Friday, October 20, 2006
Last night I finished The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee, which I wanted to like a lot more than I actually did. I don't know what it was that put me off. I enjoyed the history parts for the most part, especially the section on Shakespeare & Co. in Paris, but all that made me want to do was read a book specifically on that. There has to be one on S&C, right? I thought I remembered one coming out not too long ago. Excuse me while I go do a bit of research... bingo! Time Was Soft There. Aaaaaaand it's on its way to me from Berkeley Public. Sweet! ANYWAY. I didn't mind the bits on the different bookstores he worked in or the parts about being a sales rep or anything, they just didn't strike a chord with me. Perhaps it was because of this sentence, toward the beginning of the book: "The problem with libraries, I discovered, was that two weeks later, I'd have to load up the bike and, with a sense of loss, return the books." That was so different from my reaction to libraries that I could tell we would never have a real meeting of the minds. For me, libraries represented near-infinite possibilities, free and available to all, whereas with bookstores I was limited by the amount of money I had. Or didn't have, as was usually the case. Plus, while I love any and all bookstores and will hit one whenever possible, my particular love is reserved for used bookstores, but they don't figure much in his experience. Seriously, a visit to Las Vegas isn't complete without 1) seeing my family 2) seeing my best friend and 3) going to Dead Poet Books, my absolute favorite used bookstore. So, overall the book was okay, but I was disappointed I didn't make much of a connection with it.
|
Comments:
Post a Comment
