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Afterwords Books

4.6 (10 reviews)
InexpensiveBookstores
Closed • Closed

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The sign on Route 66
Jason V.

One of the newest additions to the old town part of Edwardsville, sits inside an old house on good ol' Route 66. If you're a fan of mom-and-pop bookstores, this is your place. Even better, you can get several books on the cheap. Downstairs (or the main floor) they have rooms for children's books as well as other genres like history. On the top floor are two rooms, which are separated by fiction and non-fiction. Just about all the books upstairs are $2 and less. A lot of the titles are at least five years old. Some of their newer books are on the main floor. They also have a thing where you can trade books and get credit on used books. For Route 66 enthusiasts, this is the place where you can get tourist information on the old highway. Several maps, brochures, and local books are available there. You will not want to miss out on what they have for travelers. Shop local and educate yourself at Afterwords! Just a note: the employee told me they will move across the street in early 2017 in the building where Bailey Cakes sits now.

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Photo of Ann K.
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2 years ago

An excellent little book store. I loved the puzzle selection and adorable gifts. It's a great place to take kids, too.

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7 years ago

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5 years ago

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10 years ago

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8 years ago

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6 years ago

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7 years ago

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9 years ago

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11 years ago

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Left Bank Books

Left Bank Books

4.6(170 reviews)
20.2 mi•Central West End
•$$

The moment I walked in I was approached by a woman doing a petition. She asked me to sign after…read moreverbally giving me info. I told her I'd like to read about it before I sign and she kind of looked at me like I'm crazy and said "I like to be more informed before I make a decision." She told me no one else had to think about it and I told her I did. That was weird and uncomfortable, especially when she turned from me and asked my wife. She gave the same answer. Selection is pretty broad but the store is very political and it's obvious. They have a sign that said "everyone is welcome, except ICE.", Black Lives Matter, gay pride, and anything that is demeaning to republicans. It's honestly distracting and disappointing. Someone who may not have the same beliefs may not feel comfortable walking around with fascist stickers, and everything that is demeaning towards "the right". Value is good and as I said before the selection is quite broad. There were a lot of pro-gay books which you never really see anywhere else. There are also all kinds of self help books and everything else you might expect. Overall I do recommend this place, but I can see how a large majority of people would feel really out of place here. That aside, it's a really nice establishment with very friendly staff. Not so crazy about the woman in the front pressuring me to sign her petition. I'm sure she meant well though.

I popped in on a whim to pass some time, and I'm glad I did. I forgot how lovely this shop is. They…read morehave an excellent selection of books, very well curated. I love how they have a section devoted to translated literature - I'm on a Japanese literature kick! I even found a book on my TBR downstairs in their used section, which felt very lucky - especially for $7! They don't have as many knick-knacks and gifty things as other indie bookstores, but I don't mind it. Sometimes I'd rather have the focus be on the books.

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Left Bank Books
Left Bank Books - Cutest book store ever

Cutest book store ever

Left Bank Books

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Half Price Books

Half Price Books

3.9(61 reviews)
24.2 mi
•$

Half Price Books is the best place I take the books and media as you thin out your collection…read more (Dunaway Books and Hammond's Books have failed to return communication and Left Bank Books' hours don't work for me.) That being said... you get very little money for what you bring in. Much less than other used bookstores offer. I know the stores need to make a profit. I don't expect that the inventory will get 30% of the asking price. But 20% or even 15% would be nice. Am I getting that? I think not. At Half Price Books, you don't know what you're getting for each item. How it worked in the past: Bring books to the counter. Wait to be paged. Return to see 2 (or 3?) groups of stacked books. Staff make a point of saying "These are the books we want. Those are the books we don't want." The "don't want" group is larger most of my visits. Staff offer to donate/recycle (read: trash) the books for you. Formerly (early 2020s) you could take accept the offer on the wanted group and take the donate group to your preferred nonprofit. How it worked about year ago: Though staff have your books separated into different groups, the offer is on all of the books, including the books they will donate/trash. Once the books are on the counter, you can't take a single book back without refusing the offer. You must take all the books back. A staff member told me that if there are some books I want to take elsewhere, I should put them in 2 different groups so I can have different offers. Hmmm. How it works now: You can't take any of the books back, even if you tell them in advance. Staff say they won't tell you which ones are the wanted/unwanted though after their review, the books sure seem to be in different groups. When you ask about this, they say this has *always* been the policy, and that they only deviated from it during the covid pandemic. (Then that was not *always* the policy, was it?) I imagine the books groups are something like of: sell here, sell at a different HPB location, donate, trash. If some of these books are going to be thrown away or donated, why not give them to the owner? It should be less work for the staff. So it's imperfect. This is as good as it gets for people hoping to unload of a few hundred dollars brick-and-mortar resell value in books for a little cash. Shopping here: I rarely buy books, journals, games, media and the other items sold here. When I want to buy something particular that I think will be here, Half Price Books is one of the places I shop. Buying a used book locally by a company that is based out of state is still better than buying from Amazon. I can usually find some books to bring for them to review while I shop.

Always have the best experiences here. Half Price Books has books, boardgames, DVDs, Video games…read moreand so much more for sale. They have a great selection of books and everything is so well priced. The staff is incredibly sweet and helpful. I have purchased many books here and will be back for more.

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Half Price Books
Half Price Books
Half Price Books

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Afterwords Books - bookstores - Updated May 2026

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