Reinventing Traditions, or, “tschüss, Schoenhof’s!”

It is probably normal to have some kind of routine in cities one visits often. Whenever I’m in LA, I try, like every non-local, to duck into an In-N-Out for a grilled cheese animal style. If I’m lucky, I try to hit the In-N-Out by the Museum of Jurassic Technology, so I can let the food digest while I enjoy my favorite museum in the world. In Toronto, I always try to get a slice of the pizza arrabiatta at King Slice.

My Boston tradition was to go to Schoenhof’s, a foreign bookstore in Cambridge, that has been a sort of playground for me since middle school. It’s a special place; the store occupies some three rooms in the basement of a building on Mount Auburn, and it’s just bleeding books in dozens of different languages. They even have lots of children’s books there–I got Asterix and Tintin books there, as well as the Lithuanian translation of the fifth Harry Potter book, Haris Poteris ir Fenikso brolija. But though I’m in Boston often, I seldom have the free time to go to Schoenhof’s, so I’ve limited it to when I go to high school reunions. Five years ago, I spent over $300 at the bookstore, picking up all sorts of books I probably didn’t need (like Kracauer and Freud in German).

For this reunion, I was worried I’d repeat a $300 order. So when I found the website to see if the store still existed, I saw that they offered free shipping on orders over $50. There doesn’t exist a non-English book that I need right away (they are more or less definitionally a luxury to me), so I promised myself that I’d only buy one book this time. And that book would be Viktor Pelevin’s Generation “П.”¹ Of course they had it in their Russian section, so I grabbed it. Without even thinking,  I flipped it over to see the price.

$44.95.

For an unspectacularly bound and printed popular novel. I had never really looked at the prices of Schoenhof’s books, because growing up they were the only show in town. But considering I had just bought Pelevin’s ЧАПАЕВ и ПУСТОТА online four months earlier, published by the same house, for about $15, I had to put the book back on the shelf. In desperation, I cast about for another possible book, but I could not find Мастер и Маргарита, and I was so upset that I couldn’t really think or look hard any more.²

So this is the reinventing a tradition. Paying $45 for a Russian novel is absolutely untenable, when Amazon will set me up with a firm like RusKniga, which will sell me the novel at a fraction of the cost. And that’s too bad, since there was a time when Schoenhof’s would fill me with wonder and envy. I considered it a treat to even set foot in there, much less leave with a book. Now, since I’m old and cranky, all I see are price differences.

There are, of course, still reasons to go to Schoenhof’s: browsing itself is worth the effort, especially with so many opportunities for a surprise title (like Haris Poteris!). And there’s something to be said about paying a premium because of how nice the store is and so on. If the Pelevin had cost about $20, I probably would have bought it…

But the damage is also done. Next thing, the MJT will close. Then King Slice will also close. Then I suppose I’ll just stop travelling.

Incidentally, I bought Generation “П” via Amazon, though not through RusKniga. A day later, my friend writes me with tips about spending time in Moscow, where I’ll be in less than a week:  “the only things worth buying in Moscow are books,” he explains. So I guess I simply couldn’t win. Though what I’ve read of Pelevin I’ve liked enough to want to buy more of his books, so that may make up my Moscow souvenirs.

1. I actually have a list of French books I’d like to buy, but, for obvious reasons, it makes sense to wait until I’m, you know, in France, to buy them. [↩]
2. I did, however, have the ups to price check the Tintin books, and they’re about the same as what Amazon would give. [↩]

Tags: Asterix, books, Harry Potter, In-N-Out, King Slice, Museum of Jurassic Technology, polyglot, schoenhofs, Tintin, Viktor Pelevin