Discount store has surprising selection of books

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Updated 7:11 AM Wednesday, July 1, 2009

While discussing this column with a friend recently, he asked if I’d ever been to Ollie’s Bargain Outlet.

I admitted the few times I’d been there had been disappointing — it was a lot of work to dig through the drek to find a few items to carry home. Most often I left empty-handed.

“You need to go back and have another look,” he told me. “They have an amazing selection of books there.”

Skeptically, I took his advice and discovered he was right.

The store, 1510 Upper Valley Pike, has more books than you can imagine. I don’t feel like I’m taking a risk here when I tell you Ollie’s has more books than either local chain bookstore.

The book section is shelved by category, so it’s easy to shop.

The day I browsed, there were coffee table and gift books, mostly under $15, featuring artists Cezanne, Picasso and Manet. Other gift books included a Martin Luther King Jr. photo essay and an illustrated version of David McCullough’s 1776.

The children’s section is huge.

I found educational books, picture books, activity books and kits, coloring and sticker books, fiction and inspirational titles. Marlo Thomas’s “Thanks and Giving,” the follow-up to her wildly successful “Free To Be You and Me,” was $3.99, which included a CD featuring Cheryl Crow and Billy Crystal, among others.

Famous names from children’s literature found on the shelves included Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Harry Potter and Curious George.

A generous inspirational section, filled with soft and hard-cover books including Bibles, were mostly under $8.

I thumbed through titles from Billy Graham and saw a few copies of Rick Warren’s “The Purpose Driven Life.”

A tiny volume of photos accompanied by poem-like text from U2’s Bono recounting his experiences in Africa was tucked away with a $2.99 sticker on it.

Other categories include history, sports, decorating, gardening, fiction and travel. There is a special section dedicated to the “For Dummies” series.

I used up an entire lunch hour digging through the tomes, walking out with five, which for me shows great restraint.

I had to grab the Bono book (beautiful and heartfelt). I found an interesting book on science and faith to share with my older son and snagged cookbooks by favorites Tish Boyle and Nick Malgieri.

I paid 89 cents for “The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches,” a translated French novel that sells on Amazon.com for $21.95.

I spent less than $24.

And, until July 5, everything in the store is an additional 15 percent off, so stock up.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0371 or elroberts@coxohio.com.

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