A Huge Day Off





Feeling all conspicuosly cool.

I remember as a kid, reading the Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, how
the hero would sometimes say to Little John something along the lines of... how about we split up and you take this road and I'll take the other and we'll meet back here tomorrow and compare stories.

Well that's kind of how I felt today... I had a plan but didn't really know where anything would take me or what would go wrong or what would happen. I thought about inviting one or two accomplices but in the end thought it would be more adventurous if I went solo.

First stop was the Banyan Tree restaurant in Kent where I know one of the prettiest waitresses, Pirawan, in the northwest and she's very sweet to me... welcoming me with a big hug and hooking me up with a great table on the patio and garlic fried rice with tofu. I sat there reading a few pages from the three books I happen to be reading currently. Wrote in my journal a few lines and soon was on my way again.


Next stop was Magus Books where I found, at last, a nice collector's edition of Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. The staff was friendly and helpful. They let me step behind the counter to get a better view of some their rare books... stipulating only that I might have customers asking me where to find things... in which capacity I supposed I might not be entirely useless.

This isn't me... no really... it isn't me at all.

From there I drove to Metsker Maps in the Pike Place Market part of Seattle... I didn't buy anything there but found a map I liked... a Shakespearean map of England depicting the locations where each of his plays was supposed to have been set. Here... a picture of it....



You can't see, but there are Henry's and Richards all over this map.

Getting out of Seattle is always daunting and today was no different, but I reminded myself I was merely having a fun day off and restricted all stress to a minimum... and it didn't hurt my cause at all when I arrived at A Terrible Beauty ~ Pub in Renton. Very congenial hostess found me a low table right in front of the bar and the live music... a bard playing his heart out. I ordered a large sandwich stuffed full of salad... and a Touchdown which I'm given to understand contains vodka mandarin and red bull. Definitely approved of the ambience.

Once again I'm compelled to insist... this isn't me.

By this time it was 7pm and I made my way over to Half-Price Books... not the one in Tacoma that I know so well but the one in South Center where I could count on seeing some variety in the selections with which I might be less acquainted. And I did find four novels I could not leave without... one of them, One Hundred Years of Solitude had been read by the cashier and she assured me that it had blown her mind... so... I shall simply have to read it sooner than later. That's how that works. I spend so much of my time bumping books to the top of my list... The next one I read will be.... who knows!



On the left the two books I procured from Magus, in the middle the three books I'm reading now, on the right the four books I will read someday.

To finish off my evening I went to a cinema in Federal Way that shows movies which have been out long enough now that they can charge only $2 for them... the movie I came to see wasn't beginning for about 45 minutes so I stepped into Coldstone and enjoyed a huge milk and cookies milkshake while reading a few pages from Dune. Then finally went to see Snow White and the Huntsman which I liked but didn't love insanely... not sure yet where to place it on my list of favorite films... it's easier to understand than Immortals but not quite so perfect as A Knight's Tale.

On the last leg of my journey home I realized my weekend was only half over. That's an awesome feeling. Thanks for sharing it with me!

Irresistible and Almost Ominous Book Titles

One of the best reasons to read a book is just because you like the title.  I've compiled here a list of book titles that intrigue me and make me want to read more even if I have no idea what the book is about.

Remembrance of Things Past

By Marcel Proust.  This is actually a series of about six books and the more modern translation of the title is In Search of Lost Time.  I read the first two installments, Swann's Way and Within a Budding Grove, and both were tragically sleep inducing though obviously works of genius... not as horrible as Ulysses or anything, but they'll never be found snooping around my list of favorite reads.

Bastard Out of Carolina

By Dorothy Allison.  Never read it but I did see the movie and it was both compelling and difficult to stomach in the same way The Color Purple just terrifies you as you stare into the face of humanity and wish like hell you could look away.

A Confederacy of Dunces

By John Kennedy Toole.  I think I'm automatically fascinated with titles that deprecate their own characters as bastards and dunces.  This author left his manuscript in a box under his bed where it was found and published only after he'd already killed himself.  Of course it proceeded to win a Pulitzer Prize.

Stranger in a Strange Land

By Robert Heinlein.  Haven't read this Sci-fi landmark yet, but I will... currently bidding $80 on EbAY for a leather bound copy published by Easton Press.  Only four hours to go.

A Lesson Before Dying

By Ernest J. Gaines.  Haven't read it and have no idea what it's about, but I know I will read it someday.... Notice how none of the books on this list so far contain less than four words in the title.

Love in the Time of Cholera

By Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  Haven't read this one yet, but it did win a Nobel Prize.

Their Eyes Were Watcing God

By Zora Neale Hurston.  I would have read this one just for the title but in actuality it was featured in a book discussion group I regularly participate in.  And I enjoyed it.

The Once and Future King

By T.H. White.  Addressing the Arthurian legend but not as enjoyable for me as Jack Whyte's effort... or Mary Stewart's or Marion Zimmer Bradley's, but still my favorite title for this immensely important and sophisticated story. 

East of Eden

By John Steinbeck.  He also blows me away with another title, Winter of Our Discontent.

The Moon and Sixpence

By W. Somerset Maugham.  Haven't read this one and am not positive that I ever will... though I loved Of Human Bondage by the same author.  But the haunting title is irresistibly provocative...so someday perhaps.