We went to Kinokuniya Book World the other day. It's a massive book store with all the love and care of the written word that you'd find in a place like Powell's, only without the attractive sense of disorder. Despite my great love of books, a trip to the bookstore - especially one as magnificent as Kinokuniya - almost always leaves me feeling demoralized. I always see about 16,000 books I'd like to read and of course there is no chance of purchasing them all. Not only would the cost be prohibitive, but we spent several agonizing hours paring down our book collection back in May and the last thing we need to do is build it up again. It's even more heartbreaking visiting an English-language bookstore here in the Middle East because the consolation of finding a specific book at the library instead is far from a sure thing.
Sigh. If only.
The other downside of going to a bookstore is that (here, at least) they have all the pretty UK covers on the books. It's enough to make me want to re-purchase books I already own. There were gorgeous Chronicles of Narnia sets that put our ragged used Amazon copies to shame. I also saw a set of Little House on the Prairie books that were illustrated in color. Beautiful. Then there was your requisite stack of Twilight books, but look at the covers!
Aren't they lovely?
We already own all the Harry Potter books but of course it's a mix of paperback and hardback that irritates my perfectionist bookshelf organization tendencies. Wouldn't it be fun to start fresh with this version of the covers?
Although when it comes to this copy of Mockingjay, I think I prefer the original US hardback cover. I swear I stopped reading that book for a few moments every once in a while just so I could stroke it lovingly.
Which brings me back to how much I love books and thus how painful it is for me to leave a bookstore even the tiniest bit empty-handed. Sigh.
Sigh. If only.
The other downside of going to a bookstore is that (here, at least) they have all the pretty UK covers on the books. It's enough to make me want to re-purchase books I already own. There were gorgeous Chronicles of Narnia sets that put our ragged used Amazon copies to shame. I also saw a set of Little House on the Prairie books that were illustrated in color. Beautiful. Then there was your requisite stack of Twilight books, but look at the covers!
We already own all the Harry Potter books but of course it's a mix of paperback and hardback that irritates my perfectionist bookshelf organization tendencies. Wouldn't it be fun to start fresh with this version of the covers?
Although when it comes to this copy of Mockingjay, I think I prefer the original US hardback cover. I swear I stopped reading that book for a few moments every once in a while just so I could stroke it lovingly.
Which brings me back to how much I love books and thus how painful it is for me to leave a bookstore even the tiniest bit empty-handed. Sigh.