Saturday I turned another year older. Which meant receiving some wonderfully bookish birthday presents. From my daughter, which really means my wife since my daughter isn’t even a year old, I received A Confederacy of Dunces and The Devil in the White City. My younger sister sent along a gift card from Barnes & Noble. And some of my sisters- and brothers-in-law gave me a Borders gift card. I already used the Barnes & Noble card to pick up Baudolino by Umberto Eco from their bargain book table and Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. I’m a little unsure of what to expect from Umberto Eco, I’ve heard his writing can be pretty complex. I’m saving the Borders card to use in a couple of weeks when I get that book buying urge again.

I also went to Sam Weller’s, an independent bookstore that I’ve mentioned. They carry a lot of books but for some reason they didn’t have many of the books on my buy list. I don’t know if I am looking for books that are too mainstream or what, but I was a bit disappointed. I tried looking for some used books too but the ones I wanted they only had new. I wanted to fall in love with the store and never shop anywhere else but I just didn’t. I didn’t buy a single book. Maybe I was expecting too much. I would be willing to give it one more or even several more tries if it wasn’t a good 40 minutes away from my home. I do have hopes for one more independent bookstore in the area called The King’s English, but it is even further away. It looks like I might be sticking with Borders. I have to admit the readily available 20% off coupons and “3 for 2″ tables maybe too much to overcome.

Oh, A Confederacy of Dunces has the most awful cover I’ve ever seen. Don’t believe me, check it out for yourself on the link above.

Your response: