I was very much a fan of Avenue Victor Hugo, before it went under. Excellent general fiction and SF collections.

The Brattle Bookshop and Boston Book Annex are the only two I know of (of any quality) inside city limits now, and neither of them have the kind of collection development AVH worked so hard at. In the Brattle, you'll find 12 copies of Proust, volume 1 of a 1888 repritn of Little Dorrit, and several out of print Isaac Asimov novels, but not the other, mid-list stuff, which IMHO is the bread-and-butter of used book sales.

McIntyre and Moore, near my house, isn't bad, but its focus is avowedly academic. Sometimes I can still find something good in the basement of the Harvard Bookshop, but not often. ...Actually, one of the reasons I go to cons is for better used book shopping opportunities.

(Yes, I'm a luddite; I still need to hold the book in my hands before I decide to buy it. So, I haven't gone far in online buying yet.)

I think it was someone here who recommended Katie MacAlister's books. I got a couple from the library yesterday, and I'm really enjoying them. They're very good "take your mind off things" reading. So thanks for the recommendation!

It's right on Lake Anne Plaza, in Reston. On Saturdays there's an okay farnmer's market there, and also a good new Moroccan restaurant, so it's worth checking out. [link]

Okay, guys, I am officially going on a twelve-step program. You guys are my witnesses.

I am NEVER EVER EVER buying another Laurell K. Hamilton in Hardback. This is cold turkey. There will be no more. Nada. Niente. Nichts.

The latest Merry book? Is all about sex. They have sex. But, dear God, they TALK about sex first. They argue about sex, what constitutes sex, what precisely they are going to do, and how many people there are room for in the bed.

And it's boring. Boring boring boring. Boring book about sex. And it is (conservatively) 90% sex, 10% plot.

Nobody should have to suffer through that much unarousing boring pornography.

Help me. Help me be strong. Remind me of this pledge when the next Anita book comes out.

I am NEVER EVER EVER buying another Laurell K. Hamilton in Hardback. This is cold turkey. There will be no more. Nada. Niente. Nichts.

I thought you learned this lesson like...three books ago?

I know. This is why I am making the pledge in public. Next September I shall call on you to make me be strong. The demon Hamilton shall be far from my lips.

Oh dear. Boring pornography is worse than fade-to-black. At least with the latter you can let your own imagination go places.

On the warning-to-others hand, that's one less book for me to pay late fees to the library on.

Boring sex? That's sad, Betsy. And I would have said impossible except that you are very believable. Why am I broke and this woman has bank, again? because I've gotten praise for being erotic even without boots actively being knocked.

I thought you learned this lesson like...three books ago?

I know. This is why I am making the pledge in public. Next September I shall call on you to make me be strong. The demon Hamilton shall be far from my lips.

Don't worry, I'll remind you. I'm supposed to do the same thing for another friend who bought the latest Merry book and now regrets it.

No more Hamilton for you. If you want to be *really* virtuous, promise you'll only buy her work from second-hand stores.

There is so much to regret in the latest Merry book.

Because you know what her Magical Goddess-Given Power is?

She empowers other Sidhe by sexing them up. Seriously. Sleep with Merrie, get your mystical powers back. Except that no sleeping is possible. The Goddess asks her to kill a Sidhe so he can be resurrected, and she says, no, I want to sex him up instead. And does.

She talks a lot about having the Hand Of Flesh And Blood, but it's more like the Yoni of Taser.