To reflect Christmas loot and a recent trip to Half-Price Bookshow I have missed that bookstore from DC, and how nice of them to welcome me home with an additional 20 percentoff saleI've updated the sidebar with some new books and music. Two of those books in particular I'm anxious to crack: Mimesis, which has been teasing me for so long that I'm embarrassed that I never read it earlier; and The Adventures of Augie March, a novel that causes Martin Amis and Christopher Hitchens to compete as to who can out-effuse the other in praising Saul Bellow for writing it.
A word on Half Price: It's a treasure no matter what, but may I submit that the Mesquite, Texas location might be less treasurable than some others. The "Philosophy/Religion," naturally enough, was more religion than philosophybut by about a 4:1 ratio, I'd wager. Two walls of books on religion? that spilled over into an entire religious display island? and weren't theology texts, mind you, but advice books for bringing the spirit of the Early Church into your customer service department or whatever? It was a bit much. By the time I was at the front counter behind a couple with a stack of books including Ann Coulter's How To Talk to a Liberal (If You Must) and the like, I thought we had crossed over into parody.
Posted by Kriston at December 27, 2004 11:17 PMI have a copy of Augie March sitting right next to me as I type; I've owned it for going on ten years now. How can I not have gotten past page five of a book that begins with a shoutout to my man Heraclitus?
Not that it's particularly relevant, but I once baked Saul Bellow a pie. Honest. (Strawberry, if you must know!)
Posted by: oodja at December 28, 2004 9:19 AMand weren't theology texts, mind you, but advice books for bringing the spirit of the Early Church into your customer service department or whatever?
My favorite are those Biblical Diet books. Not Kosher food, mind you, but "God's nutritional laws", "God-given foods" and obsessions with flax seed or whatnot.
Posted by: Chris Cagle at December 28, 2004 9:35 AMIt's just a reflection of the people that come in to sell their books. I like to go to the Austin location on the Drag and look at all the naughty "fine art" nude photography books.
Seriously, though, the art section at that location is a treasure trove for classy looking, but inexpensive, gifts for the aesthete in your life.
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Posted by: j.scott barnard at December 28, 2004 12:19 PMSidebar question: How's the Iron and Wine CD?
And Happy New Year!
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