I'll borrow, for this thread title, the title of one of Orwell's essays.
How was it for you, looking for books in
bookstores when you were getting to know the genre?
I wrote a piece, which starts on page 9, here --
[
efanzines.com]
-- about bookstore prowling in the 1970s. The dates when I bought the books were derived from books still readily at hand that had come from one of the two stores mentioned. But there were other stores too, and other finds at those two stores but with which I have parted company somehow or other and so don't record in the article.
It's pretty remarkable how, without Internet bookstores, one might be able to get hold of quite a few books one enjoyed at that time and might even find to be worth keeping permanently. But I don't know how representative my experience was. My hunch is that, despite having perhaps only a few dollars a month to spend on books, I was a lot better off than many people, even in larger cities.
Here's the Orwell essay, by the way -- it's a good read:
[
www.orwellfoundation.com]