Book'em

Aug. 19th, 2005 01:43 am
deguspice: (Default)
[personal profile] deguspice
Before this week, I never heard of the Russian author Isaac Babel. But my father brought his name to my attention. So curious, I went to the local bookstore to buy one of his books.



Me: Do you have any books by Isaac Babel?

He: Yes, we should. [Obviously he knows who I.B. is]

He: [Types on his computer]

He: Hmm, apparently we don't. Would you like to order something?

Me: [suddenly remembers there's an alternative]

Me: No thanks, I'll check the library.




The library has the book You Must Know Everything, a collection of previously unpublished or forgotten short stories, edited by his daughter in 1966.

I've lived in this town for 11 years, but until last two weeks ago, I never really used the library. After seeing the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie, I decided to re-read the book, so I got a new library card and checked out the book.

Libraries aren't normally part of thought process when it comes to acquiring books. Usually I'll either buy a specific book online (dealtime.com and bookfinder.com are very useful) or I'll wander around used book stores. This has led to there being a very large pile of unread books underneath my bed (I acquire them faster than I read them). But the local library is proving to be a useful resource for me. So the next time I want a book, I'll check out the library ("Hi Jenn" :).

Date: 2005-08-20 01:07 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] madbodger.livejournal.com
In the spirit of being unhelpful, Abebooks is another useful book resource. As is Powell's.

Date: 2005-08-20 02:36 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deguspice.livejournal.com
bookfinder.com is a meta-search engine for used books. It includes abebooks in its searches. I think it used to include Powell's, but I haven't seen them when I've done searches recently (I don't know if this means that they dropped Powell's, or they didn't have the books I was looking for).

Date: 2005-08-20 07:26 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] r-ness.livejournal.com
The library systems around here are a real treasure. But I've gushed about them before. :)

Date: 2005-08-21 07:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deguspice.livejournal.com
Given how much you travel, I have to ask which "here"? :)

Date: 2005-08-24 12:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] r-ness.livejournal.com
Fair question! :)

I meant eastern Mass. :)

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