Sarah's Books - Used & Rare

Whenever we have days off, we shop for more books, of course. Thursday is usually my weekday off, and yesterday I took a few paintings down to the gallery in Blue Hill - the group show I mentioned earlier opens at the end of next week. I was feeling a little low afterwards, like I had dropped my kids off at daycare for the first time (I don't have kids, but let's just say I am a little too attached to art objects of my own making), so I immediately sought comfort, which came in the form of a bookshop around the corner from the gallery. Blue Hill Books is a small independent new-book store, and if I ever were to have or work in another new store, this would be what I would want. Good, fat, full literature and poetry sections, current events and essays, lots of small press books, lots of classics, classy sidelines, staff picks right up front, comfy chairs, handsome and literate men wearing interesting glasses working behind the counter. Walking in, I sighed and relaxed again. I love being surrounded by books and it immediately calms me down. I don't buy too many books new, for obvious reasons, but I like to support the good bookstores in my area, to the extent that my wallet allows. I consider it akin to buying local organic produce. I browsed for half an hour, maybe an hour, I wasn't in a hurry to be anywhere, so I took my time. I wanted some Frank O'Hara poetry, but they didn't have anything, so instead I ended up with a book I've been eyeing elsewhere for two months, longingly, covetously, even: 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, edited by Peter Boxall (Universe 2006). There's nothing quite like walking out of a good bookstore with a book that weighs more than a really dense, huge loaf of Russian black bread or a smallish cement block, perhaps, one that you've been looking forward to reading for weeks. The book, that is. Not the cement block, or the bread. That sentence got a bit convoluted. Onward! Book in hand, I came home after a visit to the town beach in Lamoine, and some errands in nearby Ellsworth. I made it through the first 250 pages of the book last night, and it looks dangerous in the extreme - its mission, should I choose to accept it, is to coerce me into reading the 1001 books so lovingly and persuasively described in its little capsules. Should I say that the main reason I wanted the book was its great illustrations? Oops, I just did. I love lots of pictures of book covers and authors, and books that contain those things get me every time. That said, I'm enjoying both reading and looking at the great pictures, and am not feeling any pressure to chase after all the book's recommendations. It's more of a lifetime reading project, I think.

Besides feeling a bit bereft after leaving the gallery, I just have to mention how crushed I was feeling yesterday, for another reason, namely that my man, Chris, got booted from American Idol the night before. I've been addicted to American Idol this spring, it's the only tv show I regularly watch, actually - I swear that I really am reading, other nights of the week, and usually reading on Idol nights too. Ryan has to yell to me from two rooms away that the show is on and I'm going to miss the beginning. Anyway. I watch American Idol, I'll say it again. There it is. And the amazingly talented and intense Chris - Chris! - got the axe. Shocking and disappointing! He was my pick to win the whole shebang! I was just sick about it, so I didn't feel I could not mention it here. The thing I hate most about reality shows (even as I watch): they lift people temporarily out of obscurity and (often) poverty, and show them the luxe life, then they are dropped back into their old lives, most of them. After having had a brief a taste of the other. I can't even imagine the level of disappointment they must feel. So, I hope some record companies step up and offer Chris some fat recording contracts. I don't want him to have to go back to his old life. And I want to hear his voice on the radio soon.

That's the news from here - it's a quiet, almost customerless day, but I sold a lot of good books early in the week, so it's good to have a quiet day today. I've got a few chores to do, balancing checkbooks and such, then I'm going to play a little Scrabble against my computer. And the local library has its Friends of the Library sale tonight and tomorrow, so I'm in a happy state of anticipation about that. It's a rough life, I know.