Reading matter quandary

[fire_everything]

After a month’s worth of distractions and interruptions, I reached the end of Richard Price’s Clockers on the train this morning. Price is excellent, and he’s a New York writer (in subject matter, I mean, not residence). I’ll be reading more of him; I may even finally see The Color of Money because of him. What’s more, I can now finally see the film adaptation of Clockers, only fifteen years after it was released. Sorry about that, Spike.

This also means that new reading matter needs to be obtained at lunchtime. Not that I don’t have at least fifty unread books at home, but that’s not how these things work. It just isn’t their time, you know?

The candidates for lunchtime literary procurement are Eat Pray Love (if you’re rolling your eyes right now, I understand) and Harry Potter y la Piedra Filosofal. Below is a comparative study of the pros and cons of each choice.



I think the cover design actually deserves a bit of the credit for the commercial success of this book.

Eat Pray Love
Pros

• Could finally develop an informed, independent opinion on the EPL phenomenon
• Am interested in how Gilbert’s thought process leading to the decision not to have children compares to my own
• If I start it now, could see the adaptation after the opening weekend crowds have dissipated but before it leaves theaters, and given the utter stasis of my Netflix queue lately, theater viewings are a movie’s only sure alternative to the void
• Attractive cover, supple binding
• Borders is ten minutes away and the book is undoubtedly on display within ten feet of the door

Cons

• Looking like a walking gender cliché on the subway
• Looking like a literary lemming on the subway
• Providing free advertising for the book/movie on the subway

How could they possibly let a bad Spanish translation happen? It's only the second or third largest market in the world, you know?

Harry Potter y la Piedra Filosofal
Pros

• Would help my Spanish reading skills (and, if I read it aloud, oral skills) not to languish between now and the start of fall classes on August 26th
• Might provide factual and/or spiritual assistance in the writing of my Snape fic (now due to the Marauder Big Bang mods on September 10)
• Would provide an amusing spectacle for my fellow subway riders
• It’s Harry Potter

Cons

• Several Amazon reviews cast deep doubt on the quality of the translation. Unless there is some entrenched Latin American cultural antipathy toward the keeping of toads as pets that I’m unaware of, it is very worrisome to learn that in this translation, Trevor is a turtle.
• The nearest library branch that has it is 30 blocks away, so I’d have to get on the subway, then actually remember how to use the Dewey decimal system in order to locate it
• I don’t know where the Spanish section of Borders is, and finding it would likely mean getting sucked deep into the bowels of the store. Then again, I probably ought to learn where the Spanish section is for future reference.

I’m leaning toward the Gilbert, but if Borders has Piedra filosofal too, the indecision may persist until the evening commute. I welcome flist-y input and persuasion.