Weekend Thrifting (Sept 5)

As with most visits with my parents, I was able to spend some time thrifting this past weekend.  Every trip is an adventure, and that is the beauty of thrift stores.  Some trips are misses, but for the most part I usually find a book or DVD to add to my collection.  This weekend, I hit the jackpot for myself at the first stop, so everything else was just an added bonus.  So, let's take a look at my weekend finds.

Shall we play a game?

First up, some board games to add to our ever-collection.  Time's Up! is a charades like game where the teams are attempting to guess famous, historical and fictional names over 3 different rounds.  We have a similar game called Identity Crisis, and these type of games are always fun during parties.  Teams of Enemies is a trivia game in which the teams switch throughout game play.  Interesting concept, and since we are always looking for something new to play, we thought we would give it a shot.

Just in time for the holidays

Working or not, I was not going to pass these up.

Next up: some awesome decorations, just in time for Halloween.  A role of Caution tape, which has endless capabilities, and a string of "Jason" lights (that I'm assuming don't work, as the black box is rusty and had corroded batteries in it) that will look great hanging up.

Random books

Mirror, Mirror
 

Fist pile of books: The Disney Villain, by Ollie and Frank, two of Disney's "Nine Old Men".  It's a great look at all the classic Disney villains full of art.  I own a documentary about them, which I highly recommend.  Also in the pic is a Richard Matheson book I hadn't heard of, Shadow on the Sun.  The Obake Files is a compilation of Hawaiian haunts and tales by Glen Grant.  Elizabeth being from Hawaii and both of us having a huge interest in the paranormal, this was a fun find.

Media Tie-Ins!

Second pile of books: Media!  A nice selection of movie novelizations were found this weekend, plus a Richard Castle book that we didn't own.  I'm curious as to how Final Destination works in book form, even if it is the novelization for my least favorite of the movies.

Movies

These two movies have been on my "To Be Watched" list since the beginning of summer, mainly due to some conversations and recommendations on Twitter.  Sadly, Red Eye will be a bittersweet first time viewing, as Wes Craven passed away last week.  Heat I feel will be one of those "Why have I waited so long to watch this? movies.

Batman, Robin, Two-Face and The Riddler

The picture sadly does not do this find justice.  I found a complete set of the McDonald's glasses for Batman Forever.  So, it's not the best Batman movie there is. But a part of me still enjoys it, and maybe it is the campiness of it that I like.  Even though I dislike Batman & Robin, I would probably buy promotion and tie-ins items for it as well.  I think my favorite thing is that each glass handle is distinctive, my favorite being the Two-Face glass which is of a flipping coin.



The One that started it all

Last, but not least: Carrie by Stephen King.  King is one of the few authors that I am trying to get a complete works in Hardcover for, and Carrie has been one of the few titles that has been eluding me.  No more, as I found this gem for $2 at a recently re-opened DAV.  It is in pristine condition, and I actually made an audible noise when I saw it on the shelf.  Elizabeth came over and asked if everything was alright, LoL.  Like I said, this was the first find at the first stop on my weekend.  If this had been my only find, I would of been one happy thrifter.

 

For those that are curious, the only titles missing from my hardcover King collection are books 1-4 of The Dark Tower series, and The Green Mile (if it was ever collected that way).

 

Overall, a great weekend.  Not sure when I will go out next, but hopefully it will be just a good of a trip.  Thanks for reading, and until next time!

Memorial Day Weekend finds, part 2 (Book Edition)

As I wrote in part one (which can be found here), my parents were in town for the holiday weekend, which ultimately means some amount of time will be spent in thrift stores.

Now, just to let you all know, I live in an area where thrift stores are prominent. On both sides of the water.  From where I am sitting as I type this up, within a 5-7 mile radius are 7 stores that I am aware of.  I literally live across the street from a Boys & Girls club thrift, where I can fill up a bag of books for $1.  Goodwill, DAV, Salvation Army,Village Thrift, Family Thrift. All have at least one location on each side of the water.

Hence, each trip out is a different experience.  I don't go to the other side of the water as much, so those can be a real treasure trove of finds.

With all that said, let's take a look at what books I ended up adding to my ever growing collection this weekend.

First up, the James Patterson additions.  Patterson is an author Elizabeth and I both read, so these are always good finds. Unlucky 13 and Hope to Die are both from last year, and are from two of his ongoing series.  This makes us up to date on the Alex Cross series of books, and just missing the 2015 book from Women's Murder Club (which I will probably be finding this time next year).  The Murder of King Tut is a non-fiction title from a few years back, and one I haven't seen in hardcover a lot, so snagged that as well.

 The small assortment of thriller novels that I found.  Red Dragon is the one book that I had heard of, and even though I'm pretty sure I have it, it was hard to pass up the cover.  Plus, I've been meaning to dig my copy out, as I've been wanting to read it again due to Hannibal.  The other two books just had interesting premises. I think Steel Ghosts is more horror than thriller, and that is fine by me.  Reaper is also signed by the author, so that's a cool bonus.

