Book Buying Trip

This was a background my friend used in her wedding slideshow.
Tried to find a photo of "early autumn" :o)
Courtesy of 3D Digital Wallpapers

Today was beautiful in so many ways.  It's early in the school year, so I haven't worked very much yet (only a 1/2 day so far & have another this Friday), and that has given me free time that I am filling with reading, blogging, watching movies, and sneaking in some Nintendo-playing (yes, I'm still a kid at heart!).  After breakfast, I read the morning paper and a column caught my eye that literally "dared" me to say yes to opportunity.  After reading some Mailbox Monday blog posts and looking out the window at the gorgeous weather, it was clear that I needed to get outside and

After lunch today, I bussed out about 15-20 minutes to a "half-price" bookstore that is fairly new, but I hadn't noticed (!) before.  I wasn't sure what to expect--is it a used bookstore or an overstock warehouse?  It was double the size I guessed (the building is 2-in-1, seemingly invisible from the outside) and turns out they were brand new books at half-price.  Woo hoo!  Not as much selection and not as well organized as the Book Depot (random stacks on tables labeled "Fiction"), but not a wasted trip by far.

I got these for around $5-8 each.

The 64 Sonnets- John Keats- One of my favourite poets.  I lack poetry on my bookshelf!

The God Delusion- Richard Dawkins- Heard about this & have never read anything on religion.  Caused quite a stir and I'd like to read why.

Jane Eyre- Charlotte Bronte- I saw a bunch of Collins classics stacked together and chose this & the next one.  Have always wanted to read JE.

Oliver Twist- Charles Dickens- To replace my mangled old copy

Girls Like Us- Sheila Weller- A biographical look at women of the 1960s and 1970s with a focus on 3 major musical acts of the time:  Carole King, Joni Mitchell & Carly Simon

Good in Bed- Jennifer Weiner- $10 at the general store.  I liked In Her Shoes (loved the movie more) and heard this was good as well.

I originally went out book shopping with a list of 4 books in mind.  Having not found any of them earlier, I stopped in Coles and got 3/4 from my list:

Under the Dome- Stephen King- I'm a King junkie as you can guess from earlier posts and I've heard from even the mildest of King fans that this is his latest hurrah.  At over 1000 pages, I'm sure this will take time to finish but I'm excited about it!

Freedom- Jonathan Franzen- Not thrilled to pay for a hardcover copy, but I'm anxious to try it.  No, not because it's Oprah's latest book club choice, but because I've heard it's a masterpiece and I want to believe that Franzen can write better characters than The Corrections, which I tried desperately to like but just couldn't relate to, even though I thought his writing style was quite good

Her Fearful Symmetry- Audrey Niffenegger- Like most readers, I was astounded by The Time Traveler's Wife and, even though not everyone thought HFS was the greatest follow-up, consider that writing something better than what many called "the perfect novel" (think also of Harper Lee & To Kill a Mockingbird), how can you not take risks in writing a follow-up novel?  I have high hopes that I will enjoy this, maybe not as much as TTW, but least enough to like it.  That's what I always hope for in reading anything!

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo- Stieg Larsson- Yes, I broke down and got it.  I was originally going to get Sh*t My Father Says by Justin Halperin, but decided to give this a try instead.  If it's as good a suspense yarn as I hear it is, it'll be worth the switch, and I'll try the next two titles in the series.

So, to wrap up, here's a lovely stack of today's purchases:

Just bee-you-teeful :oD