It is about now that many may prefer to regale you with stories of: egg hunts, purple peeps beheaded then consumed, nasty-yet-yummy Cadbury eggs (with the yoke center!) that made them sick or worse, horrible-for-the-environment fake plastic grass, plastic eggs filled with chocolate eggs in big plastic baskets...you get the idea. I, however, have taken the road less covered with pink sugar and frosting. In a vain attempt to pick up Los Angeles Noir (how can you have a reading next week when the book doesn't come out until May? And why don't I have an advanced copy? Someone? Anyone?) at a Closed-for-Easter-Vroman's, I found my way back to my one true love (as I've clearly got to move on): Book Alley. The independent, used bookstore of my dreams. Well, really that was Black Oak Books in Berkeley which is now closed and which I no longer live anywhere close to, being in LA and all. I digress.
Book Alley. The perfect used bookstore in every way: old-smelling but not musty, creaky but not creepy. Big, vast, upstairs and downstairs. Stacks of books on the floor that always contain surprising gems. I popped in thinking I'd do a quick check for the few things I always check for (I'm a Barnes -Julian not Djuana- completist and a Vintage whore...more on these peculiarities to come in future posts) and then be on my way. But alas, hours later, I've returned home with my own Easter spoils:
- The Road by Cormac McCarthy (hardcover! without the Oprah sticker!)
- One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson (ARC!)
- Gain by Richard Powers
- dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany
- Our Ecstatic Days by Steve Erickson
- Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson (timely, no?)
- Coming Through Slaughter by Michael Ondaatje (Vintage International edition!)
- Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje (Vintage International edition!)
- Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai
- The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toibin (terribly convenient since I've had this listed in my reading column but haven't been able to find it in ANY bookstores...new or used.)
There. You see? Delicious Easter spoils can be had if you know where to hunt...