Buckhorn Books, Bayboro, NC

When Adam and I were in Bayboro the other day, we decided to stop off at Buckhorn Books for a few minutes. We'd never been there before. Buckhorn is a used bookstore, the old-fashioned kind.  The door itself, before you get in, shows you you're in for a treat.

The store is replete with fun decor. See the buck horns? It's an old house, so there's a peep-hole window between rooms.

In the main room, there's a cozy old couch with a friendly bear, where you can sink your nose into a book. The friendly lady who owns and runs the place won't mind at all.

This room had shelves and shelves of cookbooks. I found an old, hard copy of Clementine in the Kitchen, and even though I already have a pretty paperback copy, such is my love of that book that I could not resist. Why is it that a decades-old hardback copy is more endearing that a newer paperback?  The older book seems to me to be more like a small chunk of Clementine herself.

The Buckhorn owner places interesting newspaper articles around on the walls, so there's no shortage of reading.

Even in the restroom -- in there, the walls are papered with sea charts of the area, just in case the other seats and other reading are not to your taste.

I'd just about given up on bookstores. New bookstores are all the same:  you may find a few books you like, if you hunt, but you'll leave the store without an arm and a leg. Most used bookstores are no better, full to the gills of irritating paperback fiction whose original owners could only tolerate them for one read. If they were begging me to take them for free, I'd run away. But Buckhorn Books is a different breed. When I walked into the cookbook room and saw two books by MFK Fisher on the table -- two books not yet in my collection -- I knew this was a bookstore for me! I bought about ten books and 3 old Gourmet magazines for Adam. It was great Christmas shopping!