NYC and book loot from the Strand and B&N
Argh, have just found out that LJ is still not emailing me all my comments! Grrrr.
But... Yay! I have made my very first gingerbread house ever, with much help from cychi, who I made do the icing. It is ugly and lopsided and completely, disgustingly packed with candy, but now I feel all holiday traditional! Well, as much as you can get with a prefabricated gingerbread house kit from Costco. But I care not! Plus, have never made one before ^_^. (Also, the front has a frightening resemblance to a spider's face. I am not quite sure how this happened.)
Am still somewhat missing New York and visiting people and crashing at my sister's apartment, and all that happy holiday stuff. It was also just nice being in the city itself again; four years of college in New Jersey, and I'd grown to think of New York as The City. I didn't get to go there as often as I liked, just enough to pretend that I actually knew where I was going and the like. Also, I just like cities. I like figuring out the subway and the bus systems, and I like digging around in all the nooks and crannies.
New York was grey and dirty and much taller than San Francisco, which is cloudy but pastel and ornate. There's more honking and more biting wind. And I don't care, because I love it, from the clanking subway cars that come to screeching halts to the crowded streets. I seriously contemplated moving there for a few hours (mostly while I was at Chikalicious and the Strand and coffeeandink and my sister's apartments), but promptly reconsidered the second I stepped outside. I don't deal well with the cold.
I felt all happy because after a day being completely confused by what was where, I went around and felt all New-Yorker-y because I was walking around really fast and dodging people and avoiding eye contact! Of course, the fact that this excited me probably already disqualifies me from New-Yorker-dom ;).
And now... book loot!
Wah, now that I have typed this all up, all I can think about are the poor books that made their sad way to my cull pile =(. Oh well. The library calls!
After seeing coffeeandink's book-filled house, I am now inspired to fit in even more bookcases! fannishly and I sort of went through the living room and figured that we could fit in three more bookcases or so, and I think I can fit more shallow media cases for manga or mass markets in my bedroom. Ha! And! I shall copy Mely and use my kitchen cabinets too!
This is probably a good thing, because I just found out that the library sale is this weekend! My public library always has things in pretty good condition. I am planning on going twice, once for stuff I actually want and once for the bag sale.
Why, yes, Bob, I did indeed buy over twenty books this weekend. I do not understand what this has to do with anything ;).
But... Yay! I have made my very first gingerbread house ever, with much help from cychi, who I made do the icing. It is ugly and lopsided and completely, disgustingly packed with candy, but now I feel all holiday traditional! Well, as much as you can get with a prefabricated gingerbread house kit from Costco. But I care not! Plus, have never made one before ^_^. (Also, the front has a frightening resemblance to a spider's face. I am not quite sure how this happened.)
Am still somewhat missing New York and visiting people and crashing at my sister's apartment, and all that happy holiday stuff. It was also just nice being in the city itself again; four years of college in New Jersey, and I'd grown to think of New York as The City. I didn't get to go there as often as I liked, just enough to pretend that I actually knew where I was going and the like. Also, I just like cities. I like figuring out the subway and the bus systems, and I like digging around in all the nooks and crannies.
New York was grey and dirty and much taller than San Francisco, which is cloudy but pastel and ornate. There's more honking and more biting wind. And I don't care, because I love it, from the clanking subway cars that come to screeching halts to the crowded streets. I seriously contemplated moving there for a few hours (mostly while I was at Chikalicious and the Strand and coffeeandink and my sister's apartments), but promptly reconsidered the second I stepped outside. I don't deal well with the cold.
I felt all happy because after a day being completely confused by what was where, I went around and felt all New-Yorker-y because I was walking around really fast and dodging people and avoiding eye contact! Of course, the fact that this excited me probably already disqualifies me from New-Yorker-dom ;).
And now... book loot!
- Peter Dickinson, Eva - Mely made me. Well, ok, and I've heard it was really good. Not that I didn't get a ton of books anyway just because Mely said they were good.
