As we move our way into the season of buying, gifting and enjoying, that means you have the perfect excuse to enjoy and discover strange things, but of course we like them all year long. You could say that the unusual, oddball, hard to find, quirky and (dare I say it…) counterculture is our stock in trade. We know that strangeness lurks in every corner of our stores and sometimes it can be difficult to find that ONE specific oddity that you wanted. We want to help you be weird and gift weird this holiday season. We want you to find your personal weirdness niche so we created a Cool New Arrivals section. This section at our East location is right up front because we are proud of our curiosities and we don’t want you to have any further difficulty in letting your Geek Flag fly, especially when time is of the essence buying for the crazy cool cats on your list. We cull our shelves and our incoming titles for just the right strangeness level and we place them lovingly on our “Interesting, Unique & Just Plain Weird” display.  What can you expect to find on our Cool New Arrivals display? Titles that you won’t find anywhere else – not even at that kinda creepy yard sale you decided to check out but only found dirty clothes. Ew.
Strange Things
Looking to gift books this season that are sure to not sit on a shelf and collect dust? Swing by to find the weirdest and coolest and start checking things off your list like these strange titles:
Let’s start with Gothic & Lolita by Phaidon Press. This photo essay collection features folks from all over the world in their most interesting clothing. We see the entire style spectrum represented but the main focus is on Goths and Lolitas. It could also be considered as a tool for hiring here at Bookmans because we would love to have some of these fantastic folks working with us. You may find titles like The Diary of a Teenage Girl by Phoebe Gloeckner. You might ask what is more normal that a teenage girl’s diary? We would answer with one word – honesty. While not of the typical graphic novel format the text is accompanied by illustrations that give life to the already searing candor of the author. Maybe memoirs aren’t your weird or maybe you were a teenage girl and now you are in college and you eat Ramen. OK. We have a book for that! Ramen to the Rescue Cookbook by Jessica Harlan is a Ramen lovers dream. Jessica makes these recipes fast and easy. No. That isn’t a pun. You will be surprised at how many variations you can make from one simple starting point, the college classic Ramen. While eating your gourmet meal you can check out some vintage Prince Valiant comics by Hal Foster from 1959 and 1960. Just don’t spill anything on them. These treasures are in full color and very collectable. We can also recommend Nachman Ben-Yehuda’s Deviance and Moral Boundaries or Heraldry by Michel Pastoureau. Our point is that there is always something new to be found here at Bookmans, whether it’s to add to your holiday reading list or to wrap up and put under the tree – we can promise that your giftees won’t be bored.