...cause I cannot stop online shopping and I am spending all my not-so hard-earned money on books I want and (kinda) need but have absolutely no time to read now or will have in the next 3-4 months for that matter, so they are only going to be lying around on my bookshelves getting covered with dust until at least the middle of summer when I will be finally done with the last semester-thesis writing-state exams-defending my thesis-MA entrance exam-trying to survive and not to screw up anything and get some sleep and social life in the meantime-craziness. But at least, I have all these great books around me within hand's reach, and whenever I feel like ditching all the compulsory reading, researching, and essay writing, I can simply take one of these great books off the shelf and for a couple of hours indulge myself in those amazing worlds that hide between the lines and beneath the letters.
Oh, by the way, when it comes to online world-wide bookshopping, you must check out abebooks! It's a great site, I think it's definitely better, easier to use, and somewhat more costumer-friendly than amazon (Not that amazon is that difficult...) (I was going to write that it is also cheaper than amazon, because you pay less for the postage, but as I just checked the shipping rates of amazon, I realized that they are pretty much the same.) I found this website back in last December (thanks to the sometimes pretty useful facebook as someone suggested it in their comment), right before I started looking for the reference books I need for my theses. And since then, god only knows how many hours have I spent browsing books (almost as much fun as going to a bookstore, except for the lack of special bookstore atmosphere, but it's more comfy and less time consuming), looking for books I have always wanted to read but could never find in the local stores, finding them for a mere $1 (yep, one American dollar), then looking for the cheapest postage (sellers have different shipping rates), then trying to convince myself of not buying it cause I don't have time to read it, but then purchasing it anyway, for there's no better way to spend your money than buying books or travelling, is there?
Anyway, my point is, that abebooks is a great market place where you can find brand new and second hand books as well, and they have pretty much every English book you can ever look for. Paperbacks, both classics and bestsellers (but a lot of hardcovers too) are as cheap as $1, which is pretty much almost free, right? Most of the booksellers are located in the US and in UK, the postage from the US usually costs at least $9, from UK it's cheaper, you can find books that will be shipped for $5-6. There are also thousands of books that have a free worldwide shipping, however, these volumes usually cost at least $4-5. That is still a pretty good deal though, right? Most of the books in the second-hand English book shops in Budapest cost at least 1000-1200HUF (unless you are really lucky and they have a clear-out sale), and you cannot find a lot of volumes that you would like.
So in the last few weeks my online bookshopping went a little out of hand, but I was like: what the heck? I work a lot these weeks, the days are hectic, and I don't have time for any other entertainment, I might as well go crazy on books. This is what I ended up buying:
- The Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath
- The Silent Woman by Janet Malcolm (refence book on SP)
- Wintering: A Novel of SP by Kate Moses
- Ariel Ascending: Writings about SP by Paul Alexander
- The Gilmore Girls Companion by Berman, A. S. and Herrmann, Edward
- Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger
- A Heartbreaking Work of a Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
- My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares
- Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, Simone Beck
The first four is for the thesis, and the rest... is for fun, because I need them, I want them, I must have them on my shelf. The Gilmore Girls Companion has just come out a few months ago, it's a vast collection (500 pages!) of backstages stories, memories, photos from the cast of Gilmore Girls. It's quite everything a Gilmore Girls lover (such as me) can want, because it's pretty much the bible of our holy tv show religion. I can hardly wait for it to be delivered, I'm going to be jumping out my skin once I'll have my hands on the Companion.
Friday Night Lights is one of my favorite tv shows (it comes right after Gilmore Girls) , it's probably the best sport drama that has ever been on television. It's a must see, even if you are not a fan of American football, or sports in general for that matter, because its unique small town Texas atmosphere and the down-to-earth but brilliant characters will pull you in, and you won't be able to stop watching episode after episode. (I must the stop praising FNL right here, for I must dedicate an entire post to the show!) Anyway, the film and the tv show both are based on this book (based on true story), and I had been trying to put my hands on a copy for years.
The Heartbreaking Work of a Staggering Genius is also a book I have been trying to get for years, but I guess it's out of print, because the bookstores haven't got new copies. It's DE's memoir, it has brilliant language, coming of age/quater life panic story, huge bestseller and critical success, must read.
Anne Brashares is one of my favorite authors, or at least the author of my most favorite book series, so I feel it's my personal obligation to buy each and every novel of hers, and buy them right after publishing. (Must write an entire post about AB as well!)This is her freshest novel, they say it's somewhat familiar to The Time Traveler's Wife. Now, I am yet to read that book (too), I only saw that film which was kind of rubbish, but the novel was a world-wide bestseller and everyone says that it is wonderful.
I had been dreaming about The Mastering the Art of French Cooking ever since I first saw Julie and Julia, learnt about and kind of fell in love with Julia Child. One (main reason) of my starting baking was JC, so no wonder I am incredibly greatful for seeing the movie and learning about this great woman. When I started baking over a year ago, I promised myself to buy both volumes of TMtAoFC, but not until I moved out of the dorm and had my own kitchen to cook and bake in. Nevertheless, I have been checking the books of Julia Child in online bookshops every once in a while, and was glad to notice that a Penguin paperback edition came out of her cook book, and it is sold for about 3000HUF in Budapest too. I was thinking about buying that, but it's a rather thick book, and since it is a cook book, you are likely to use it almost on a daily basis, and not just read through it once then keep it on the shelf for the rest of your life, so it's better to have a hardcover edition and not a paperback. However, hardcovers are rather expencive, they start at about 7000 HUF, but I was lucky, and yesterday I found a copy for $15, so I decided to buy it. This is my first cook book ever. I probably should have started with the traditional Hungarian cookbook by Horváth Ilona; you know, this is the one that each and every Hungarian housewife/mother has at home - Yep, yours too, just ask your Mom! Mine used to have one as well, until her careless daughter left her precious copy in England. I probably should master the art of Hungarian cooking first, but what the heck, I want JC (and the consumer society...) to be proud of me.
By the way, there is new book out by Julia Child, it's her correspondence with Avis DeVoto. If I had not spent about $130 on books in the past two weeks, I would buy it right now, because I adored JC's memoir, My Life in France, but I am going to pace myself somehow and wait until my birthday. One's birthday is always a great excuse to order a bunch of books.
Oh, how I wish it was summer already, and I could read silly little great fiction while lying in the grass and feeling the sun on my skin.
Correction: Actually, I kind of enjoy doing research on SP, and figuring out the details and points of my thesis.
(If you managed to read through this bloody long post, you most certainly deserve a reward! Go, get yourself a bar of chocolate!)
And here's Gilmore Girls video to accompany the theme of this post.
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