Living LAwfully

The famous Strand bookstore in NYC boasts an amazing selection of half priced, cheap used book, art books, cute literary knickknacks, and much more. Recently, I have been going to the law books section of Strand, which actually has a good amount of books! This was vastly different than my experience to the Barnes and Noble in Union Square which basically had only law textbooks...

So I may have splurged a little.

To be honest, I know it's terrible, but many times (about 85% of the time) when I find a book I want at a bookstore, I check Amazon.com and see which has the cheaper price. It's bad because I don't want bookstores to die and we should all support independent bookstores, but at the same time, I always want the cheapest deal! I can't help it that I'm just another poor college student on a budget!

No matter. I ended up spending more than $65 + tax the last few times I went to Strand. I figure I'd do a fun "book haul" post, listing prices, the reason why I bought the book, etc.


Notorious RBG by Irin Carmon, Shana Knizhnik
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has become a pop culture icon with this book. While I was at PLEN, I went to the Supreme Court with women who I knew looked up to RBG a lot. I contemplated buying her book, but it was quite expensive. This one seemed like a cute biographical and informational book, so I went ahead and bought it!

$10 - I consider this a major steal! Originally priced about $23 and saved $3 from the Amazon price.





One L by Scott Turow
This seems to be a go to book all One Ls to be read the summer before law school. It probably scares them senseless. Apparently the experience highlighted by Turow are still basically what being a 1L is like today. I figure I better know what I'm getting myself into early. Also, this was recommended by someone I know who's a lawyer.

$7 - It was labelled "Out of print," as I think this is the original version of the book, not the 2010 reprint.





May It Please the Court
This is a book with a transcript of oral arguments of several landmark Supreme Court cases. It was inspired by The Courage of Their Convictions (which the next book on my book haul list). I specifically found this book because it also contained recordings on a CD of the oral arguments. I put them onto my phone and can read along or just listen to them on the go if I want to.

$17.50- the list price was $35



The Courage of Their Convictions by Peter Irons
This book covers sixteen Supreme Court cases that were monumental to giving us some of our civil liberties that exist today. It also highlights the cases where Americans fundamentally challenged the law of the land immensely.

$1- I was lucky enough to find this amazing book in the sale carts outside Strand! I can't believe I got this book for cheaper than a chocolate bar (in Manhattan)!


I saw this book in Melanie's office. I have no idea what area of law I want to specialize in. Hopefully this book will help me figure that out in the future. So far it seems alright (flipped around through several specialties), but many have complained about the book being too positive and not including enough negatives.

$10.50- The $21 sticker on both Amazon and the list price made buying this book seem more worth it!




Proceed with Caution by William R. Keates

This book caught my eye because it's a diary kept from a lawyer in the "dream job" position, yet he hates his job. I can't wait to read it.

$9.50- It was supposedly out of print and I decided to give it a shot!

Hope you all enjoyed my book haul! Not that I should spend a bajillion more dollars buying more books, but I suspect there should be another one some time in the future.