Madison, Wisconsin Book Stores

This last weekend, the wife and I had a chance to head to Madison, Wisconsin for Coffee Shops and Bookstores. I in search of Classics and her in search of that perfect Latte!

We attempted to go to Shakespeares Books first at 18 Carroll St on the Square by the Capitol however it had changed locations (without any word of where they moved!). A very friendly woman at Capitol Kids helped give us directions to navigate down State street. After parking in a parking deck off of Wisconsin St. we headed to State street.

If you are going to Madison to get classic books I would recommend Avol's Bookshop on 315 Gorham St. It was a very nice establishment with a good selection of classics. The classics were mixed in with general fiction and were in decent shape.

However, the real gem of classics in Madison was at Frugal Muse Books. This was after we had left State street and had ventured to Mineral Point road. We were originally on a trek to the local Barnes & Noble on Mineral Point road when we spotted Frugal Muse. It absolutely was the best book store we visited. Very very good quality books with what I would consider low prices - especially in comparison to other stores. Black cover Penguin Classics were generally $4.95, Barnes & Noble Black Dustjacket hardcovers $2.95 - $4.95, Penguin Green/Blue classics $4.95 - $6.95. There was an excellent selection of classics that were mixed in with Fiction. I found some rare gems!

Our classics collection is getting down to where we need only obscure classics. I recently was asked "If you are only looking for obscure classics, why are they classic if they are so obscure?" And that's a good question. I would love to hear comments from the readers of this blog on what they think of that question.

My personal thoughts are that classics are classics because they have withstood the test of time and are a good quality read. Being obscure (at least to me) is only the product of not being more well known within society. That doesn't necessarily mean the book is not classic... there are plenty of classics I wish that WERE more popular in the public arena. As time goes on I sincerely hope they do. People are really missing out on great reads simply because they aren't aware that they exist!