Book Shopping

Although I love shopping at Barnes and Noble and I can’t recall the last time I left without at least one or two new books, I also love buying used books. Waverly, IA has some great little stores if you want to pick up a bunch of books for a really low price. I just went to Trinkets and Togs and Half Off Stuff with my friend and perused the books for a nice long while. I walked away with over 20 books for under $6.

Some of the titles (for myself) include: The Brothers Karamazov (Dostoyevsky), Shinju (Rowland), The Silmarillion (Tolkien), Shan (Lustbader) — this is actually a sequel, so I’ll have to find the first book, and a cute book titled, Dog (Pennac). When books are so cheap, I can’t help myself.

Wish Christmas right around the corner, I just couldn’t resist buying my 2.5-year-old niece even more books than I bought myself. This includes 3 Clifford the Big Red Dog books, a book about the possible existence of alien life, a book about the changing seasons, four little golden books (originals! None of those flimsy new ones), a book of words, and a pop-up of the classic Three Little Pigs story.

I love buying ridiculous amounts of books for ridiculously low prices. Garage sales with books are like heaven for me. I also plan to look into the Goodwill in town after the holiday break from school.

My only question is, why do people get rid of books?! Even if I have a book I don’t particularly like, I will either keep it anyway or give it to someone I think might enjoy it. Is it just me that thinks it is strange to give away books? I suppose you can look at it as a smart donation. What do you think?

Favorite Quotes

I thought I would start off Wednesday with some nice thoughts about literature, and what better way to do so than to use others’ words? Here are some of my favorite literary quotes.

“There is no surer foundation for a beautiful friendship than a mutual taste in literature.”
― P.G. Wodehouse

“I try to leave out the parts that people skip.”
― Elmore Leonard

“Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisioned by the enemy, don’t we consider it his duty to escape?. . .If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we’re partisans of liberty, then it’s our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!”
― J.R.R. Tolkien

“Do you realize that all great literature is all about what a bummer it is to be a human being? Isn’t it such a relief to have somebody say that?”
― Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country

“Everywhere I go I’m asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don’t stifle enough of them. There’s many a best-seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.”
― Flannery O’Connor

“Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.”
― Mark Twain

I also thought I would include this sad Cracked.com article. It lists reasons we are in a new book-burning period. It’s sad to admit, but I feel like it’s true.

http://www.cracked.com/article_19453_6-reasons-were-in-another-book-burning-period-in-history.html?wa_user1=3&wa_user2=Weird+World&wa_user3=article&wa_user4=feature_module