My own hunt began at Kestrel Books on 4th Ave and Dunbar. We made a stop there on our way to see the feral rabbits of Locarno Beach. First, we had lunch at Mr Red Cafe, a Vietnamese restaurant on West Broadway. Olman and the kid walked while I drove. Olman already found a book or two at a freebie sidewalk book nook on their way to meet me. Then I drove to park near Kestrel Books while O & kid walked over there to meet me (the idea was to walk to Locarno Beach from there). There was a yard sale on Dunbar & 8th, but it wasn't your typical run-of-the-mill one. The seller was a middle-aged woman dressed in elegant-casual attire and her wares were all vintage or designer pieces. Everything was tasteful, and I spent some time admiring her wares, but nothing was less than $15!! The exception were two Christmas ornaments that were 5 bucks each. There was a very cute bracelet with the beads making an unusual colour-block pattern, but the price tag was 15 clams. The elastic was a bit stretched out, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to haggle and then restring the bracelet myself. But sheesh! Imagine being priced out of a damn yard sale in tony Kitsilano!
But I digress. I found Katherena Vermette’s The Break at Kestrel Books. Then at the last minute, I spotted Helen MacDonald's H is for Hawk in the Nature shelf by the cash register, and got that too. My friend Heejune hD highly recommended The Break, after I mentioned I wanted to read more indigenous authors, and H is for Hawk was part of my long-term interest to read books that involve falconry-related themes, as the author was influenced by TS White's The Goshawk.
One positive outcome during this trip was the voracious speed at which our kid was reading. Before our trip, she was primarily interested in comics and graphic novels, deigning to open a non-picture book only if it was super appealing to her. I borrowed Amari & the Night Brothers from the Mordecai Richler library, thinking that she’ll read a few pages here and there, and then we’ll find her more stuff to read after we arrive in Vancouver. Last summer, we found a bunch of graphic novels for her at Tanglewood on West Broadway.
Surprisingly, the kid finished Amari within a few days. While Olman was off doing the Grouse Grind with a friend from Nanaimo, I drove over to Tanglewood to see if they had any YA books. Google said they opened at 10 am on Monday, so I naively showed up a few minutes after 10. When 10:15 approached, I started to get a little nervous as I also had to feed the kid lunch before her first afternoon at pony camp in Southlands. There was a bustling cafe next door and a man in a wheelchair sitting out front with a coffee who mentioned he regularly sold his books at Tanglewood, so I asked him what time the store usually opens? He responded with something like don’t worry, he’ll be there soon.
Sure enough, I looked across Broadway and knew immediately that the rumpled guy with a plastic bag full of books waiting for the light to cross was the Tanglewood guy. He walked past me and wheelchair man, unlocked the door and entered without a word. By this time, it was 10:20am. While he was bringing a shelf out, I asked, “Am I allowed to go inside?”. He replied, “Yes of course!”. I now realize people who work at used book shops are a peculiar sort. I recalled how earlier this summer the university aged assistant at The Word shortchanged me a dollar for my two Shirley Jackson trade paperbacks, even after using a calculator! The total came to $14, I gave him a twenty, and he only gave me back $5. After a pause, I asked, shouldn’t I get $6 back? He went no, I think that’s right. I punched it in the calculator. Then the bespectacled manager approached and asked if everything was ok, and I summarized our transaction. He paused for a second to mentally calculate and went, no, five sounds right. He was really nice about it, saying, that booksellers aren’t usually great at math, so counting change isn’t their strong suit. By now, I’m feeling a bit unsure of myself, so I didn’t press it by making the young guy re-enter the amounts into the calculator. But after I left and got on my bike, I thought about it, and realized I had been right the whole damn time! I even stopped to whip out my phone to do the calculation. I felt rather disappointed in myself for letting two grown educated men think they were erroneously right, so I immediately called The Word to let the young guy know that he was WRONG ALL ALONG. He apologized and said that I could come back and he'd give me my dollar. I replied that I was too far away now, but I just wanted to let him know (it was the principle of it!) in case he shortchanged another poor sod.
