My relationship with books
As a child, my life was framed by books. I was a girl who read a lot of books. It was what I did. I still like to read books, though not at the volume I did as a child. But I have read enough of the New York Times Book Review to know I am not a book-snob. I don't have a degree in literature. I'm not into the right authors. There are a number of "classics," I have never read and probably never will. I have read NYT bestsellers and Oprah's picks. I have read John Grisham and "The Da Vinci Code" and Dostoevsky. The New York Times once asked readers if they had "literary deal-breakers," books that a potential date must have read or not read in order to be considered dateable. The only deal-breaker I have is the man that doesn't read at all. For me, a book worth reading is not about who says I should read it, it's about a story worth reading. If it absorbs me, if it teaches me something, if it entertains me, I'm in. If not, oh well.
Which brings me to the annual Printer's Row Book Fair in Chicago. I didn't come in with an agenda, though it is fun to look at the early edition L. Frank Baum books. I came in search of a good story. And, a good deal. Hey, there's a recession you know.
So I found stories...
"Alias Grace" by Margaret Atwood (prolific author, I recently read the "The Robber Bride")
"Amsterdam" by Ian McEwan (author of "Atonement")
Both of those were about 5 dollars each.
Then I got to a tent offering 3 for 10 dollars. Didn't seen anything that caught my eye at first, but new stories called to me.
"The Poet of Tolstoy Park" by Sonny Brewer
"Girls in Peril" by Karen Lee Boren (a local, new author)
"Colony Girl" by Thomas Rayfiel.
And the deal of the day, a hardcover anthology of short stories called "Only Child - Writers on the singular joys and solitary sorrows of growing up solo" edited by Deborah Siegel and Daphne Uviller. Only 3 dollars!!
And I got a pizza cook book, because a girl's gotta eat, for 5 dollars. And a couple of gifts for others. Mostly, I'm just content to lose myself in some new stories. And I don't care who knows it.
Which brings me to the annual Printer's Row Book Fair in Chicago. I didn't come in with an agenda, though it is fun to look at the early edition L. Frank Baum books. I came in search of a good story. And, a good deal. Hey, there's a recession you know.
So I found stories...
"Alias Grace" by Margaret Atwood (prolific author, I recently read the "The Robber Bride")
"Amsterdam" by Ian McEwan (author of "Atonement")
Both of those were about 5 dollars each.
Then I got to a tent offering 3 for 10 dollars. Didn't seen anything that caught my eye at first, but new stories called to me.
"The Poet of Tolstoy Park" by Sonny Brewer
"Girls in Peril" by Karen Lee Boren (a local, new author)
"Colony Girl" by Thomas Rayfiel.
And the deal of the day, a hardcover anthology of short stories called "Only Child - Writers on the singular joys and solitary sorrows of growing up solo" edited by Deborah Siegel and Daphne Uviller. Only 3 dollars!!
And I got a pizza cook book, because a girl's gotta eat, for 5 dollars. And a couple of gifts for others. Mostly, I'm just content to lose myself in some new stories. And I don't care who knows it.