Bargain hunting...

...for books. Life along Lamar (well, almost along...I have to jump up a block or two from my house to be ON the street) has taught me several little rituals for my life here in Austin. One of them involves jumping in my car at 8:30pm on random Sunday evenings, headed for HalfPrice Books, even though I know they close at 9 and will be slightly irked by my presence. Also I usually get tacos on the way home.

I haven't bought a Kindle yet. I'm tempted. I'm such a nerd among nerds that the idea of having that much literature at the touch of my little fingerpads...harumph, I guess I'm simply delaying the inevitable. HalfPrice reminds me why I am, though. They have me back in the bookstore, hunting through bins of forgotten paperbacks, saying a little prayer that I'll find a novel that will change my perspective about something. Or one that might just move me. It's not time yet for all these words to be in some Wi-Fi ether.

I'd given up on that experience during grad school, oddly enough. All my books for comps came from Amazon. And novels...I didn't have time for many novels for a good four years. But I'm back now, dog-earing and underlining.

Here's what I stumbled upon last night for three dollars. I'm usually good at spotting winners, via covers and blurbs on the back, even if I know nothing about them or the author. The New York Times says this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/27/books/review/ORourke.html?pagewanted=2