Gatsby Books: My Favorite NEW BOOKSTORE in Long Beach

Gatsby Books: My Favorite NEW BOOKSTORE in Long Beach!  Check it out.  They just opened in August, and I'm going to tell everyone I know who loves books about them.  So hear's an earfull below:

Scroll down to the bottom of their website linked above and look at that picture of Gatsby's interior.  Old school bookstore ambiance with roaring '20s motif.  What a great new classy little bookshop in Long Beach, just off the 405 and Bellflower Blvd.  The selection of classic literature is the best I've seen anywhere in a long time, like since the mid-90s when Borders and Barnes & Noble once stocked more than the usual suspects, Steinbeck, Faulkner, Dickens, Dostoyevski, in their Literature sections.

I bought three books at Gatsby's today; all of which, I'd never seen for sale anywhere else previously.

1. The Richard Trilogy: Things As They Are [1951], Everything to Live For [1968], The Thin Mountain Air [1977]  by an unknown I'll soon get to know, Paul Horgan, a writer of the American southwest, in particular, New Mexico, praised highly by Wallace Stegner.  Works for me. 

2. Tirant Lo Blanc by Joanot Martorell & Marti Joan de Galba.  The obscure Catalan novel from 1490 mentioned by name and praised in Don Quixote, and not available in English translation until 1984.

3. The Atlas, first printing

William Vollmann

Of course I knew about the latter, long time Vollmann fan, just never seen it, as Vollmann's work from the 90s becomes scarcer and scarcer to come by (unless you bite the bullet and order online, which I'd rather not do since I prefer the book hunt of stalking and scoping out real bookstores).

Gatsby's caters to a clientele who want their books in excellent shape.  Free of the dust and must and mold rather typical of most used shops.  You won't find creased spines or dog-eared pages or the bloat of water damage or torn covers.  None of that riff raff here.  No mass markets to speak of either.  Hence, Gatsby's subtitle: "Gently used books." [emphasis mine] 

Gatsby's is a small store (so far) but spacious (well set up, room to sit), and inviting and relaxing to peruse.  Hopefully their non-classic literature sections will one day match the present matchless glory of those mouth-watering classics they've got standing just so, just right, spines out, covers out, on their rich mahogany shelves.