A Fix For My Book Addiction
After my class on Forensic Investigation at Oasis today, I decided to drop in at the nearby local B. Dalton Booksellers to watch the feeding frenzy among Harry Potter fanatics. Alas! The books were all gone. Except for some audio books on cassette and CD, the only thing left was a signed deluxe boxed copy, originally priced at $60 but sale priced at $36. It lasted mere seconds.
As disappointed customers mobbed the counter, one customer braved the rush to return a copy of the catch of the day. It was somebody I know, somebody Delia works with. I advised her she could get more for it selling it just outside the store but she insisted she was content just to return it for what she paid for it. It was sold again immediately.
All of the other books in the series were there, too, at 20% discount, generating zero interest. Other Harry Potter merchandise was doing poorly, too. People didn't want toys, they wanted the book.
I wandered back into the nearly deserted inner recesses of the shop. There, in the greatly diminished science section, between "The Science of Harry Potter's Magic" and "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Einstein's Theories" -- no, I'm not making those titles up -- I found a couple of treasures.
The first is an Irish teenage mathematical whiz's autobiography. Gals with brains turn me on, I guess. How does a sports-loving sixteen year old girl gain nation-wide recognition and an international reputation for her discoveries in Internet cryptography? I suppose it helps to have a father who lectures on Mathematics at Ireland's Cork Institute of Technology. For the rest of the answer, I guess I'll have to read the book. That is, after all, what I bought it for.
The second book has to do with the universe, no less. The back cover calls the author, Timothy Ferris, "the greatest science writer in the world" -- a considerable claim -- which, if even close to being true, is reason enough to get the book. I've seen the book before, though, as a couple of my science teachers at Oasis have recommended it ... and carry dogeared copies of their own. It doesn't have as many pictures in it as the first book does, but it still looks like what I consider a fun read.
I did get another book later. I went to the Costco store on Friars Road. When I walked in there were about nine ... eight ... seven ... six Harry Potter books left on the counter, along with a few CD audio books. The people grabbing the books didn't notice the two pallets of books being wheeled in as they fought for the last few. When I left (with my copy) I noticed that the remaining pallet was half empty and the crowd around it had grown.
Comments (5)
I guess I don't understand the Potter mania. I was listening to NPR on Friday, and the voice on the radio said I should check my pulse if I didn't know the new Potter book goes on sale at midnight. I had to check my pulse which, thankfully, is still strong. I know each book is supposed to be progressively better, but I read the first book and didn't think all that much of it. (Nor of the movie, for that matter.) It's certainly not better than Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, Pierce Anthony's Xanth series, J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth stuff, C.S. Lewis' Narnia series, Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea books, or any number of other fantasy book series.
I'm addicted to books, too.
I recently finished "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" and "The Nanny Diaries." Now, I'm reading "Heart Seizure" by Bill Fitzhugh.
I just looked at this using my desktop. There is no overlap of text this time, but only because the two images were several paragraphs apart. I just looked at your code, and I detected the source of the previous problem. You are using two
tags to demarcate your paragraphs. This is bad form. You should use the
tags to create paragraphs. Had you done that in previous posts, there would be no text-image overlap. The problem isn't and has never been the size of the images, because if an image is too large the browser simply creates a horizontal scroll. Rather, because you are using
instead of
the browser can't always figure out where the image and text are supposed to be in relation to each other.
I have to confess that I am not in tune with the Harry Potter mania. My husband and I read the first book (our daughter-in-law gave it to us - she loves them) and found it to be entertaining but I have not read the others. While I think the books are wonderfully creative, I do not find them to be awfully well written. We did see both movies, though, and enjoyed them. I will say I would like to know who died in the fourth book.
Same here. I'm not much into the Harry Potter thing either. I love books but have to have a large variety. I do know that a lot of people are after those books though, so I'm glad I don't have to fight them.
Comments are closed.