onefixedstar (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
onefixedstar) wrote2004-06-04 03:55 pm
onefixedstar) wrote2004-06-04 03:55 pm
You can never have too many books
While cleaning out my apartment last month, I came across a $50 gift certificate for Chapters that I received from my MA advisor a couple of years ago when I first worked as his TA. Today I finally got around to wandering over to Chapters and asking if they would still honour the certificate. Lo and behold, they said it was fine, and so I got to go on a mini book buying spree!
My purchases:
1. Oryx and Crake, which looks like an interesting book although I'm still a little put off at Margaret Atwood's claim that it's not speculative fiction because it's based on scientific speculation and research. Mmm hmm. Because you know, no SF author has ever thought of doing research before writing a book.
2. The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker. I read it some time ago, and decided to buy so I could loan it out to other people.
3. The Princess Bride by William Goldman because I absolutely love the book. (I think the movie's good too, but I do prefer the book. Possibly because I read it first.)
4. Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers because AlexLit has repeatedly assured me that I'll like it.
5. A History of the Wife by Marilyn Yalom. The book is pretty much what the title suggests, from a thoroughly Western perspective. It starts with ancient Greece and Rome and moves on from there. Looks fascinating.
6. Asimov's Science Fiction because I have fondness for the SF magazines my father used to get when I was a kid (and which I would inevitably read before he got home from work), and because I'm curious about what's happening in the field these days.
So if you guesstimate the prices and add them all up (remembering that I'm paying the Canadian prices and 7% tax), you'll notice that in my eagerness to use up the gift certificate, I overshot the mark by just a little. Like, $20. Oops. I still didn't get everything I wanted, of course, so I think I may have to make a trip to my local library soon.
My purchases:
1. Oryx and Crake, which looks like an interesting book although I'm still a little put off at Margaret Atwood's claim that it's not speculative fiction because it's based on scientific speculation and research. Mmm hmm. Because you know, no SF author has ever thought of doing research before writing a book.
2. The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker. I read it some time ago, and decided to buy so I could loan it out to other people.
3. The Princess Bride by William Goldman because I absolutely love the book. (I think the movie's good too, but I do prefer the book. Possibly because I read it first.)
4. Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers because AlexLit has repeatedly assured me that I'll like it.
5. A History of the Wife by Marilyn Yalom. The book is pretty much what the title suggests, from a thoroughly Western perspective. It starts with ancient Greece and Rome and moves on from there. Looks fascinating.
6. Asimov's Science Fiction because I have fondness for the SF magazines my father used to get when I was a kid (and which I would inevitably read before he got home from work), and because I'm curious about what's happening in the field these days.
So if you guesstimate the prices and add them all up (remembering that I'm paying the Canadian prices and 7% tax), you'll notice that in my eagerness to use up the gift certificate, I overshot the mark by just a little. Like, $20. Oops. I still didn't get everything I wanted, of course, so I think I may have to make a trip to my local library soon.