The random pile.  Let's just break this down by book, shall we.

1.  University - I'm a big fan of Bentley Little.  I find his horror easy and fun to read, and this was one I don't have yet.
2. Warriner's Handbook of English - Grabbed this as I was at a "fill a bag for a $1" store, and thought it looked cool.  Being an English major myself, thought it would be cool to have.  It is from 1951.
3. Wanted to Rent - Young Adult horror books are a weakness, so this was an easy pick-up.  Seems to be book #3 from a series I do not recall, Scream.
4. Owl Puke - This one speaks for itself,
5. Badass: The Birth of a Legend - I remember this series of books from when I worked at Borders.  It was quiet popular.  With chapters dedicated to Harry Callahan, B.A. Baracus, Skeletor, and Godzilla, it was a no-brainer for me to pick it up.
6. Too Good to be True: The Colossal Book of Urban Legends - This is my favorite of the book finds on this trip.  Found amongst a shelf of textbooks, this is almost 500 pages of urban legends. You name it, it is probably within the pages.

A solid assortment of The Far Side books.  Elizabeth and I are both big fans, but oddly enough this is one series of comic strips we don't own many volumes of.

Non-fiction assortment.  Killers is a collection of true crime, chronicling infamous killers of the past 50+ years, starting with Starkweather homicides up to Columbine.  The Truth Is Out There is an official guide to The X-Files (or at least the first three seasons, anyways.) I surprisingly don't already own this, and with the news of its return to TV in 2016, thought it would be a nice addition.  Law & Order: Crime Scenes is just a collection of photographs from popular episodes of the show, with commentary from Dick Wolf laced throughout.  Elizabeth is a fan of L&O, so this was a good find for her,

The free pile.  Yes, I said free.  See, the local Village Thrift has a shopping cart of books out front that are free, with no limit.  I don't know if it's because the books haven't sold, or what.  And normally I don't find this much in the cart.  But this trip yielded all of the above, plus one more.  I grabbed 3 of the original Executioner titles, and even if I do have them, they are in great condition and probably better than what I currently own.  The other 5 books are just random and seemed interesting, and it's kind of hard to pass up free.

Lastly, the media tie-in books.  Buckaroo Banzai was out of the free cart, as the red X on the cover detonates.  The non-fiction book that The French Connection was based off of (with movie tie-in cover art (a bit spoilery at that)), and a Dirty Harry novelization of The Enforcer, which was a pretty cool find for me.  Also grabbed a hardcover of The Legacy, which I hadn't heard of but know Scream Factory is releasing onto blu-ray this summer, and will add to my collection.

As I write this, I just realized Heat from the free pile should've been with this picture, as it's a novelization of the '86 Burt Reynolds film.  William Goldman as an author should've tipped me off.


That winds up this trip.  There is a grand re-opening of a DAV coming up in June, and I'm hoping to make a trip to the other side of the water soon as well, so there will probably be another post sooner than later.

April Thrift Store finds

Time for some catching up.  I've been meaning to take the time to write up an entry, as I've done some thrifting recently and had the Library book sale a few weeks ago, but just have let it slide by.  That ends tonight!

First up, let's take a look at the finds I found last time I went thrifting.

First up, this awesome Batman Begins trapper keeper.  It's in great condition, and probably was never used.  A worthy find, and I've taken it to work to be used.

I'm a collector of the Men Adventure books, and though I'm trying to complete my Executioner and Mack Bolan series, some of the spin-off series have also been joining my collection.  One of the local thrifts had quite a collection of Able Team and SOBs.  I almost picked up SOBs as they had 32 of the 34 titles in the series, but Able Team was one I was already collecting and picking these up was a little less expensive.

Speaking of The Executioner books, a few newer titles of the series I didn't have.  Some day I will get around to reading these.

Another adventure series that I collect, Rogue Angel. Rarely see these out in the wild, so I snagged the ones I knew I needed.  Elizabeth reads this series as well, so a good find for both of us.

The random picture.  I'm torn as to what the real highlight of this picture is for me: the Nikita Koloff autobiography Wrestling With Sucess or Dinner & A Movie cookbook.  As much as I love finding wrestling biographies, I'm leaning towards the cookbook.  I remember watching Dinner & A Movie all the time on TBS, and this is a nice walk down memory lane.  Also thought the CSI: graphic novel was a nice find, as I rarely see them out.  I'm a sucker for '70s horror, so Outbreak was a cool find.  Not pictured in On Edge by Adam Copeland, as it was sans dust jacket.

My young adult horror finds.  The complete trilogy of 99 Fear Street: The House of Evil is easily my favorite thing out of this stack.  But also glad to find two Christoper Pike books I didn't have and a "True" ghost story collection.

Last but not least, my favorite stuff to find: media tie-ins!  I got a nice assortment with this trip.  The Demon Knight novelization is my favorite thing from this pic.  I'm not 100% sure what Mommy's Day, but I trust Max Allan Collins as a writer.

