Field Trip/Snooki Fail

by Morgan on January 10, 2011

I spent the weekend in Goleta, and was eager to find a good local bookstore. Friend and writer Patrick James recommended Chaucer’s in Santa Barbara.

Oh, love. I love you, love.

Chaucer’s is a dream. I don’t know if my standards are beginning to slacken, now that I live in Los Angeles and the availability of personal meccas like Nicholas Hoare is a distant memory, but Chaucer’s is very impressive.

The first thing I noted, an hour before closing, on a Sunday, was that the store was packed, and the majority of the shoppers were sifting the Fiction section: a good sign.

The sections were clearly announced and the layout made sense. Lord of Misrule enjoyed an exulted position, with copies aplenty, and the new releases were displayed prominently on a well-organized table at the front of the store, easily accessible and (to my delight) abundant. I spotted almost every January hardcover release appropriately stocked, both on the table, and in the Fiction shelves, among them Erin Kelly’s The Poison Tree, Colm Toibin’s The Empty Family, and Indie Bound’s January favorite, Lisa Genova’s Left Neglected. There was an impressive collection of signed books, all of them contemporary, hardcover, pertinent, and the Fiction shelves were packed and ruthlessly edited for quality, though inclusive and unpretentious in addition. I was happy to note the entire cannon of Alice Munro, Bernard Malamud, Lydia Davis, Kurt Vonnegut, et al.

I couldn’t find Gryphon, but not because Chaucer’s isn’t sharp: the bookseller I asked (who knew, instantly, who the author was) told me they’d ordered twenty copies and sold out within a couple days. More were on their way, and customers had reserved copies. Oh, love.

I picked up:
The Best American Short Stories, ed. Richard Russo and Heidi Pitlor (I want her job)
Long, Last, Happy: New and Collected Stories, Barry Hannah
The Crying of Lot 49, Thomas Pynchon (one of the only books on my TBR list that I didn’t own)
Something Is Out There, Richard Bausch (an impulse buy; no idea how it was reviewed but the snippet I read in the store was compelling. For your entertainment, do check out the aesthetic discrepancy between the hipsteresque cover of Something Is Out There, and Bausch’s author photo.)

Chaucer’s wasn’t on my California hit list (The Book Works, in Del Mar, still tops it) but it’s now a personal favorite. We need one in LA.

—————————————————

As a few of my fellow readers in LA have pointed out, I missed Snooki at Barnes & Noble. Relevancy fail.

6 comments

I’ve been reading excerpts of Snooki’s book on Jezebel and it sounds completely fascinating.

I love reading your blog. But I have to admit that I hardly ever read real books made of paper. This is probably because all I want to read is third-wave feminist takes on Jersey Shore and hooking up on OK Cupid, aka. BLOGS. I read some YA this fall (Hunger Games) and that was good but I didn’t want to make a habit out of it and become one of THOSE PEOPLE.

On my Christmas vacation I read Zeitoun by Dave Eggers and I was like, “Fuck yes, BOOKS. PAPER books. I love you and I want to read more of you.” Then I read Water for Elephants, now a soon-to-be hit motion picture starring Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon, and I was like, “Fuck you, paper books! Fuck you and all your terribleness!” and I traded it at a book exchange for an omnibus edition of His Dark Materials that had one corner chewed off it by a dog because FUCK YOU Sara Gruen.

So now I feel like I had this whirlwind romance with books, and books was this hot gorilla juicehead, but then books had sex with my best girl even though we had a thing going on.

This is where you come in. What should I read to make me like books again?

by Karen on January 11, 2011 at 1:09 am. Reply #

Let me preface by saying: that’s the best comment I’ve ever read, anywhere. I’m prone to exaggeration, but still.

Next: tell me your favorite novel(s) of all time. It’s okay if you read them ten years ago. Just give me the first titles that come to mind. Then I’ll advise. I WILL HELP YOU TO LOVE BOOKS AGAIN, my friend. Also, do you enjoy short stories?

And seriously, FUCK YOU Water for Elephants.

by Morgan on January 11, 2011 at 1:13 am. Reply #

Alright, off the top of my head:

1. The Great Gatsby 3D by Baz Luhrmann: I liked the book this movie was based on a lot. It’s, like, 80 pages so I read it every year or so. But for me, it reads like a season of Mad Men—very lush and visual. It’s like I barely see the words, so I couldn’t talk about metaphors or quote you a line beyond, “You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.”

I’m just not very detail oriented, which is probably why I got frustrated with Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. I’m never going to be the type of person who quotes books.

2. The Unbearable Lightness of Being: No grand passion for Nietzsche over here; the book is just beautifully written. Once, my therapist asked me whether I identified more with Tereza or Sabina and I was totally perplexed. I still ask myself that from time to time and I can never decide. So it’s one of those books I can never get out of my head.

But I actually usually dislike books that are categorized as “philosophical fiction”. I couldn’t stand The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho, for example.

3.The Name of the Rose: This book has EVERYTHING. As Wikipedia describes it,”It is an historical murder mystery set in an Italian monastery in the year 1327, an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory.” I really couldn’t ask for anything more.

4. Lolita: wordcraft at its finest!

Please help me love books. I don’t know if I like short stories, but I’m willing to try.

by Karen on January 11, 2011 at 3:38 am. Reply #

Oh, I also loved The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. After that, I went on this big Kazuo Ishiguro kick, but did not love Never Let Me Go, now a somewhat-respectful motion picture starring Carey Mulligan and Kiera Knightley. I did enjoy When We Were Orphans.

Right now I’m reading Sweet Valley Twins #37: The War Between the Twins; as you can see, my tastes oscillate.

by Karen on January 11, 2011 at 3:44 am. Reply #

Okay, my instinct says you’ll like The Pillars of the Earth; I haven’t read it, but many people with your tastes have, and loved it. I can’t vouch though.

I’d also recommend The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay for you (though I think Wonderboys is Chabon’s sleeper hit).

If you haven’t read Middlesex, and the goal is to kickstart reading for pleasure again, start there.

If you want to laugh, hard, try Colors Insulting To Nature.

I do also believe you’d be a Franzen fan. I think I remember you read The Corrections? I actually don’t love The Corrections, but I adore Freedom. It’s a big one, but it’s worth it.

Let me know what your thoughts are. I think you should start with a novel, then refresh with a collection of shorts, which I’ll recommend later.

by Morgan on January 12, 2011 at 4:00 am. Reply #

Ha! You’re too good: Pillars of the Earth inspired me to study medieval art history nearly a decade ago (that worked out pretty well), and I love love loved The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.

I liked, but didn’t love, The Corrections, so I think I will try Freedom. Wonderboys, Middlesex, and Colors Insulting To Nature are now on my list!

Thanks!

by Karen on January 25, 2011 at 7:39 pm. Reply #

Leave your comment

Required.

Required. Not published.

If you have one.