The Strand Bookstore is ginormous. If you find yourself in the vicinity and need a book, rare or otherwise, or if you're like the I Love Books Guy from the second episode of Black Books, then it's right up your alley. However, prepare yourself for surly, unhelpful staff.

Guys, I know you live at this place and thus you know it like the back of your hand, but I'm from out of town, so excuse me if I find your three-level emporium, containing what appears to be so many dead trees that Treebeard himself is coming with an army to kick your asses (but it's the book version of Treebeard's army, not the version that can just teleport itself to his side–you're lucky, you still have some time), a little daunting and would appreciate your sage wisdom. Or here's an idea–don't sit under a sign that says INFO with a big question mark next to it. Because it might lead most humans to think you're inviting them to, you know, ask you things.

If you go to the Strand and require assistance, my advice is to try and find a female member of the staff. They were much nicer and actually willing to help.

That being said, it's good to go once and see it for yourself. And then thank God for Amazon. Don't get me wrong, I love brick and mortar stores, but I'll take a nationally owned chain or an online presence over surly college students any day of the week.

Or better yet, some place like Jigsaw, which I finally got to go by and see. And I'm not endorsing them because Benjones, the owner and head burrito, was kind enough to display my books on the same shelves as Alan Moore and Bendis, mind you. But because he seemed to, you know, actually want a customer in there. And because he had books by people who, if you met them, would no doubt be happy that you wanted to read them. It's amazing when people give a shit, isn't it? Just changes the whole world.

Forbidden Planet is down the street from The Strand, and they're just what you would expect from a comic book geekery in a city like New York. Basically, they're your local store but amped up and with a cooler name. My problem is, sadly, that I already own or have seen and tried out most of what they had in there. So my enthusiasm was merely dampened by the fact that they didn't have some impossible Ark of the Covenant level bit of geekdom on display–so I'm not a good judge. We were impressed that they had sense enough to split their books into spandex and non-spandex, though. So kudos to them for that.