- Scott Westerfeld, Evolution's Darling, So Yesterday, and Pretties - Pretties I got new because I am impatient. But... yay, more Scott Westerfeld! I sat amazed listening to coffeeandink and geekturnedvamp talking about meeting Westerfeld and Justine Larbeleister and etc.
- Caroline Stevermer, River Rats - totally overlooked this at the Strand first time round, but luckily, after seeing geekturnedvamp snatch it, I ran back up and got the last copy, muhahahaha!
- Sakura Tsukuba, Land of the Blindfolded, vol. 1 (manga) - Mely's rec ;). I suspect "Mely's rec" will be a very common theme going forward, which is why LJ is such a wonderful, wonderful place to be.
- Diana Preston, The Boxer Rebellion - mostly I want to know more about this because of "Fool for Love" and "Darla." TV very good for education ;).
- Marguerite Yourcenar, A Coin in Nine Hands - Mely's rec (also, the whole thing about people's stories united only by a coin and the setting of Mussolini's Italy rocks)
- Shimizu Aki, Qwan, vol. 1 (manga) - Mely's rec. Also, ancient Chinese fantasy!
- Emma Donoghue, Life Mask - because I adore Kissing the Witch and haven't read any other Donoghue.
- Evangeline Walton, The Island of the Mighty - Mely's rec.
- Bryan Lee O'Malley, Scott Pilgrim, vol. 1 (manga) - Mely's rec. Also, it was one of the only few English language manga rachelmanija recced.
- Adele Geras, The Tower Room and Pictures of the Night - two YA novels based on fairy tales, set in a boarding school. I already have Watching the Roses and have been looking for these for a while! I suspect they will be horribly depressing and really cracktastic, but who cares! Fairy tale retellings!
- Gillian Bradshaw, The Beacon at Alexandria - Mely's rec. Also, I remember rilina going on a Bradshaw streak a while back.
- Roger Zelazny, The Dream Master - Mely's rec. I am woefully underread in sci-fi, mostly because people used to just rec me hard sci-fi and I got a bit bored with Asimov (I know, I know...).
- Watase Yuu, Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden, vols. 1-2 (manga) - both Mely and Rachel mentioned it, and I have very little willpower when confronted with pretty manga.
- Mary Jo Putney, Dancing on the Wind - attempt #6 at getting a Putney that I am a) not lukewram toward and b) do not want to chuck against a wall.
- Arturo Perez-Reverte, The Queen of the South - I was going to say "historical fiction for a dollar" until I just read the back and realized it might not be historical fiction. Um... right.
- Jeff Vandermeer, Veniss Underground - Sort of Mely's rec... she didn't like it, but her review was so interesting that I got it anyway.
- Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber - because I haven't actually read any of Angela Carter, despite hunting down tons of fairy tale retellings. I am woefully underread?
- Gardner Dozois, Strangers - the poor thing almost made its way to my cull pile, despite being a Mely rec (many things were randomly culled because my wallet was getting too thin and my basket was getting too heavy), until oracne jumped in and seconded it.
- Sylvia Townsend Warner, The Corner That Held Them - Mely rec! Plus, nuns.
- Yazawa Ai, Nana, vol. 1 (manga) - I support my favorite mangaka! And my favorite series! Everyone else should too!
- Ed. John Ferrone, The Armchair James Beard - food essays for five dollars!
Wah, now that I have typed this all up, all I can think about are the poor books that made their sad way to my cull pile =(. Oh well. The library calls!
After seeing coffeeandink's book-filled house, I am now inspired to fit in even more bookcases! fannishly and I sort of went through the living room and figured that we could fit in three more bookcases or so, and I think I can fit more shallow media cases for manga or mass markets in my bedroom. Ha! And! I shall copy Mely and use my kitchen cabinets too!
This is probably a good thing, because I just found out that the library sale is this weekend! My public library always has things in pretty good condition. I am planning on going twice, once for stuff I actually want and once for the bag sale.
Why, yes, Bob, I did indeed buy over twenty books this weekend. I do not understand what this has to do with anything ;).