So you remember pre-digital cameras, and actually having to get film developed?And sometimes you'd get a roll back to find that your friends had taken your camera into the bathroom and snapped pictures of their butts and their boobs?
Or maybe this is just my friends. Ahem, Maude and Jane.
So.
This was one of those pictures where Jane decided that no flash would be better and somehow was able to hold perfectly still, which I am never able to manage. When I downloaded it I was all, "Ohhh! Magic!" Because I always wish for unicorns. But I forget all about pegasuses. Pegasi?
Magic!
But let me also tell you that if you think you are going to just walk into a bookstore in downtown LA and purchase the second book of the Hunger Games trilogy, you are sadly mistaken.
Actually, let me take a step back. I printed out the list of all of your wonderful suggestions - for which I don't believe I thanked you - so, THANK YOU!
Several of you suggested Hunger Games, and the title and description kind of sucked me in, so I bought it for the plane. I really wanted to get the Graveyard Book, but it was hardback. Alas. As were several other of your suggestions that intrigued me.
So I bought Hunger Games, and it was EXACTLY what I was looking for in airplane reading. Except that it made me cry a little here and there.
I know. I don't know.
So then I immediately wanted to read Catching Fire, the next one. One afternoon, Steve, my conference husband, and I went looking for a bookstore.
We walked over to a mall that Google said had a Borders. It was closed.
Steve asked someone in Radio Shack where to buy books, and they said, "Uh. The library?"
Right.
We went to the LA Visitors Bureau, which was nearby. We asked if there were any bookstores downtown. They said, "There was one, but it closed. You can take a bus to one, though. It's a nice ride."
You guys. There are no bookstores in downtown LA! And nobody seems concerned!
Either: Everyone reads books on their Kindles. OR: Nobody reads.
The airport had a bookstore, but alas, no Catching Fire. Also, no David Sedaris. Not that I could find, anyway.
What I did wind up reading was Her Perfect Symmetry, by Audrey Niffeneger.
This also made me cry. But man, was it amazing.
How did you deal???? I am spoiled by the nook, after I read the first book and HAD to have the second RIGHT THEN, I could just download it.
ReplyDeleteLove that pool picture.
ReplyDeleteI read Her Fearful Symmetry earlier this year and also loved it. I thought the ending was a bit of a letdown, but overall the story was really haunting.
The Pegasus wow what a Magic pic yes. I have a pegasus with me all the time, my little piece of magic. It's a tattoo on the side of my stomach.
ReplyDeleteNo Bookstores in downtown LA???
Now I do embrace technology I really do, but the lack of a bookstore in a central location is truely a ghastly thought to me. I love love love reading and often read 2 or 3 books at once and I have bookcases in nearly every room of my house and still there are books in boxes because there is no room. The demise of the bookstore makes me want to cry, our kids wont know what they are missing. Ben used to go into the bookstore grab a book and immediately lie on the floor in a corner and start reading lol. He is a real bookworm and we often trade books in the hallway at home. So sad :-(
Lisa - I didn't have a lot of alone time while the conference was on, so I wasn't that pressed, but I DID want it for the plane home. But I am also one of these I want it NOW NOW NOW people until oh, look, candy! And then I am on to the next thing. So it was OK.
ReplyDeleteStevie - Thanks! I love how glowy it turned out!
I was bothered by the ending, but not because I thought it was a cop out, like Atonement, if you read that. I just like implausibly happy endings.
Go-Betty - Wow! You always have magic with you! :)
It's just bizarre. There are so many book stores you can walk to here. I'm just used to having one a few blocks away. I'm not opposed to the idea of a Kindle, and in fact a but I do really like turning physical pages.
I love that photo!
ReplyDeleteI read Her Fearful Symmetry and really liked it. Now I need to read Hunger Games and the rest of the trilogy. The writer's world I'm floating in now nearly toppled over the other day when Mockingjay was released.
This is one reason I love my iPod touch 3G! I have applications for all sorts of things and it's a portable computer when I travel. You can get an app for free for the Kindle and download just about any book. I even have an app for all the happy hours in whatever town I am in! You might want to check it out. I couldn't live here on the dark side of the moon without it and it's a big city help in every way.
ReplyDeletePrairie Lynn
PS I am not affiliated with Apple in any way except I have an apple tree in my back yard and I make a pretty good Danish apple pie.
I know nothing about the Hunger Games trilogy except that I bought Mockingjay for my husband to thank him for being super awesome. He was really excited about it. If you have no local connections, I'm more than happy to mail it to you when you're ready for book 3.
ReplyDeleteI hated the last quarter of Her Fearful. What a cop-out, and it really made no sense. Its like the author woke up one day and went - 'I'm tired of writing this book. How can I end it in the most bizarre way possible??'
ReplyDeleteAnd I really hope you order/buy CF & Mj soon. As in tomorrow.
Lisa - Thanks! Me, too.
ReplyDeleteYes, yes you do. Delicious. At least the first one.
Lynn - Oh, you make me laugh. The apple tree. The apple pie. Hahahahahaha!
Tia - That's such a lovely offer! Thank you! I have got to have a friend who is ahead of me in these. I'm asking around the office...
And I'm sure your husband has said this, but read them!
sarah - I was thinking about how she might have done it differently, and I don't know.
And I will do so soon!
Whoah, about the book stores; scary.
ReplyDeleteWith a population of only 80-something thousand, the town nearest my village supports several good book stores.