The Borders in the downtown area is a bookstore/café. The best combo in my opinion.
This weekend it has a 3 for 2 paperback sales and quite some decent books are up for grab.
After buying a frozen latte and picking up 3 potentials, I headed to the little coffee table area and digged into the three books:
1. Me Talk Pretty One Day – turned out I have read it already. The author is a hot commodity nowadays but I think his prose can only be called mediocre at best. (This description actually applies to A LOT of the American “commercial” literature that’s been ruthlessly hyped.)
2. 1000 places to go before you die – again seriously hyped & that’s why I picked it up. The subject is kind of morbid for a fragile hearted like moi. Also following other people’s advice is just so anti-everything that I believe in.
3. The birth of Venus – putting on my English accent J I think this one is jolly nice. It nudges my attention gently toward the story it has to tell.
I originally intended to have a quiet lazy Sunday early afternoon (wow, that’s a mouthful) in the sunny store but couldn’t do it because shortly after I sat down a girlish looking (aka wimpy) boy came and started making consistent potent barking sounds.
So I went back to the sales stack, put back the 2 books I didn’t like and picked another two (Trading Up by Candace Bushnell & To Kill a Mocking Bird – which in my mind it’s THE BEST piece of American literature ever written.)
Went to the checkout counter and the guy behind the register said he thought one of the books was not supposed to be on sale but he would give it to me anyway. Oh thank you I said without sounding gracious. (I didn’t mean to be ungrateful it’s just that it so sounded like a sales pitch.)
Walking out of the store not ready yet to go back to my dingy hole. I sat down at one of the benches in the tiny little park in the center of the town and read on The birth of Venus. Until my sun-glassed eyes got so strained I saw things red-tinged.
Came home logged onto the company network as I still had to do a little bit of work. Turned out the work bit can wait until Monday. Which means I get the rest of day all for myself – without guilt!
