Falls Church, Virginia
Earlier this month, on a sunny, breezy Friday, I decided it was the perfect day to make one of my twice-yearly or so visits to 'Hole in the Wall Books', which is about a two hour drive for me. The store is located on Broad Street (aka Route 7) in Falls Church, Virginia.
As the name implies, Hole in the Wall Books is located in a small house converted into a bookstore. Practically every square foot of the interior is taken up with books or comics, and negotiating the rooms involves very careful placement of your feet, as the aisles are crammed with books, including those stacked on the floor and those jutting from overhead shelves.
The shop has a pretty big selection of new and used comic books and graphic novels, as well as shelving for crime and mystery paperbacks (they don't have much in the way of a horror section).
The science fiction aisles are the store's strong point; lots and lots of paperbacks in the sf and fantasy genres, and a good-sized section of hardbound sf as well. There also is shelving devoted to sf and fantasy art books.
The sci-fi section has a pretty good representation of older titles from the 70s and 80s. Most paperbacks cost anywhere from $2.50 to $3.50, and these are in the 'acceptable' to 'very good' range. Higher-priced vintage paperbacks are kept in a section behind the cash register; ask the store owner, and she will let you peruse this area.
I picked up eight titles (photo below) which give you a good idea of the books you can find on the regular sf shelves (the Brian Lumley title Spawn of the Winds was a 'vintage' book).
Poking around in the 'vintage' section, I picked up the complete 1975 Bantam Books editions of the Earthsea trilogy by Le Guin for $10.
Summing up, if you're going to be visiting the western DC suburbs (and you don't mind battling heavy traffic on Rte 7 on the weekends) then stopping in at Hole in the Wall Books can be well worth your while.
UPDATE: as of September 2019, Hole in the Wall Books closed permanently (the owner apparently decided to sell the property). This was sad news.
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