Saturday, April 11, 2009

spot check

I've been going to John King Books since I can remember. We used to always go there when I was little-my parents would let my sister and I spend hours looking.  I remember I got a whole collection of Sherlock Holmes, a great survival guide (where I may have gotten the inspiration for my failed bow&arrow making), and a whole trunkful of other gems. The great thing about used bookstores is that the cost for trying anything new out is much lower. There's pretty much a book on every subject you could ever dream of here.  It's seriously one of the coolest places in Detroit. In Michigan. Certainly one of my favorite places ever. 

Four floors of heaven. I spent the better part of my Friday afternoon here browsing through hunting and logging wholesale catalogs from the '50s and '60s- Filson ads, knives, snake proof boots, and over-under shotguns oh my. On my way to check out I remembered to take a few pictures.
 
Take a date here and really get to know her. If she says she doesn't really like to read, I don't know what to say. Blame whoever set you up. Or yourself for asking her. At least you got to know her. 

I ended up grabbing a cool illustrated, abridged copy of The Golden Bough and an Army field manual from the '60s. More about them later. They have a copy of Salinger's complete uncollected short stories for $195 if anyone wants to be my sugar mama. (and a 1st edition Franny&Zooey I may have to go back and get for only 45 bucks)

The store is actually an old warehouse. Complete with original hard wood floors, the building itself is worth the trip. Boasting over 750,000 books, you'll always find a treasure in John King Books . If you can't find it, the friendly staff certainly can.  One of Detroit's finest. Check it out if you get the chance, I promise you'll have a great time. 

6 comments:

Cafe Fashionista said...

I want to go there so much - I am a book nut! We don't have anything like that where I live. :(

Lesley said...

Aww I love old books! B&N and Borders are so overrated! :-)

Lauren said...

$45?!? Go get it! Go get it!

What an awesome place! The caliber of bookstore is how I judge a place. Atlanta has some great independent/used book places, but they are dying off.

I loooove this post. I want to hop on a plane to detroit now!

AsianCajuns said...

ps- That was me (one half of the asiancajuns above- logged into the wrong account ;)

Margaret Meyer said...

If you like this place, you'd love Powell's here in Portland. It's heaven.

Victoria Thorne said...

this looks divine. great, great post. great, great store. glad you remembered to take a few pictures. the books look gorgeous (so do the floors).

thanks.

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