Anyways, I digress with my bemusement at slacker booksellers. The YA selection in Tanglewood was disappointing, but my anxious wait for Tanglewood to open turned out to be a mixed blessing as it gave me an opportunity to study their window display. I spotted a copy of Vancouver Vice: Crime and Spectacle in the City's West End and knew that I had to read it. Author Aaron Chapman was a year ahead of me at UBC film school. I didn’t know him, but my classmate Chris was friends with him. I remember going to a couple of The Real McKenzie shows back in the day (Aaron played bass in a kilt and leather jacket). The copy of Vancouver Vice was actually brand new, as Tanglewood featured a small selection of new books, but I didn’t mind paying retail price.
Of course, Olman couldn’t help but start reading Vancouver Vice shortly after I brought it back to the apartment. I told him that I have first dibs reading that book, but I needn’t have worried, as he finished it within two days before I even started on the first chapter! He really enjoyed it and found it very fascinating. Sure enough, Vancouver Vice proved to be a great vacation book to read during our stay.
We ended up cramming most of our social visits within the first week of our two week visit, as most of our friends and family were commencing their vacations during our second week in Vancouver. Before meeting friends for dinner @ Cozen on Commercial Drive, we visited the People’s Coop Bookstore. Olman found a big haul, while I found a hardback of Sarah Water’s Affinity (yay, finally! It’s the last of the 3 Victorian era Waters books that I have yet to read). I had also found The Last Story of Mina Lee, but decided against it, as it was a large format paperback. The best find was from the kid: the first 3 volumes of The Land of Stories series by Chris Colfer. Her classmate Olivia had read them and really liked them, so she thought she’d give ‘em a go. There were also volumes 5 & 6, but 4 was missing, but we thought that the 3 volumes would be enough to keep her occupied for the rest of the trip (boy were we wrong).
Sure enough, the kid tore through first 2 books within a few days, and was a good chunk into the 3rd when I decided to call nearby shops to see if they had the 4th one. No luck at Tanglewood, but miraculously, Kestrel had the 4th volume! We made a detour so I could pick it up on our way to either drop off the kid at Pony Camp. Btw, Southlands Heritage Farm was such a very special place. They offer half day camps doing farming and pony/horse care, and it only occurred to me this year to sign the kid up for the pony camp as she loves riding horses. The only catch is that it’s aimed for beginners, so she was always led by someone when she was riding, but I think she had a nice experience overall.
Fast forward to our second and last week in Vancouver. We drove out to Aldergrove to experience the Otter Coop Waterpark, which had been recommended by my friend Heather. We would not normally make the 1 hour and 20 min drive for a water park, but Aldergrove is only a 15 min drive for my brother, who’s been living in Abbotsford with his wife and dog for the past few years. So I thought we’d make it a day - do the water park for the afternoon, and then see my brother for dinner at a nearby restaurant. His wife stayed home as their precious dog has abandonment anxiety, and an invite to their home was never offered. My mom’s opinion of her DIL has dropped significantly in recent years but I won’t go into detail. It helped that the water park admission was very affordable, and my bro offered to pay for dinner. We had about 45 minutes to kill between the end of our water park session and the 5:30 reservation at Hizame, but luckily we found a Salvation Army thrift store nearby. It was there that I spotted a pristine hardcover of Miriam Toews' Women Talking - pristine in that it was a library book that still had labels stuck to it and the plastic cover, but had never been checked out. And according to the pricing, it was only 25 cents! What made that copy particularly intriguing was that it once belonged to the Middle and High Library of the Langley Christian School. I thought, how interesting that a Christian school would acquire Women Talking, as the subject matter deals with rape/sexual assault within a remote Mennonite community! I wonder if someone caught on and banned the book since how did this apparently unread copy end up at a thrift store?
