Move over, Barnes & Noble. Keenly aware of the opportunity presented by the death of Borders, two years ago Goodwill Books made its move, renting nice storefronts and stocking them with top-condition hardbacks and paperbacks. The books are costlier than at Salvation Army, say, or Out of the Closet, but they're helpfully arranged by author and subject, and they include hard-to-find fiction and nonfiction titles. Plus, these shops have extremely solicitous managers. Two great shops in the San Fernando Valley are the West Hills store, in an upscale strip mall, stuffed with hundreds of biographies and autobiographies, and the Woodland Hills store, on Oxnard Street, which offers a nifty children's room and a hardback reading room. On the Westside, try the Culver City shop on Sepulveda Boulevard, which has an excellent selection of best-sellers. goodwillsocal.org/shop/store. —Norm Jenssen

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