Sunday, April 16, 2006

Hunting for Books

Because the Easter Bunny doesn't visit my house anymore (and because I'm vegan and don't do milk chocolate rabbits, marshmallow peeps, or hard boiled eggs), because the bookstore is quiet on holidays, because I have gift cards burning a hole in my pocket, and because one can never, ever, have too many books, guess what I did on this blustery and rainy spring day? I went with a long list, expecting only to find a few books from it because that's how it always is. After I had exhausted my list I just browsed, walked up and down the aisles, my head tilted to the side to better read titles (I could hear my chiropractor sighing in exasperation). My Bookman came by and offered me a basket to place my armload in, but I refused. There are few things as delicious as walking around with my arms full of books. When I couldn't possibly carry anymore books, I grabbed one more and sat down with a soy mocha to decide which to keep and which would have to stay. It actually turned out to be easier than I expected. So I sat contented with my mocha, paging through a wonderful book about gardening with native plants in Minnesota--a little prairie, a little savanna, a little woodlands. So many great ideas. I didn't bring the garden book home this trip, but it will find its way to my shelf eventually. Here's what made the cut and have been added to the burgeoning book pile:

  • The People's Act of Love by James Meek. I know there have been lots of people raving about this book, but it was several posts made by Danielle that convinced me I had to read it.
  • A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham. I loved the movie in spite of the scene where the guy dies from running through a plate glass window. And the book is always better than the movie, right? Plus, it was on the bargain book table.
  • Black Boy by Richard Wright. I've read pieces of this book but never the whole thing. I figured it was about time.
  • Moon Palace by Paul Auster. With all the people who left comments awhile ago saying how fabulous Auster is I had to bring him home.
  • Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Out in paperback now so I couldn't say no. Plus he looks really cute in his author photo on the back of the book.
  • Life with Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse. There were so many Wodehouse books to choose from, and this one has three novellas, and the back says it will "delight newcomers to Wodehouse" so it won.
  • Europe Central by William T Vollman. An impulse grab because I haven't read Vollman and want to and it was the only one of his books on the shelf.
With all the books I've gotten lately, I think I must forego buying anymore for at least a month. And by then the new Central Library will be open and all the books that I've wanted from them for the last four years that I couldn't check out because they were in storage will be free at last so I might even be able to go longer than a month without a new book purchase. Just don't hold me to it. Must go read now.