It would appear that, after many years of teetering at the very limit of absolute perfection, my dear Parkdale has finally put the last piece of the puzzle together, and achieved the status of true low-income utopia. The roommates and I were pleased to see a mailout among last week’s flyers for a new used book store called “The River Trading Company”. So we went to check it out at its 1418 Queen St. location and actually came upon the store a half an hour or so before its official opening. Anyway, I’m pleased to report that it looks like the real deal. The centre aisle of shelves wasn’t up yet, but an appetizing array of bagged books sat clumped together over roughly a quarter of the store’s 100+ year old display, ready to fill it when it does.
Also, the man named David who owns the store says he hopes to eventually host community literary events in his space. And while I’m suspicious of reading venues that don’t serve beer, I could definitely make out the contours of a delightful future reading venue in the store.
Perhaps most exciting of all, the books I bought were all priced at about half the typical used bookstore market value. Somewhat incredibly, here’s what I managed to squirrel away from The River’s opening day offerings, for a total of $27 after HST.
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1. A selected Poems of Emily Dickenson. Paperback. Excellent shape. ed R.W. Franklin. 3 bucks
2. The Indispensible Calvin and Hobbes, by Bill Watterson. Quattro paperback. Solid shape. 4 bucks.
3. The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, 2nd edition. Hardback. Solid shape. 6 bucks.
4. Farley Mowat’s Dian Fossey biography entitled Virunga. Paperback. Okay shape. 2 bucks.
5. The recently published The Anansi Reader, ed. Lynn Coady. Paperback. Solid shape. 3 bucks
6. The Sylvia Plath edition of The Everyman’s Library’s Pocket Poets Series. Hardcover. As new. 2 bucks.
7. The Politics of Ecstasy, by Timothy Leary (I know, I know. Fuck off.) Paperback. Great shape. 2 bucks
8. The Threepenny Novel, by Bertolt Brecht. Penguin Modern Classics paperback. Good shape. 1 dollar.
I could go tomorrow and come back with eight different titles and be equally excited. Dear West End Literary Friends: If you’ve been looking for something to support and gather around, this new store would appear to be a legitimate home. Please act accordingly.
Vox Populism: 
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