i bought philip hoare's leviathan or, the whale a couple of days ago, and today i got the bell jar by sylvia plath (i have been intending to buy it for about a year now, i do things very slowly), and ordered the cheese and the worms by carlo ginzburg. i love browsing in bookshops (yes, even the big corporate chain ones), even (especially) when i don't have anything particular to search for; i like the messy rainbow of bookspines, the jumble of fonts, the little handwritten staff recommendations- alas, this only seems to be a feature of waterstones stores. plus, at the moment there is a cute guy working in my local (i talk of bookshops like they are pubs...oh dear) even if he does tuck his tshirt into his jeans. oh cute bookshop boy, why do you do that?
the only problem i have is that my local waterstones is far too small. when i say this, please bear in mind my slightly skewed version of small; after all, it has two floors, and i spent about 45 minutes milling around in there today...still, compared to the mammoth inner london stores, it is but a baby. i was fantastically pleased, therefore, to find out that i can use my giftcard ONLINE. i do not have to rely on the limited stock of the nearest waterstones. oh the wonders of the internet! i prompty ordered the book of other people, edited by zadie smith; i borrowed this from the library a while back and it is glorious, but apparantly not popular enough for my suburban waterstones.
have i mentioned waterstones enough to apply for advertising fees yet?
now i have nought to do but sit and await its arrival. let's hope royal mail doesn't lose it, or misdirect it, or decide that packages are far too much hassle to deliver because, you know, they're heavy and all.
this is what i wore today:
the little darling on the ladder is nemo. she is the loveliest, dribbliest little cat in the world.
Oooh, sounds like heaven. I went to a big Waterstones for my birthday last year and selected about 4 books...
ReplyDeleteAnd this month I have abused the system and spent my little sister's World Book Day voucher, her friend's World Book Day voucher... and so I got a couple of books this month again. Aaah, it's the best, isn't it?
Ooh and yay RE: the book of other people, I got that a few years ago because I loved the cover so much (tut tut) but I haven't read ALL of them yet. My favourite was the cartoonish one. Have you read them yet? Which is your favourite?
the book of other people came in the post today, so exciting. i think in this case you can make a legitimate argument for judging by cover- it is so so pretty.
ReplyDeletehaven't read them all, but i adore the one by chris ware (possibly the one you were talking about- it's graphic, about a boy whose mother dies). and i usually love anything by miranda july too.