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bookstore malaise
Jan. 7th, 2005 11:04 amlast night i bought nora: the real life of molly bloom, about nora joyce. it is proving to be just as good as i hoped it would be. (i just hope my absolute lack of knowledge on ulysses or finnegan's wake will not impair things down the road.) she is such a fascinating person, and author brenda maddox's style is very clear and well-researched and intimate. i get a sense of learning subtle secrets others haven't bothered to seek out.
in the bookstore, though, it was difficult to pick it out. (i seldom buy books, for a lot of silly reasons.) i spent a while aimlessly loitering near the new arrivals and poking through the biography section; i didn't even attempt to go to the fiction floor because i knew it would be too overwhelming. without a specific recommended book to look for, i tend to get suspicious of every book i see. it may be critically acclaimed by paid-off hacks, it may be a prize-winner/nominee or a classic and yet still dull & awful. what if i don't like it? what if i wouldn't want to be seen reading it? what if i am misled by the few pages i skim? what if it's a waste of my twenty bucks? it's very frustrating. i find it very easy to hate bookstores, distrusting their offerings & suspicious of any choice that i may have been led into making.
in the bookstore, though, it was difficult to pick it out. (i seldom buy books, for a lot of silly reasons.) i spent a while aimlessly loitering near the new arrivals and poking through the biography section; i didn't even attempt to go to the fiction floor because i knew it would be too overwhelming. without a specific recommended book to look for, i tend to get suspicious of every book i see. it may be critically acclaimed by paid-off hacks, it may be a prize-winner/nominee or a classic and yet still dull & awful. what if i don't like it? what if i wouldn't want to be seen reading it? what if i am misled by the few pages i skim? what if it's a waste of my twenty bucks? it's very frustrating. i find it very easy to hate bookstores, distrusting their offerings & suspicious of any choice that i may have been led into making.
