Jaunted

Jaunted Field Trip / San Francisco / → All Tags

Black Oak Books Tempts Us Mightily

While we think it's entertaining that there's a part of Berkeley that's called the "Gourmet Ghetto", we won't be writing up Chez Panisse of any of its ilk in the near future. Instead, let's take a look at Black Oak Books, also on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley. (There's also a pair of locations in San Francisco proper). It's one of the nicer bookstores we've visited, especially their selection of secondhand reads.

A big problem with the Strand in New York City--in addition to being terribly overheated--is that the selection consists of either remaindered books that you don't really want, or reviewer's copies that seem to cost more than they should. Black Oak has a good mix of contemporary and older works in the stacks of used books for sale--good condition paperbacks seem to run about half of their original cost--but the selection of new releases laid out was equally impressive.

Like Three Lives, also in New York, there seemed to be someone carefully selecting what to sell. Even if we will never read quite so many political books in our lifetime, it makes for an enjoyable browsing experience nonetheless. Only the weight limit for luggage prevented us from making too many purchases.