A Trip To The Bookstore

I got a gift card to Barnes and Noble from my parents for my birthday. Last night was the first chance I had to use it, and use it I did. Donna was out throwing a baby shower for our good friend Alyssa, so I had some time to myself. Since Donna is all about ebooks now that she has a Kindle, I headed to the book store.

I love books. I read a lot. However, I'm also a festering ball of impatience, so I tend to zone out and get bored walking through the stacks in the fiction and lit-chura-chur section. I read a lot of different genres, but I generally look for one of two things: a "classic" I've always meant to read and haven't gotten around to (1984, The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress) or some quirky-looking new book that catches my interest (The Raw Shark Texts, House of Leaves). This leads to a lot of scanning every book on every shelf in every aisle.

As you can probably imagine, my eyes start to glaze over before the end. Luckily, I come across whole racks full of the same author that I can skip right over. I've never read and Danielle Steele or John Saul, and I never will. But I do thank them for shortening my journey through the stacks at B&N.

My trip would be a lot shorter if I stuck to science fiction; that section has gotten tiny. I guess you only need so much room for what SF has largely become. I mean, there only needs to be three subsections: Dune knock-offs, Lord of the Rings knockoffs, and books about vampires.

Anyway, here's what I picked up:

13 Things That Don't Make Sense by Michael Brooks

This looked interesting, and should fill my Look-What-I'm-Reading-Aren't-I-Intellectual quota for the month.

The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier

A quintessential "looks weird and interesting" pick. Odd title, funky cover. The back-of-the-cover synopsis didn't turn me off.

fragile things by Neil Gaiman

A collection of short stories from one of the few remaining fantasy/SF writers I still like. It came down to this or the latest from Stephen Baxter. The latter, however, is currently suffering from trilogyitis, which almost all F&SF writers catch at one point or another. I'm not in the mood for a trilogy (or, jeebus forbid, a cycle right now).

Anyway, check the column on the right to see which one I'm reading first. Ooh, the suspense!

And, thanks mom and dad!