end of the trip
This half of the week has flown past. On Wednesday's drive from Charlotte to Richmond I stopped partway and had a nice two-hour lunch with xjenavivex . It was so nice to finally meet her in person and talk books and careers and such. We were both a bit nervous, but the conversation flowed smoothly! I wish we could have chatted longer.
Class here in Richmond was good. Smallest of the swing, but some interesting conversations about the subject matter.
Tonight my old friend Davey Jones (not He of the Locker, nor He of the Monkees) came by and took me to dinner at a Kabuto steakhouse. The whole "hibachi cook showing off" bit is always fun. Then we attacked a nearby Borders (but not the Books-A-Million on the same street), where we wandered for a good hour pointing SF, Fantasy, Mystery and Horror titles and authors out to each other. He agreed to try the first two Dresden Files; I agreed to try Eric Flint's 1632.
I also found Octavia Butler's FLEDGLING, which is the February selection for calico_reaction's book club. That will have to wait until I read Robert Goolrick's A RELIABLE WIFE, which is the current selection for our Office Book Club -- and since I'm the one who proposed it, I dang well better read it before our scheduled meeting! While in Borders, I also found A PALADIN OF SOULS, the sequel to THE CURSE OF CHALION. Picked it up because I've not seen it anywhere else recently and I know I'll want to read it eventually based on how much I enjoyed the first book.
The highlight of the night -- other than long, rambling conversations with Davey from dinner to the bookstore to back to the hotel for several hours -- was the pile of books Davey brought for me. He knows I've been trying to rebuild my collection of PERRY RHODAN books (a German space opera loosely translated into about 145 paperbacks by the late great Forrest Ackerman), and he'd scoured the local used bookstores and found 28 of them (to add to the 10 I already have). What a great gift! He's a good guy. He's also lending me several of the Fu Manchu books I don't own.
I was good this trip -- in addition to the Butler, Flint and Bujold books I bought tonight, I only purchased 2 other books in 2.5 weeks: Colm Toibin's new collection THE EMPTY FAMILY, and yuki_ona 's THE HABITATION OF THE BLESSED. Still, fitting these 28 PERRY RHODANs in the luggage is going to be interesting.
I'm due to fly out of Richmond at 2pm and land in Newark at 3:30. Let's hope the weather stays clear so I can make it there. I'm ready to be home, even if I will be car-less when I get there!
Class here in Richmond was good. Smallest of the swing, but some interesting conversations about the subject matter.
Tonight my old friend Davey Jones (not He of the Locker, nor He of the Monkees) came by and took me to dinner at a Kabuto steakhouse. The whole "hibachi cook showing off" bit is always fun. Then we attacked a nearby Borders (but not the Books-A-Million on the same street), where we wandered for a good hour pointing SF, Fantasy, Mystery and Horror titles and authors out to each other. He agreed to try the first two Dresden Files; I agreed to try Eric Flint's 1632.
I also found Octavia Butler's FLEDGLING, which is the February selection for calico_reaction's book club. That will have to wait until I read Robert Goolrick's A RELIABLE WIFE, which is the current selection for our Office Book Club -- and since I'm the one who proposed it, I dang well better read it before our scheduled meeting! While in Borders, I also found A PALADIN OF SOULS, the sequel to THE CURSE OF CHALION. Picked it up because I've not seen it anywhere else recently and I know I'll want to read it eventually based on how much I enjoyed the first book.
The highlight of the night -- other than long, rambling conversations with Davey from dinner to the bookstore to back to the hotel for several hours -- was the pile of books Davey brought for me. He knows I've been trying to rebuild my collection of PERRY RHODAN books (a German space opera loosely translated into about 145 paperbacks by the late great Forrest Ackerman), and he'd scoured the local used bookstores and found 28 of them (to add to the 10 I already have). What a great gift! He's a good guy. He's also lending me several of the Fu Manchu books I don't own.
I was good this trip -- in addition to the Butler, Flint and Bujold books I bought tonight, I only purchased 2 other books in 2.5 weeks: Colm Toibin's new collection THE EMPTY FAMILY, and yuki_ona 's THE HABITATION OF THE BLESSED. Still, fitting these 28 PERRY RHODANs in the luggage is going to be interesting.
I'm due to fly out of Richmond at 2pm and land in Newark at 3:30. Let's hope the weather stays clear so I can make it there. I'm ready to be home, even if I will be car-less when I get there!