On top of the fact that the price was dirt cheap, another reason I decided to get Women Talking (actually Olman purchased it along with a few books that he found) was because I had an enjoyable time with John & Christine during their last Montreal visit. A bunch of their friends gathered at the Pelican Bar terrasse and were having a laugh at a funny anecdote. A number of them were at a premiere screening of Sarah Polley's adaptation of Women Talking, and Dave had brought along his parents, who seemed to be the only ones who weren't enjoying the film at all, and were particularly vocal about it. At some point, our drinks arrived and we all cheered to this and that, and I went, "To parents talking!" which got some smiles. A rare moment of wit from yours truly!
The following day was Friday, our second last day in Vancouver. The plan was to have dim sum with Olman’s cousin and his wife at Dynasty on Broadway and Willow, then drive out to Commercial Drive to visit the People’s Coop again cuz guess what, the kid had finished V4 of The Land of Stories. Fortunately, they still had volumes 5 & 6 in stock! Even better, we were able to give them V1-4 (they didn't do trades but the nice woman gave a 30% discount on the purchase). But not having a book to read for the kid proved to be bad timing during dim sum. Olman's cousin's kids weren't able to attend so poor Rambo was so bored while the grownups kept talking and talking! Thankfully, when it came time to meet my Mom and her friend Margaret for dinner in Richmond, the kid delved into volume 5. I gotta say, the food at Kirin Restaurant was quite disappointing compared to the excellent Sun Siu Wah the week before. I'm gonna have to note that next time I order a Fu Tuan meal delivery for the parents.
And since we were heading back to Kits and had the afternoon to kill, Olman wanted to check out Pulp Fiction on Main St, cuz god knows, he wasn’t satisfied with the 20+ books he'd already accumulated during his visit. This suited the kid fine as she had V5 to occupy herself with while Olman and I perused. This was where I finally found Eden Robinson’s Son of a Trickster. There was also Trickster Drift, but Return of the Trickster was hardbound, which I didn’t want. The trade paperbacks of the first two Trickster books were in excellent condition and kinda pricey ($12 and $10). Olman couldn’t help but feel a bit miffed that the cashier exclaimed “Eden Robinson!” In an approving way after I placed the books on the counter (she didn’t show any enthusiasm for his books when he paid for them). When we were driving back home, Olman made a comment about how he found Pulp Fiction rather soulless, but I think it was a result of his widdle ego being slightly bruised. I guess he had a point, but it’s more like Pulp Fiction is more hipster and self-conscious than the typically shabby used bookshop.
He probably prefers the drab mustiness of First Books located just one street over on Kingsway, manned by an eccentric old guy who’s about to retire, mostly due to rent increase. We were there the previous week - I think we made a stop on our way to Heather’s son’s birthday party after picking up the kid from pony camp. We had meant to go to Pulp Fiction but Olman wanted to check out First Books first and ended up with several good finds. That was the only shop where I didn’t find anything on my list. It was also the most depressing as we felt a bit bad for the old bookseller as his situation reminded me of SW Welch - all too familiar. But afterward, we had a lovely time at Heather’s place, staying much later than we anticipated. According to her son (who’s just a little older than the kid), it was the best birthday ever! The highlight for the kids was when they (I think there were 8 of them in total including two 13 yos) walked several blocks to get a treat at the Starbucks on East Hastings at 9:30pm. Rambo came back with a Frappuccino without the coffee! This was before they had brought out the ice cream cake. This might be the only time I can remember where the kid was not able to finish her portion of birthday cake!
When it came to packing time, Olman was naturally the most anxious as he had 27 books to contend with. Fortunately he had elite Aeroplan status and he was allowed two free checked luggage. He decided to get a box to split up the weight of the books, as well as the two boxes of Richmond blueberries that he wanted to smuggle back. I had no problem packing my newly acquired books into my mid-sized suitcase.
All in all, I feel that our life is centered enough around books that writing about them is almost semi-autobiographical!
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