What’s the last book you bought on the street? I can’t remember myself, but I know I picked something up this spring. My cousin found a copy of Pauline Kael’s State of the Art on a brownstone stoop near his home in Brooklyn earlier this year and sent it to me. Twenty minutes after he found it a thunder storm hit. Book would have been ruined. I’m glad it’s got a good home here in the Bronx.

[Picture by Bags]

Seen on the street last week in the Bronx.

I have a friend who won’t buy books on the street because she doesn’t want lice in her library. She doesn’t mean this as a put down, her concern is authentic. I never thought of it that way though I’m picky about the condition of a book when I buy it on the street. Condition, my desire for the title, and the price. Last week I picked up a good paperback copy of E.L. Doctorow’s Book on Daniel. What’s the last book you got on the street?