Saturday, February 04, 2006

New used books

Bad morning at the used bookstore. Everything looked good, not a good thing when you don't have much money, plus the bunny must have been hiding out in the back room with the cat that bites customers. I tried to determine what a woman was reading at the end of the religion and philosophy aisle that would make her exclaim outloud, "That's amazing," but all she appeared to be looking at was a book that somewhat resembled a yearbook, with rows and rows of black and white old- timey portraits. Maybe she spotted an ancestor.

After putting books back and resisting offers to lower the price on a hardback Play It As It Lays (because my paperback isn't falling apart, no matter its age and multiple readings), I walked away with:

Soloman Gursky Was Here. Mordecai Richler. Richler pere was recommended to me by Book Puddle.

Education of a Wandering Man. Louis L'Amour. This memoir comes highly recommended by Mental Multivitamin.

Fathers and Crows. William T. Vollmann. Dare I attempt Vollmann? It looks extremely daunting.

The Edge of the Sea and Under the Sea Wind. Rachel Carson. Because of Jim Lynch's The Highest Tide.

The Chymical Wedding. Lindsay Clarke. I knew I'd heard of this one before, but couldn't remember good or ill. Looking it up on Amazon I see it won the Whitbread in '89 and a raking over the coals by a reviewer whose name I recognize. I usually love Whitbread winners and books loathed by this particular reviewer, so I'm glad I didn't put this one back.

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