(no subject)
It was nice out again today - not quite as warm as yesterday, I don't think, but still good weather for being outside. I had a couple of things to post so I went into town again, only this time I remembered to take my Waterstones giftcards that I still had from Christmas. Well, technically only one of them was mine; the other was my dad's, but I bought it off him seeing as he doesn't really shop in Waterstones. I'd been keeping them because I couldn't think of anything in particular that I wanted, but then last night I remembered I've been meaning to buy The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. I borrowed it off someone a couple of years back and really enjoyed it, but never got round to getting a copy for myself.
SO off I went early this afternoon, intending to do my shopping, post my stuff, pick up my train tickets for going home next week, then return to my flat and work on my essays. My time in Waterstones was pretty amusing. To use the Highcross entrance, you go down an escalator into the store. So down I went wondering to myself how I was going to find this particular book (I wasn't sure if it would come under 'fiction arranged alphabetically by author' or what. Plus I hadn't been in Waterstones for a while and couldn't remember its layout) BUT as luck would have it, as I neared the foot of the escalator I happened to see a Kate Morton book on the shelf directly opposite me. So I trundled over to it and found the one I wanted to get, then thought I would browse the fiction area in case I found something else that caught my eye. Next to The Forgotten Garden I saw a book called The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse, so I pulled that down for a look. Admittedly I saw the Kate Mo-- of the author's name and thought it was another Morton book, which is the only reason I wanted to read the blurb.
Imagine my surprise when said blurb informed me that the brother of one of the main characters had fought (and died) in the First World War. This vaguely amused me and I debated buying it, but after flicking through it I decided it didn't actually look that interesting so I put it back. Then I picked out another book (The Summer House by Mary Nichols), turned it over...and it was another book vaguely to do with WW1! At this point I was a bit creeped out and texted sascharin all WHAT ARE THE ODDS THAT THE FIRST TWO BOOKS I RANDOMLY PICK OUT JUST HAPPEN TO BE ABOUT WW1. I'M NOT EVEN IN THE MILITARY SECTION \;A;/
...She just laughed :| We continued our text conversation and I carried on browsing, when what should happen? If you guessed, "Laney somehow managed to pick out yet another war book TOTALLY UNINTENTIONALLY" you'd be right. I can't remember what the title was now, it was something pretty vague and not obviously war-related (something to do with sand, I think), but I turned it over and the blurb began with "The First World War is raging in Europe." I was just like MICHAEL I DID IT AGAIN \;D;/ Seriously, it was so bizarre. At this point I was like FINE, I WILL JUST GO OVER TO THE MILITARY SECTION. AT LEAST THAT WAY IT WON'T BE STRANGE WHEN I PICK OUT A WAR BOOK :|;;;;
Of course then the only problem was that I was like I WANT THEM ALL ;o; I must have spent a good ten, fifteen minutes trying to decide what one to get. Eventually it was a toss up between a book of interviews with veterans regarding the Armistice, which I thought could be pretty interesting, and For Love and Courage which is a book of letters written by this soldier who was killed in 1917 (extra moment of lulz: "He was shot through the heart,..." <-- just as I read this, 'You Give Love a Bad Name' started playing on my ipod and I cracked up, then felt bad for laughing). Both books a) sounded awesome and b) could be used as research for my portfolio, but I couldn't really afford to buy both. Eventually I decided to go for the letters because it was the cheaper one. Also it'll probably be the most helpful out of the two for my story.
SO THAT WAS MY DAY. I think I've abused the word "so" in this entry XD;
ETA: Oh yeah, I forgot to say: I had £25 worth of gift vouchers. My three books came to £24.97. So my gift card was returned to me with 3 pence left on it :|;;;; So pointless.
SO off I went early this afternoon, intending to do my shopping, post my stuff, pick up my train tickets for going home next week, then return to my flat and work on my essays. My time in Waterstones was pretty amusing. To use the Highcross entrance, you go down an escalator into the store. So down I went wondering to myself how I was going to find this particular book (I wasn't sure if it would come under 'fiction arranged alphabetically by author' or what. Plus I hadn't been in Waterstones for a while and couldn't remember its layout) BUT as luck would have it, as I neared the foot of the escalator I happened to see a Kate Morton book on the shelf directly opposite me. So I trundled over to it and found the one I wanted to get, then thought I would browse the fiction area in case I found something else that caught my eye. Next to The Forgotten Garden I saw a book called The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse, so I pulled that down for a look. Admittedly I saw the Kate Mo-- of the author's name and thought it was another Morton book, which is the only reason I wanted to read the blurb.
Imagine my surprise when said blurb informed me that the brother of one of the main characters had fought (and died) in the First World War. This vaguely amused me and I debated buying it, but after flicking through it I decided it didn't actually look that interesting so I put it back. Then I picked out another book (The Summer House by Mary Nichols), turned it over...and it was another book vaguely to do with WW1! At this point I was a bit creeped out and texted sascharin all WHAT ARE THE ODDS THAT THE FIRST TWO BOOKS I RANDOMLY PICK OUT JUST HAPPEN TO BE ABOUT WW1. I'M NOT EVEN IN THE MILITARY SECTION \;A;/
...She just laughed :| We continued our text conversation and I carried on browsing, when what should happen? If you guessed, "Laney somehow managed to pick out yet another war book TOTALLY UNINTENTIONALLY" you'd be right. I can't remember what the title was now, it was something pretty vague and not obviously war-related (something to do with sand, I think), but I turned it over and the blurb began with "The First World War is raging in Europe." I was just like MICHAEL I DID IT AGAIN \;D;/ Seriously, it was so bizarre. At this point I was like FINE, I WILL JUST GO OVER TO THE MILITARY SECTION. AT LEAST THAT WAY IT WON'T BE STRANGE WHEN I PICK OUT A WAR BOOK :|;;;;
Of course then the only problem was that I was like I WANT THEM ALL ;o; I must have spent a good ten, fifteen minutes trying to decide what one to get. Eventually it was a toss up between a book of interviews with veterans regarding the Armistice, which I thought could be pretty interesting, and For Love and Courage which is a book of letters written by this soldier who was killed in 1917 (extra moment of lulz: "He was shot through the heart,..." <-- just as I read this, 'You Give Love a Bad Name' started playing on my ipod and I cracked up, then felt bad for laughing). Both books a) sounded awesome and b) could be used as research for my portfolio, but I couldn't really afford to buy both. Eventually I decided to go for the letters because it was the cheaper one. Also it'll probably be the most helpful out of the two for my story.
SO THAT WAS MY DAY. I think I've abused the word "so" in this entry XD;
ETA: Oh yeah, I forgot to say: I had £25 worth of gift vouchers. My three books came to £24.97. So my gift card was returned to me with 3 pence left on it :|;;;; So pointless.