St. Louis: Patten Books
Patten Books is an unassuming storefront on Manchester; you might pass it while going to the mall or heading home from the office. Don’t.
The first time I went here, I walked out with a huge stack of old-school books from my rambling want-list. The second time I went here, I was on the way back from the Greater St. Louis Book Fair. The fair was pretty cool, but I had not found anything on my list. Feeling guilty adding so many books to my shelf without being able to check anything off, I stopped by Patten’s afterward and picked up Jack Vance’s• The Eyes of the Overworld•.
I knew I could count on them to have something on my list.
Looking at the list of books I’ve purchased here, they are all fantasy and science fiction, and Patten does have a great selection of SF&F. But they aren’t lacking in general fiction either, nor in non-fiction. If you only go to one bookstore in St. Louis, I’d have to recommend Patten Books. They have a great selection and great prices, and are just a nice, quiet, relaxing place to browse books.
Patten Books
10202 Manchester Road
St. Louis, Missouri
Jan. 7, 2017
| Life, the Universe and Everything• | Douglas Adams | $3.50 | mass market paperback |
|---|
April 29, 2016
| The Eyes of the Overworld• | Jack Vance | $3.50 | mass market paperback |
|---|
March 24, 2015
| The Best of Fredric Brown | Fredric Brown | $3.00 | mass market paperback |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hiero’s Journey | Sterling E. Lanier | $3.00 | mass market paperback |
| The Warrior of World’s End | Lin Carter | $3.00 | mass market paperback |
| The Broken Sword | Poul Anderson | $3.00 | mass market paperback |
| The Shadow People | Margaret St. Clair | $3.00 | mass market paperback |
| The High Crusade | Poul Anderson | $3.00 | mass market paperback |
| The Blue Star | Fletcher Pratt | $3.50 | mass market paperback |
| Strange Gods | Roger Elwood | $4.00 | mass market paperback |
In response to The bookstores less traveled: These aren’t the bookstores people travel across the country to visit. But if you’re already traveling across the country, you’ll want to take advantage of the opportunity to visit them.
- The Eyes of the Overworld•: Jack Vance (paperback)
- “The Eyes of the Overworld is the first of Vance’s picaresque novels about the scoundrel Cugel. Here he is sent by a magician he has wronged to a distant unknown country to retrieve magical lenses that reveal the Overworld. Conniving to steal the lenses, he escapes and, goaded by a homesick monster magically attached to his liver, starts to find his way home to Almery. The journey takes him across trackless mountains, wastelands, and seas.”
- Greater St. Louis Book Fair
- “The Midwest’s Largest Charity Book Sale”. My guess is that there aren’t very many charity book sales; this is on par with, and perhaps a bit smaller than, the Half Price Books yearly sales. Well worth going to if you’re in the area, however.
More bookstores
- The Thrifty Peanut in Shreveport
- A great little bookstore in Shreveport off of I-20, and a great place to relax in the middle of a long road trip.
- New Orleans: Beckham’s Bookshop
- Beckham’s Bookshop is a musty must-stop if you’re in the French Quarter.
- Las Cruces, New Mexico: Coas Books
- Coas Books is a chain of two bookstores in Las Cruces, and well worth the visit.
- Palestine, Texas: The Palestine Public Library
- The Palestine Public Library opens their booksale room about once a month. If you’re in the area, it’s well worth a look.
- Buffalo, Texas: The Horse’s Mouth on Highway 79
- This tiny little bookshop and coffeehouse is worth stopping at if you’re on Highway 79 and need a browse, a coffee, or a shake.
- 18 more pages with the topic bookstores, and other related pages
More St. Louis
- St. Louis: Dunaway Books
- St. Louis has some great bookstores, and Dunaway Books is one of the better.
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