New Books!

Yesterday was rather rainy and Chaucer was pretty tired so he stayed in the back seat of the car riding recklessly without a seatbelt, while we meandered about town. One of the best things to do on a rainy day is spend some time in a bookstore. Since there is no Half Price Books in Los Angeles, my sister and I spent some time browsing and took advantage of the $1 bargain basement clearance. I came home with two books by Jane Urquhart, The Underpainter and Away. I've not read her before but Cipriano raved about her and my Bookman listened to Map of Glass in his car recently and loved it. I also picked up a clearance Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? by Lorrie Moore. I didn't much like her Birds of America so I hesitated. What clenched it was the first sentence of the first story: "In Paris we eat brains every night." How could I put that back on the shelf? And for one more dollar I decided to take a chance on Alan Lightman's Einstein's Dreams. I tried to listen to this on audio once while on a driving trip and it did not go well. But I've heard that the book is good. And if it isn't, well, it was only a dollar. I neglected to mention that besides Chaucer, my sister came with the gift of a book, Unknown Masterpieces: Writers Rediscover Literature's Hidden Classics. What a nice sister.