That is it for my thrift store finds.  Next up are the items I found at the annual Library book sale this year.  Not as much as previous years, but still came out of there with some nice gems.

The Hammett collection was a nice find, and I didn't have the Krakauer book.  I probably have at least one copy of The Firm, but I'm a sucker for movie tie-in cover art.  A Time To Kill is one of the 5,000 Wynwood Press editions.

  

The two Indiana Jones: Find Your Fate were fun finds, but it's a toss-up for favorite thing in this picture between The Official Nintendo Player's Guide and Tales from the Crypt volume 3.  I had all those TFTC kid volumes growing up, and this brought back a lot of memories.  But that Nintendo guide also holds a lot of nostalgia too!

A random assortment of titles.  Nothing too special, but I was unaware Christopher Pike had written some adult novels as well.

Lastly, the additions to my Stephen King collection!  I know I own Cycle of the Werewolf, but this copy is in much better condition than the one I own.  The anthology is a nice addition to my collection, as I have a few other titles the publisher has released.  Bare Bones is a collection of interviews and non-fiction released in the mid '80s, and something I was unaware of.  And my favorite thing here is the collection of King's early works, with the infamous scene from The Shining as cover art.

Well, this is one more entry for the year.  I will probably do some more thrifting soon, so hopefully I will have another entry sooner than later.

Thrifting over Labor Day Weekend 2014

I'm feeling refreshed & renewed, and once again I'm back to this blog.  Can't promise I'm going to stay with it for long, but we shall see.  The writing bug has struck, and I'm just going to let it do it's thing for now.

So, my parents visited over the holiday weekend, and we did the thing we normally do when they visit, which is hit the local thrift stores.  We stuck to our side of the water, and for not having anything particular to look for on this trip, I came away happy with my haul.

A nice assortment of items

As you can tell from the above picture, I mainly purchase books when thrifting.  I read a wide assortment of genres and authors.  So, let's break this picture down a bit.

Sorry for the bit of blurriness

First off, that pile of books in the background?  My collection of wresting biographies.  Hence, the Ted Dibiase book in the front.  I don't currently watch wrestling, but I do enjoy reading the biographies of the people in the business.  I still consider Mick Foley's Have A Nice Day! one of the best books I've ever read.  I actually own two Dibiase bios: the one pictured (published by WWE in 2007) and another one he wrote in 1997.  Also pictured: a Hawaiian style collection of Mother Goose rhymes that my dad found for us, and Inside Delta Force, a book I was interested in from my Borders days, as I was a fan of the TV Show The Unit. 

Filling in some gaps

I've recently started trying to fill in the holes of my R.L. Stine collection (mainly the Fear Street and YA books from my childhood), and this weekend garnered 3 new additions.  The super chiller pictured is one of my favorite finds this weekend, as I now have the complete Cheerleaders Fear Street saga, easily my favorite story-line from the Fear Street line.  I was unaware that the Babysitter series went up to IV, and I picked up The Babysitter 2 mainly because I was unsure if I had it or not, and liked the re-release cover.  Also found How To Solve A Murder, which I thought was a cool book and might come in handy for if and when I do get back to writing a novel.  It will be a good resource.

New Fiction & my favorite find

Out of the genres I read, I think mystery/thriller is my favorite.  Horror is a close second.  When the two combine in one book, it's a guarantee that I will love it.  The Relic is one of my favorite books, and I found an ARC of it.  For those not in the know, ARC stands for "Advance Readers Copy", and publishers send them out before a books release.  At first, I thought this was a just a paperback copy, but I decided to look at it anyways as it was in really good condition. 

Also purchased this weekend, a Rizzoli & Isles book that I'm pretty sure we don't own, and a Greg Rucka novel I don't own.  Elizabeth & I have been catching up on Rizzoli & Isles on DVD, as I got the DVDs for her as part her anniversary gift, and we both have been compelled to read (or re-read, in Elizabeth's case) the books.  And Rucka is one of my favorite comic book authors, and the fiction I've read of his has been great.  So I am always happy to add new fiction by him to my collection.

MTIs & True Crime

Seriously, how could I pass up a book on the making of Space Jam, the greatest movie of all-time starring an NBA star and an animated rabbit?  Another thing I collect are Movie tie-ins, and you can see the two newest additions to that collection above. Terminator 2 came with an added bonus, as the next picture will show. I also picked up a true crime book that sounds interesting, and have a tie-in cover to the HBO movie.  I think my recent binge on Criminal Minds is one reason I decided to pick it up.

Added Bonus

Alright, so it's not too exciting, but come on!  An original 1991 receipt from WaldenBooks found within the pages of Terminator 2.  I asked a friend who was able to decipher that this book was purchased from the Greenbriar mall location.

Well, this was fun.  I'm hoping to actually try and do some stuff like this more often, but we shall see.  At lease I will try to keep this blog alive, for now.  Or, this could be the last update for the next few months. Who knows.