i got some fresh books at the thrift store the other day: william henry's 'in defense of elitism'; a novel called 'the winshaw legacy,' by jonathan coe; some new york times writers' 'outrage: the story behind the tawana brawley hoax'; 'the jeopardy book'; and g.l. simons' 'simons' book of world sexual records.' some lunatic at the thrift store kept trying to strike up a conversation with me about how they raised the prices of hardbacks to ninety cents. the thing is, they didn't. books are still a quarter, unless marked otherwise.