Reading Matters

In advance of my early August spine surgery, I’m stocking up on reading matter. Yes, I’ve ordered used books online AND I can figure out how to reserve and borrow from the library online. BUT, ya know, it’s nice to have a stack by the bed beforehand – build anticipation and shit.

Toward that end, I decided to take a big ass risk yesterday morning and go to my local-ish Barnes and Noble. Jen called to see if they have Senior Hours. No and, on top of that, they told us the joint didn’t open until 11. It opened at 10. The place wasn’t crowded though so we went in. I figured this’d be a quick in and out. I was looking for two specific titles – no browsing.

Problem – the store was a disorganized mess. To start with, genres were mislabeled. The YA section was full of business texts, SciFi/Fantasy held cookbooks, Mystery was Romance (OK, given humanity’s relationship struggles, this one made sense). Within each wrongly IDed section, books were…let’s call it “creatively shelved,” ostensibly, loosely by author’s last name.

While my fellow confused shoppers were masked up, social distancing seemed to be forgotten. I managed to avoid getting up close and personal but, given the DaDa-esque alphabet “system” it was stressful. I didn’t find what I was after (anything by Patrick Ness as well as Archenemies by Marissa Meyer) BUT I managed to snap a couple other interesting-looking reads.

Wonderland, an anthology of decidedly different takes on Alice and her gang.

and

The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind (Jackson Ford)  which looks like it’ll be an engagingly weird mystery.

I would have loved to stick around…maybe organize the damn shelves BUT I wanted to beat feet before anyone had an opportunity to stand too close.

Jesus, the joint really called to my inner Brownie. Granted my inner Brownie is lazy as fuck which, in this case, was a real plus.

Re: the Thomas Crane, if it works like Hillel’s hometown library, I can reserve online. When my requests come in, I’ll get an email. At that point, I reserve (more likely, Jen reserves) a date/time to pick up. Sounds safe and straight forward.

Books are for people who wish they were somewhere else.
~ Mark Twain

The books are to remind us what asses and fools we are.
~ Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

Beware the man of a single book.
~ St. Thomas Aquinas