Books
Back when we were thinking about going to Ethiopia on vacation in October (okay, we're still thinking about it, but we won't find out whether we can get airplane tickets for another month) I did some searching and found out that the Bradt Guide is the most highly recommended. I'd never heard of such a series (in fact, I'm still not sure if it is a series at all), but I decided I wanted to buy it from Amazon.
Julien's past experience with Amazon.fr has been fairly dismal, but since I'm ordering in the U.S. I thought it was worth a try. First, I was shocked by the shipping price, which was about 1/3 the cost of the original order. I decided to add some items to even it out a bit, but ended up paying about 40% the cost of the order in shipping instead, and spending more. Ah, well; there were some juicy items on the list and I really had a hankering for some new items, as by now I've gone through all of the stuff I brought that I really wanted to read, and am now left mostly with the drivel, that I've been putting off reading for ages.
Anyhow, here is the stackup:
Bradt Guide to Ethiopia Purchased for the obvious reason, though admittedly less obvious now.
Lucky Shopping Manual I've been aching for a copy ever since I borrowed Amy's. I could hardly resist paging through it a bit immediately, and started making a list of purchases with relish. I actually have to go to the mall this evening anyway...
Gradisil, Darkman's, and Lullabyes for Little Criminals Enticing recommendations from Eve's Alexandria. Gradisil is science fiction, Darkman's was from the Orange Prize list (long or short now I don't remember), and I'd actually started reading Lullabyes online, and was so hooked I absolutely had to have it to finish it off. In a similar difficulty, I will need to add Let's Talk About Kevin to the next round. But hopefully I can hold off until I get back.
Wicked Lovely I picked up the pseudo-sequal Ink Exchange waiting around the airport on my last business trip, and loved it so much I've actually read it twice since I purchased it. So of course when I saw it was Marr's second book, I rushed off to add the first to my list. It's actually a bit embarrassing to admit to liking these -- it's one of those things where I don't feel there's any objective criteria for why I liked it, and explaining that it touches me deeply, emotionally, is a bit revealing.
Feast of Souls I'm a big fan of Friedman's whole ouevre -- there's not a book of hers that I didn't immensely enjoy reading, and every one that I've owned I've reread numerous times. I'd been eagerly anticipating her latest release, which is even more thrilling because it's billed as the first of a trilogy.
As I hope you can tell, this delivery really made my day, in a month that's been rather difficult.
One last side note -- the customs here really leaves much to be desired. My package had been entirely ripped open (no exaggeration in the verb choice there), and barely resealed with a few stripes of tape. All of the paperback books were bent, wrinkled, dirtied, torn, or waterstained, which is extremely annoying because they were all new. Finally, I'll resurrect Julien's favorite rant, which is the indignity of paying customs on the shipping charges. My purchase was $100 + $40 shipping + 73 NIS customs.
But, at least it showed up now, instead of August 26 as Amazon warned.
P.S. I forgot to add that I also bought Gattaca -- one of my favorite movies of all time. About time.
Julien's past experience with Amazon.fr has been fairly dismal, but since I'm ordering in the U.S. I thought it was worth a try. First, I was shocked by the shipping price, which was about 1/3 the cost of the original order. I decided to add some items to even it out a bit, but ended up paying about 40% the cost of the order in shipping instead, and spending more. Ah, well; there were some juicy items on the list and I really had a hankering for some new items, as by now I've gone through all of the stuff I brought that I really wanted to read, and am now left mostly with the drivel, that I've been putting off reading for ages.
Anyhow, here is the stackup:
Bradt Guide to Ethiopia Purchased for the obvious reason, though admittedly less obvious now.
Lucky Shopping Manual I've been aching for a copy ever since I borrowed Amy's. I could hardly resist paging through it a bit immediately, and started making a list of purchases with relish. I actually have to go to the mall this evening anyway...
Gradisil, Darkman's, and Lullabyes for Little Criminals Enticing recommendations from Eve's Alexandria. Gradisil is science fiction, Darkman's was from the Orange Prize list (long or short now I don't remember), and I'd actually started reading Lullabyes online, and was so hooked I absolutely had to have it to finish it off. In a similar difficulty, I will need to add Let's Talk About Kevin to the next round. But hopefully I can hold off until I get back.
Wicked Lovely I picked up the pseudo-sequal Ink Exchange waiting around the airport on my last business trip, and loved it so much I've actually read it twice since I purchased it. So of course when I saw it was Marr's second book, I rushed off to add the first to my list. It's actually a bit embarrassing to admit to liking these -- it's one of those things where I don't feel there's any objective criteria for why I liked it, and explaining that it touches me deeply, emotionally, is a bit revealing.
Feast of Souls I'm a big fan of Friedman's whole ouevre -- there's not a book of hers that I didn't immensely enjoy reading, and every one that I've owned I've reread numerous times. I'd been eagerly anticipating her latest release, which is even more thrilling because it's billed as the first of a trilogy.
As I hope you can tell, this delivery really made my day, in a month that's been rather difficult.
One last side note -- the customs here really leaves much to be desired. My package had been entirely ripped open (no exaggeration in the verb choice there), and barely resealed with a few stripes of tape. All of the paperback books were bent, wrinkled, dirtied, torn, or waterstained, which is extremely annoying because they were all new. Finally, I'll resurrect Julien's favorite rant, which is the indignity of paying customs on the shipping charges. My purchase was $100 + $40 shipping + 73 NIS customs.
But, at least it showed up now, instead of August 26 as Amazon warned.
P.S. I forgot to add that I also bought Gattaca -- one of my favorite movies of all time. About time.