the pages and to watch my bookmark march slowly to the end of the book. Best of all is a used book. Reading a previously read book is like having a shared experience across time with someone whom I’ve never met.

To be a successful book hunter you’ve got to have good instincts, patience and a sharp eye so get out there, the next literary classic is waiting to be discovered…by YOU!  Happy hunting!