The hunt for replacement books has not gone well for the last year or so. Admittedly, there have been fewer opportunities for shopping, but the times that I have had a chance to search store shelves have not been fruitful, to the point where I’ve begun to wonder why I’m finding so few of the books that I’m looking for - I refuse to believe that my collection is THAT unique. Perhaps the real problem is the relative lack of quality in the printing process, as per the comment made by the counter person at Victoria's Bastion Books on the last day of 2019.
My one apparently successful foray into Pulp Fiction’s Point Grey store initially appeared to have gone well, but it turned out that I was using an old version of my shopping list, and almost all of my purchases were duplicates of texts that I’d already bought. (Dorothy, I'll be shipping those off to you shortly.)
At long last, buffered by double vaccination, Karli and I made a return to Victoria for a one-week vacation for the first week of August, accommodations courtesy of Karli's mother and stepfather, who were kind enough to let us use their oceanside condo while they were away. As is often the case when we travel, I only had one personal request: to do some book shopping, in this case at the Cavity Curiosity Shop, the store that I hadn't been able to visit during our New Year's 2020 trip to the Island.
As their name suggests, and as the helpful counter person at Bastion Books commented when they suggested that I pay them a visit, Cavity is not a book store as such. It’s a collection of cultural ephemera: toys, stereo equipment, VHS tapes, DVDs, books, magazines, comic books, posters, t-shirts, buttons, patches, pins - curiosities, as it were.
My initial reaction to their inventory is mild disappointment - generally I like a bookstore to have at least half as many books as I do in their science fiction and fantasy section, and Cavity seems to barely have a quarter of my library.
However, as I’ve seen at other stores, quantity does not necessarily indicate quality, and Cavity’s single bookcase turns out to be a bit of a gold mine, albeit a slightly disorderly one. I’ve been trying to restrain my shopping to books on my actual list rather than books that I think will need replacing, but I’ve only catalogued to the end of L, and a few of the books on display are too good to pass up. (And my gamble paid off: I was particularly pleased to find the Ace publications of two Andre Norton novels that were in fabulous shape for 60 year old paperbacks*, and certainly in better shape than the battered editions that I currently own.
Normally when I shop for books while travelling, I’m constrained by the limitations of luggage weight, but we’ve come over by ferry in our car, so in theory I can buy as many books as I want, but after selecting sixteen I decide to cash out, in the interests of fiscal responsibility.
However, the owners are deeply engaged in conversation with another couple standing at the till, and I’m reluctant to interrupt. (Context of the discussion suggests ownership - it’s a small shop and a loud conversation, so it’s not like I’m eavesdropping.). I wander about with my stack of shopping, and discover a couple of comic book collections that I decide to add to the pile, fiscal responsibility be damned, as they say. Just for fun I also add a 2006 concert DVD of the Dresden Dolls, Amanda Palmer’s punk cabaret partnership with Brian Viglione - man does not live by bread alone, as the proverb says.
I finally take the initiative and apologetically interrupt. The visiting couple immediately leaves, and I once again apologize. The male half of the partnership shrugs cheerfully and begins to total up my purchases.
As he's doing math, I mention that I'd tried to visit them on New Year's Eve a couple of years back, but I'd missed them, and that I'm shopping for replacement books for my collection. I add that I'm pleased with the results of my trip, and he thanks me and apologizes in turn for the lack of order in the shelving, apparently they’d taken their books to an off-site event and hadn’t had a chance to re-shelf them properly.
He takes a look at the total, and says, “Let’s say one hundred even.” I haven’t spent that much time checking prices, but it certainly sounds reasonable, so I thank him and we finish up our business.
Overall, I have nothing but good things to say about my experience with Cavity, and I plan repeat visits as opportunity allows - after I update my shopping list with my latest purchases, I'd like to think that I've at least learned that lesson.
- Sid
* 1956 and 1963, respectively.
