Finding Star Wars Legends In the Wild

Two used bookstores. A day I'll never forget.

Image Credit: Meg Dowell (taken at Books & Melodies Syracuse)

All I wanted for my birthday was to spend an hour in a bookstore.

But the last time I walked into a Barnes & Noble I accidentally spent too much money and I can’t afford that nonsense right now. Luckily I live in a city with independent bookstores and am married to someone who loves me, so this past weekend we explored not one, but two of the used bookshops in Syracuse.

(Let’s be honest: Sending me into a bookstore alone simply wouldn’t be a good outcome for anyone except the bookstore owners who would suddenly have my entire life savings at their disposal. We must arm ourselves with people who will stop us from doing bad things too often.)

I’ve been on the hunt for used Star Wars books for quite a while. I’ve yet to find them in the thrift or resale shops I’ve visited, and our local flea market is probably the best place to find Star Wars stuff, but books aren’t one of its usual treasures.

It was a Saturday. We were full of diner food and it was going to rain, but we walked into Books End knowing we were going to go home happy.

When you browse a shop like this and only come across a few shelves containing Star Wars texts, you have to assume either one of two things: Their Star Wars stuff is popular and you missed a recent rush, or no one around here wants to give up their hauls. That’s fine. I still found a handful of reference books on top of the non-Star Wars paperbacks I added to my stack. My husband found the biggest vegetarian-friendly cookbook I’ve ever seen. It’s all ours now.

I’d have been disappointed with my minimal Star Wars haul if it had been our only stop — this is not Books End’s fault; in fact, I may have missed other books because it’s one of those shops where you can get lost in the stacks and I can’t wait to visit again — but readers, it was only our first adventure.

Enter Books & Melodies — really, I beg you to enter. And not just because it didn’t take us long to find the Star Wars sign and an entire bookcase filled with Star Wars books, most of them Legends hardcovers and paperbacks (many without gold banners, if you[‘re into that sort of thing).

I’d blown most of my gift card at the last store and knew I had to control myself, but that didn’t stop me from creating an “I want this in my collection” pile on the floor in front of the shelves. Truce at Bakura. Tatooine Ghost. I put back and picked back up a dozen Star Wars gems and somehow settled on two.

Then I found a giant Marvel Star Wars hardcover omnibus and forked over $65 because I’m weak and how could I not, but I could have done worse.

Do I regret not grabbing one of MULTIPLE Phantom Menace novelizations with Maul on the cover? Yes, but when I go back, they’re the first thing I’m going to look for and it will be even better if I stumble upon them the second time.

(I’m so happy for whoever may have already grabbed them since I left or who might do so after reading this; I’ve been looking for them in the wild for years, but we all make choices.)

I’ve never been as proud of a used book haul as I am of this one. (The rose was for scale. It was also delicious.)

Image credit: Meg Dowell / Now This Is Lit

I don’t know what your idea of fun is, but mine is getting lost in a store surrounded by books. Books & Melodies even has a basement we didn’t get to this time around because I was hungry and afraid of going back for more of those hardcovers.

Shopping online for Star Wars books is fun. I’ve acquired most of my collection that way up to this point. But there’s nothing quite like walking into a place not knowing what you’ll find — or if you’ll find anything at all. We could have found no Star Wars books that day and I would have been happy, because I’m a simple lady who really only needs books and wine to be happy I guess.

So finding such gems felt like magic. Stumbling upon books you’ve always wanted but never thought you’d find in the real world is, in itself, a gift.

I don’t know when I’ll be lucky enough to do this again — my book buying ban began August 1 and so far it’s been three days and I feel empty. But my TBR pile is high, my joy is plentiful, and my shelves are overflowing.

There’s a lot to be grateful for, even when a lot of things aren’t going right.

(Speaking of which … if you do want to support Now This Is Lit with dollars, this newsletter does have a paid tier with nothing in it at the moment, but it’s there.)

If you’re ever feeling lost, there’s no better place to fully lose yourself than a place that has books.