Best Of Tucson®

Best Used Books

Bookman's

From the supermarket-sized edifices and strip-mall exteriors, you wouldn't expect much. But all three stores provide a feast of words--from romance novels to the haute cuisine of literature and philosophy to the environmental studies section to rugged tomes on war history. Need to plan a wedding? Bookman's has years' worth of bridal magazines. Want to play a computer game? There's plenty of software to nag your carpal tunnel syndrome. Curious which CD has that song you can't get out of your head? Preview it in those cool, modular listening chairs. Running around the stores' departments are clerks armed with cell phones--like frenetic sellers on Wall Street--dealing with impatient customers. And don't forget all those words that beckon you in for the show.

Runners up:

2. Book Stop Used Books, 2504 N. Campbell Ave.

3. Biblio Bookstore, 222 E. Congress St.