Day 46-- I love bookstores

In my post-Harry Potter depression (I still get chocked up just thinking about it) I've been even more withdrawn than usual.  On the beach today I got another "you need to get your shit together" lecture from my boyfriend over the fact that I've been here for 6 weeks without a job, a place of my own to live, and no friends.  Mini argument later...and I packed up my notebook and laptop and headed off to the books.

Some people have church, some people have home, I have bookstores. No matter my mood or shit going on in my life, if I enter the sanctuary of a large bookstore I can be anyone else.  I can be a person of culture in the art or history section.  I can be a person of adventure in the travel section.  I can be moody in the poetry aisle.  Maybe I'm breezy and find myself in the chick lit or teen rows.  On an average day I'm in the buy one, get one 50% off table, balancing all of my personalities to find two that fit me.

Today was particularly productive.  First up was the Reference Section for books about the book publishing industry.  Since the internet was so piss-poor and I wasn't able to research the book publishers (all 2) in San Diego, so I decided that a general knowledge of the industry as a whole would be helpful.  

Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, and Literary Agents [2011] is a mammoth reference guide and first rate. It's about 1,000+ pages and sectioned off by Conglomerate Book Publishers, Independent Book Publishers, University Book Publishers, Literary Agent profiles and questionaires, and some more helpful hints for budding authors.  

The publishing houses are labeled with location, editor names, what they've published, what genres they publish in, and if the info is available, how big their staff is.  The literary agents are profiled similarly in who the agent has published, who they work for, what genres they are looking for, and tips in how to contact them.  Overall, it's an extremely usual book for writers and wannabe publishers alike.

From there I started browsing Amy Einsom's The Copyeditor's Handbook, which is a refresher on all things grammar, as well as tips on how to edit with comments both on paper and through word docs.  I think I'll review my Elements of Style before I buy this one. 

I also glanced through Publishing in Magazines for Dummies, which provides tips for freelance writing.  Most of it was info I learned in college, but the query letter forms are something I don't remember.

I needed a break so I  headed to the cooking section.  I am in deep lust with cookie books these days.  As I said in a previous entry, I do not understand why so many cookbooks don't include pictures of the finished product.  Seriously, why?  This is why I love Southern Living's Best Loved Cookies.  There is a picture for every cookie, and it only contains 50 recipes.  I tend to prefer smaller cookbooks, for it's more of a goal to bake all of them.  For example, would you be more inclined to learn 30-50 new words by owning a dictionary with 10,000 words or a small word-a-day book?  Exactly.

Then again...Taste of Home: Cookies (620 recipes) looked pretty tasty too.  Honestly I'd make 400 of those cookies.  The book also has a brownie, bar, and holiday section.  This Lemon Basil Butter Cookies caught my eye since my basil plant has been sitting outside all lonely.

Next up was the best-selling fiction section.  After reading Tana French's In the Woods, I've been wanting to read her new Faithful Place book.  This would be her 4th book so I imagine that her suspense is just as good or better than Woods, and hopefully she's learned some things about characterization.

I have two book traditions I've upheld fairly decently: (1) I read a Chuck Klosterman or Jon Krakauer book every summer and (2) I read an assigned-reading classic.  Krakauer doesn't have anything new, and the bookstore was out of Dying to Live: a 85% True Story, so I didn't leave with one of them.  I was in between buying The Red Badge of Courage or To Kill a Mockingbird.  I'll probably go with Mockingbird next time the store coupon is better.

As I continued to peruse the store I stumbled upon some stationary/goodies that for once I actually like.  I tend to have a thing against that shit since it's always overpriced and non-book related, but this stuff I'd actually want (for about $10 cheaper).  

Talk about brilliant capitalism, Paddywax have these soy candles based on famous authors.  There's the Walt Whitman candle (grass, thyme, and red clover), the Jane Austen candle (gardenia, tuberose,and jasmine), the Edgar Allen Poe candle (cardamom, absynthe, and sandalwood), and the Oscar Wilde candle (cedarwood, thyme, and basil). I was pretty much in love with Poe's scent, and gardenias in Austen's scent are my favorite smelling flower.

I also spotted some vintage magnets and postcards on the table that wouldn't mind having.


And so my trip to the bookstore was winding down and I found myself in sitting down in Poetry reading some Plath.  I'm a huge fan of Plath, though I only own her Bell Jar and a few selected poems.  She's frightfully brutal in her imagery, but given her state of mind I honestly believe that she felt the horror versus writer who use shock for shock's sake. 

Well this entry sure is long and doesn't much, lol.  Anyway, that was my trip to the bookstore.