My favourite Internet bookshop — not to be confused with my favourite physical bookshop — has this thing that’s a bit annoying. You can’t order stuff they don’t have in. So if it’s temporary out of stock, all you can do is put it on the watch-list. Which is nice in a way , there’s few “sorry, we can’t deliver this” messages. But on the other hand, how do they know which titles to prioritize? I hope they get a blip when you add something to the watch list, but I’m too cynical to believe that.

It would be nice to get that Francesca Woodman book for a decent price instead of needing to mortgage the kidney. Which apparently Amazon wants you to do. I like my kidneys. They are a part of me as well as protected by a sticky layer of blood.

Got new books and with that came the indecision. Which one to read first. This is always made a lot harder than it sounds, I wish it was only the new ones that mattered. It isn’t. All the old ones too, the ones unread, the ones to be reread, and now the new unread. Because it’s not just about one that fits the current reading mode, there are several sub-modes as well. How’s the weather, a soft depression, a hard depression, smilingly happy or just amused?

But I’ll think I’ll start with Sarah Vowell’s Take the Cannoli, because she’s Sarah Vowell and that’s enough for me.

What’s your book of the year?

sara1:

I’m book buying tomorrow.  So name me something you couldn’t put down. 

While I do agree about the awesomeness of Murakami, I’ll need to add onther book — or four. John Crowley wrote Ægypt, published as four books; [1] The Solitudes, [2] Love & Sleep, [3] Daemonomania, and [4] Endlsess Things. I’m in the midst of it myself (only on L& S), they are excellent and could be the best thing I’ve read in years.

Problem: got the new edition of John Crowley’s Ægypt (retitled The Solitudes) and an old hardcover of Dæmonomania. Now that the whole quartet is out in matching paperbacks, I think I should buy D again. To get that unifying look on the shelf. However. What bothers me is when I should replace it. After I got the other books or at the same time. If I read it first and then get the new edition, I’ll save some money for now. But then again, it’s not that expensive really. And there’s always the chance of them disappearing again — Crowley’s books rarely stays in print even though they deserve and should.

Five books I’m reading

1. Joy Division: Piece by Piece by Paul Morley
   Everything Morely wrote about Joy Division. I’ve just started but it’s rather good. Borrowed this one from Aron.
2. Being There: New Perspectives if Phenomenology and the Analysis of Culture by Frykman & Gilje (eds)
   Short book about things that ties into culture: theme parks, holidays, multiculturalism and such.
3. What You Make It by Michael Marshall Smith
   Science Fiction short stories. Mr Smith is excellent and has a rather dark imagination. I want to hug his brain.
4. Gender, Identity & Place by Linda McDowell
   This was a course book in cultural geography that I didn’t really read. Until now. Lots of things about work, street, and spaces within the city. Yeah, non-fiction about cities, boring to some but for me they’re… amazing and way way too interesting.
5. Cages by Dave McKean
   Graphic novel. Huge tome, and it’s one of my favorite works ever done in that medium. Reread.