I am a lucky bitch.
Okay, so for Shakespeare, we have to read one of four Elizabethan plays for monday. I chose 'Tis Pity She's a Whore. No, I didn't think you'd heard of it, so you can see where my problems of finding it come in.
Anyway, I ordered it off of Amazon about a month ago. Amazon and UPS say they delivered it about three weeks ago. Exactly a week after I ordered it. Too bad it never showed up. We've had packages stolen before, so this may have been one of those, but who would steal an $8 book?
So I did nothing for three weeks.
After said three weeks, two days before I need to have read this play, I decide to go get it.
Barnes and Noble is the closest real bookstore to my house, so I walk in there and ask the Information desk if they have it. Every version in their system is out of stock. Same with all of their other Houston locations. They also check the Bookstop on Shepherd, and again, no book.
So I got to Borders at the guy's suggestion, which is in the other direction but is the second closest bookstore chain. After doing valiant battle with their computer for about 15 minutes, I determine that no Borders store in the Houston area has it, either.
As a last ditch effort, I head for the wonderful, the eclectic Half Price Books. I check their Fiction section, then head on to the Drama section. Nothing by John Ford. At this point, I notice the "Drama Anthologies" shelf. Just one shelf, about a yard long. I see "Five Elizabethan Plays." Alas, that anothology contains both Volpone and Doctor Faustus, two of the other possibilities, but no 'Tis Pity She's a Whore. I consider giving up, buying the book and deciding between those two plays, but I keep checkign, until I find an old, falling-apart hardback called "Eight Famous Elizabethan Plays." This, too, has Volpone and Doctor Faustus, but the eighth famous Elizabethan play is 'Tis Pity She's a Whore.
So I have three of four of the possibilities in my possession. Hurrah for fake bookstores. And fifty five-year-old books.
Anyway, I ordered it off of Amazon about a month ago. Amazon and UPS say they delivered it about three weeks ago. Exactly a week after I ordered it. Too bad it never showed up. We've had packages stolen before, so this may have been one of those, but who would steal an $8 book?
So I did nothing for three weeks.
After said three weeks, two days before I need to have read this play, I decide to go get it.
Barnes and Noble is the closest real bookstore to my house, so I walk in there and ask the Information desk if they have it. Every version in their system is out of stock. Same with all of their other Houston locations. They also check the Bookstop on Shepherd, and again, no book.
So I got to Borders at the guy's suggestion, which is in the other direction but is the second closest bookstore chain. After doing valiant battle with their computer for about 15 minutes, I determine that no Borders store in the Houston area has it, either.
As a last ditch effort, I head for the wonderful, the eclectic Half Price Books. I check their Fiction section, then head on to the Drama section. Nothing by John Ford. At this point, I notice the "Drama Anthologies" shelf. Just one shelf, about a yard long. I see "Five Elizabethan Plays." Alas, that anothology contains both Volpone and Doctor Faustus, two of the other possibilities, but no 'Tis Pity She's a Whore. I consider giving up, buying the book and deciding between those two plays, but I keep checkign, until I find an old, falling-apart hardback called "Eight Famous Elizabethan Plays." This, too, has Volpone and Doctor Faustus, but the eighth famous Elizabethan play is 'Tis Pity She's a Whore.
So I have three of four of the possibilities in my possession. Hurrah for fake bookstores. And fifty five-year-old books.