Tag: books

Closing out Borders appropriately

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

The demise of Borders bookstores legitimately makes me sad.  Considering I remember when I saw one for the first time at Springfield Mall when I was still just a young child, seeing their inevitable demise now is kind of like feeling the loss of something very familiar and a symbol of childhood.

Borders was always my preferred merchant of literature, over Barnes and Noble, and to some degree, even Amazon.com.  Mostly because of the coupons that Borders sent out on a very frequent bonus, and it enabled me to purchase my choice of books at a discount, at mostly my own convenience.  As opposed to Barnes and Noble’s bullshit “membership,” which cost actual money, in order to save 10% off purchases through the finite time frame of 365 days.  I don’t like having time limits attached to my hobbies, especially ones that cost money.

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High-er Expeck-taaay-tions

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The other day, I was at Borders purchasing a book about economics in baseball.  I happened to be wearing a shirt that said “i would rather be reading palahniuk” (thanks Katie), completely coincidental, and not because I was going to be going into a book store, and I wanted to assert my literary prowess to any other book nerds who may be glancing in my direction.

After an inconvenient delay, thanks to some black guy trying to swindle Borders with the “this book i recently purchased and have subsequently finished right away, i would like a full refund on it because i ripped out a bunch of pages to make it look like it was purchased damaged when it was really me all along” trick, but thankfully failing, I finally was able to check out.  The cashier, older, corporations would classify as “mature,” took amusement in my shirt, and stated her approval for my choice in literature.  The rotund younger cashier immediately took notice, and came to state her opinions as well, and before I knew it, I was engaged in a chance discussion about Chuck Palahniuk with the older cashier, with the younger one not wanting to feel left out, interjecting her remarks, inquiries about my choice of authors, and comments sporadically.

Now although I didn’t believe her when she said the only Palahniuk novel she’s read was Fight Club (because anyone can watch the movie and say they’ve read the book), the impression I got was that she was attracted to me.  If I’m correct in this assumption, I can easily say that it was most certainly not mutual, but it simply makes me wonder, that I think I have a tendency to attract women that I wouldn’t be close to being capable of returning attraction, because I give off this air of attainability?

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The 2010 Book List

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The year 2010 saw my total number of books read drop again for another year, and I really don’t have much excuse for it. Video games have something to do with it, as does an inconsistent work schedule, but one factor that shouldn’t go ignored is the simple fact that I’ve simply become a pickier reader throughout the last few years. Tired am I, of the repetitive drivel from authors that are Korean, British, gay, over-the-top chick-lit, or any combination of the above. I still don’t have much interest in collections of short stories, nor have I been financially capable of going to Borders and taking random leaps of faith with books with questionable reputation this year. All this being said, I still completed 17 books in 2010, but looking back at the list of things I read, I’m a little disappointed in some of the things I’ve allowed myself to waste my time reading. Nonetheless, as is the norm, bringing in the new year, is the list and brief reviews and overall rating of all the things I read in the previous year.

Word Made Flesh

by Jack O’Connell

LOSS – This book was absolute rubbish. It started off hauntingly and captivating, but it was all downhill from there. This has the dubious task of being the oldest of the books I read this year, meaning the least freshest on my memories, but it’s basically about a former cop-now-taxi driver, who does a lot of bullshit, while people are getting skinned and/or murdered around what is I guess a transitional time period in the New England area. Without question, this was one of the most difficult books I’ve ever had to struggle through in my entire life. Already in a pile of books prepared to be donated (read: gotten the fuck out of my house).

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Reading at the book store

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Today, I went to a Borders, because I have absolutely no books left to read, and there was no way I was going to hop on the plane back to Atlanta tomorrow morning without something to read.  Firstly, I guess this is one of those regional differences that differs noticeably between Atlanta and Fairfax, but there are a lot more people who occupy the courtesy chairs and are actually reading.  Instead of looking for places to lounge while  their significant others are scouring for books.  Asian kids, Indian students, and various other people of Middle Eastern descent are scattered throughout the store, with actual books, and not a bunch of fake Goth teenagers reading manga in the chairs and aisles.

Here’s my thing – I’m not working right now, and my funds are dwindling and honestly making me worry a little bit these days.  The count of white hairs on my head is distressing, and has become like this Ouroboros of anxiety that just creates more.  I haven’t really relaxed in quite some time.  But all those factors considered, I realize that I just can’t sit down in bookstores and read entire books.  I’m the fucking customer that book stores should love.  I don’t treat them like libraries and sit around and loiter and get my fill of reading without paying for it.

Yet it has nothing to do with reading in public, because when I’m at the airport, or Starbucks, or even any sit down joint during lunch, I have no problem pulling out a book and reading in front of other people.  I guess I have this idea that the concept of sitting around and reading at book stores is kind of what hopeless people do.  If you have the genuine interest in what you’re sampling, take it to the counter, and purchase it, and read what now belongs to you.  I don’t have a ton of money these days, but I still can’t fathom actually taking advantage of the unwritten honor system of book stores, and trying to fill my head and kill my time for absolutely dick, inside the confines of a book store.  I think it’s a cheap thing to do, and that’s something I don’t really want to come off as.

But to each their own, and if my life keeps heading in this dry spell, then even getting to the book store in the first place is going to be the least of my worries.

 

I have too many t-shirts

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Seriously, I just did my laundry, and when I merged the pile of clean shirts on top of the existing pile of t-shirts, they simply collapsed like a tower of Jenga.  Admittedly, I’m sitting down and forcing myself to write some stuff, but I do have a lot on my mind these days that I don’t think it’s purely for naught.

So there’s a situation that involves some nighttime vandals, and I have to wonder if there is anything that can be done about it?  It’s not my property per-se, but it’s still annoying to think of some idiots smashing mailboxes, and getting away with it, simply because it’s done likely in the nighttime hours that nobody notices.  Calling the cops can only accomplish very little, other than meek promises to patrol more often, and the postal service has zero sympathy for the situation at hand, and completely disallows movement of any mailbox regardless of the circumstances.  Other than radical vigilantism, or expensive surveillance equipment, there’s nothing saying it won’t happen again when the mailbox is predictably replaced.  This kind of helplessness and inability to solve in a conventional manner is distressing.

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