When I left Klamath Falls this morning, the bookstore, Basin Book Traders, was still closed; a lone reader sat on the bench placed outside the strip-mall store.

So, I thought, this day will be a parenthesis in my reading adventures, and I took the road. Which looked really open.

And on I went to find a nice place to read for a bit… This is Crater Lake, and that ultramarine blue would be very, very ,lovely in an fountain pen.

But it turned out the day would not be book-less after all.

As I reach the center of Bend, by the Deschutes river, two bookstores share the same side of the sidewalk on NW Minnesota Avenue:  Pegasus and Dudleys. One specializes in comics, mangas and fantasy; the other, in literature. Both appear potential gold mines for my quests.

At Pegasus, where collectible comics, graphic novels, and figurines line the walls, an enthusiastic expert fearlessly picks up the challenge of finding a book about mangas but could only offer two books about anime and a (quite extraordinary) book about contemporary Japanese artists as “coming close”.

A few doors down, Dudleys appears at first glance as a very pleasant cafe with a wall of books. Upon closer inspection, the wall is pretty interesting. Under “Shantaram”, a note just reads: “One word: awesome!”, whereas under “The Elegance of the Hedgehog”, a note reads: “What do you get when you mix a plump concierge and a suicidal 12 year old? The unlikely and beautiful story of friendship, love and finding one’s purpose in this big, big world. Best book ever”. Maybe a bit of a hyperbole, but certainly a good pitch.

A quick walk up the stairs painted to look like stacked books, and more books – as well as the most charming little reading room. A cheerful question, and yes, I am looking for something in particular. And then, a resigned answer: no… No sign of Tournier (but yes, you guessed, I could have picked up “A Confederacy of Dunces”, but that will wait for another day.)

Instead, I head to the second-hand bookstores just outside the downtown core. The Open Book and the Bookmark are on either side of the same road but on the same page when it comes to running an old-fashioned second-hand bookstore. At the Open Book, a young employee  (who I am guessing who was not born when the store opened in 1985) echoes his boss’ trust in the future of the printed page, especially when you can renew your reading for a couple of dollars, or a trade-in.

 Of course, no Tournier, no book about mangas here either, “but isn’t it the rule of used bookstores that you don’t find the book you wanted, but find something else?”

Very true, yet today I will be on my way without adding to my current travel book bag. The next bookstore awaits.