Change Is Inevitable...

Change may be inevitable, but that does not mean that I have to support it, especially when it comes to my favorite book store!

I have never been much of a religious person, and the closest thing I've ever had to a religious experience would be reading a really fantastic book. Becuase of this, I have often considered Borders to be somewhat of a church, a religious place containing all of the things I love in this world - good coffee, good books, and a generally signifigant amount of intelligent people. Yes, Borders is a corporation, much like Starbucks, but hey - when it comes to a book store with big chairs and the ability to read all day if you'd like, I have to go with what I have!

So today, I made a trip to my lovely neighborhood Borders to find that NOTHING WAS IN THE RIGHT PLACE! I had ventured forth from the enclave of my house (where I've been cooped up all day doing research on the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo for my Latin American Studies class) in the efforts to buy a book I've been dreaming about buying since I heard it hit the shelves. I made my way to where the music books used to be, so that I could pick up Out of Sync, the new Lance Bass autobiography, and hustle to the cashier, not looking him to the eye as I buy my less-than-literary selection. However, half way to where the music section was, I found myself knee-deep in manga! Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against manga, it just wasn't what I was looking for. So, as I began to wander around the store in search of my beloved selection, I realized that fiction had taken the location of travel books, that poetry and plays had been replaced by magazines, and that the craft book section seems to have disappeard to some alternate universe, accessable only by someone with a laminated Borders lanyard. Damn them! And, to add salt to the wound, by the time I found the book I had been searching for, it was offered only in hardback and rang in at over $25. Now, I love books, and I love *Nsync, but even my love for the two of these combined was not enough for me to sacrifice what was basically left of my bank account. In order to console myself, I headed over to Half-Price Books (where the enviornment and selection is decidedly subpar, but the prices are much more up my alley) and puchased a book of function and a book of desire. I was able to find the Oxford Complete Spanish Dictionary (although an edition or two old) for six dollars, and copy of The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory.

The first book, of course, is merely to serve me well in my upcoming Spanish classes. The Other Boleyn Girl, however, is being made in to a movie sometime fairly soon, and having read a few other Philippa Gregory novels (The Constant Princess, The Queen's Fool) I decided to give this one a try. When I was younger, I went through a phase where I could have sworn that I should have been born in the Renaissance. Forget the lauge, the unfair treament of women, or my hatered of being dirty, all I wanted was a royal court, a pretty gown, and a pony to ride. And all of this, I figured, could have been given to me in that time. Gregory's novels have given me the chance to go back to that time and to, in fact, live there, even if it is for only 600 pages or so. The only complaint I ususally have about Gregory is that her stories, being so long, tend to lag a little in the middle. So, honestly, consider this buy to have been based merely on the fact that there is a movie coming out, starring none other that Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, and Jim Sturgess (who stole my heart in Across the Universe and has yet to give it back!). We'll just have to hope that it works out for the best.

Because I have been suffering from a severe lack of funds as of late (I blame the whole not having a job thing, but who knows!) I've been making much better use of the library as of late. On my desk right now, just waiting to be read, are Girl, Interrupted, Lake of Dead Languages, Tristram Shandy, Lolita, and Like Water for Chocolate. Please don't ask when I'm going to have time to read them, because honeslty, I have no idea either, but I promise that they will be read sooner or later!

And now, because I'm techincally obliged to do so, as a self-described goer to the Church of Books, I'm going to go stew in my anger towards Borders while enjoying The Other Boleyn Girl.

BookMaven