Montreal City Weblog

Kate 09:11 on 2025-04-20 Permalink Reply  

• Orr 12:23 on 2025-04-20 Permalink

  The Word is a real institution.
  Whenever I am there I like to ask where the humour section is located.

• Kate 16:05 on 2025-04-20 Permalink

  Do they even have one?

• MarcG 17:51 on 2025-04-20 Permalink

  Sorry, Kate! (At least it’s the Simpsons?)

• JP 21:42 on 2025-04-20 Permalink

  I don’t understand any of these comments.. is there something about The Word that’s unpleasant or does it have some sort of reputation? I’ve only ever been a few times and all before 2020….

• walkerp 11:34 on 2025-04-21 Permalink

  I’ve only had pleasant interactions there and given how few quality anglo used bookstores are left in this town, I only want to support The Word and I hope it continues to thrive. That being said, it is what I consider a “precious” academic used bookstore, very Canadian and insecurely snobby in that it refuses to carry any genre books (except of course those that are deemed to have literary value like Chandler or Thompson). Great for undergrads who want to discover Henry Miller or Anais Nin, but forget it if you want an actual entertaining read.

• MarcG 12:08 on 2025-04-21 Permalink

  JP: I understood Orr’s comment to be a joke about asking for something lowbrow in a highbrow place that you know they don’t have, like ordering drip coffee at a fancy coffee shop, and interpreted Kate’s inquiry literally in that she didn’t get the joke.

• Orr 12:50 on 2025-04-21 Permalink

  In case someone misunderstood my joke, the joke is that there is no humour section as such, but it is otherwise a stellar used bookshop.
  I take issue with characterization of humour as lowbrow though, many of the greatest writers of all time included plenty of funny in their writing. Some of these writers have won Nobel, Pulitzer, National Book Award, Booker, and whatever the Canadian one is called now. The trick is knowing which authors, which books, or asking the bookshop curators/staff.
  The Word’s “giant wall of great fiction writers” has very many very entertaining books, rollicking tales, absurd takes on our society’s whims and foibles. It’s a big wall though, for the newly humour-curious, a sample query to ask the staff might be: “Can you recommend some books to cheer me up, to make me laugh, in these dark times?”
  Even the Pope has spoken of the need to laugh, how it is an essential human trait, that we must not neglect. “Try it, you might like it,” as Hound Dog Taylor famously sang.

• Kate 12:53 on 2025-04-21 Permalink

  MarcG, I was actually curious. There’s some highbrow humour. walkerp is essentially correct.

• MarcG 13:24 on 2025-04-21 Permalink

  I was just try to interpret the joke, not casting any judgment. Big fan of Vonnegut.

• teeowe 13:27 on 2025-04-21 Permalink

  Reminds me of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers Go To College (NSFW) – anyone remember them?

• Uatu 15:49 on 2025-04-21 Permalink

  I bought books by Dorothy Parker and H.L. Menken there so I guess that counts as humor?

• Ian 17:37 on 2025-04-21 Permalink

  Absolutely!
  And while some might complian that they don’t carry certain kinds of genre fiction, they do have a poetry section, an excellent philiosphy section, and a good selection of books in other languages besides French. I mean, I really enjoy science fiction but there are other used bookstores with good science fiction, and almost none with poetry.

  I certainly don’t begrudge the Word for their curation, and given their proximity to McGill it would be remiss of them not to offer more academic leaning selection.

  If you just want a bunch of bsestsellers and genre fiction, though, you can buy those at the Renaissance. The one on Beaumont specializing in books, dvds and records is very good. They even have a pretty good comics & graphic novels section.