My wife and I needed a personal day today, having spent far too much time in the car this weekend. As is our habit when we have a day off, we got breakfast together and then went to our local used bookstore, 2nd and Charles.
It's owned by Books-A-Million, but is far more interesting. It's a combination of new and used books, movies, music, comics, and general nerd/pop-culture doodads. It is amazing, and is one of my favorite places to wander. Plus, since a great deal of its books are used, it's something I can afford to do more often. For example, I walked out of there with 8 books today, and only spent $50. That much at Barnes & Noble might have gotten me 3, if I was careful.
Now, on to the haul.
Children of God by Mary Doria Russell. This is the sequel to The Sparrow, which I read some years ago. The first book's premise is that, in the near future, we discover alien life in Alpha Centuri. The first expedition to meet up with them is undertaken by the Jesuits, and it all goes horribly wrong. Basically "the road to Hell is paved with good intentions", the novel. Children of God follows up with the main character of The Sparrow several months after his return.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuro Ishiguro. I've heard that, at least to a degree, knowing the background of the plot will spoil some of it. So all I know is that it's supposed to be amazing but a downer.
Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer. I don't actually know much about this one, either, but what little I've read of the setting seemed interesting. I was more interested due to the praise (it was a finalist for the Hugo Award last year), and also because I had enjoyed the author's blog in the past (she's a professor of Reinassace history as well).
Under the Skin by Michel Faber. This was made into a small-ish movie starring Scarlett Johannson. I found the movie to be eerie and otherworldly in the best possible way, and so I hope the book is equally good.
Foucould's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. I've had this book on my to-read list for years, and I finally remembered this fact when I was in a bookstore.
The Sorceror's House by Gene Wolfe. The Book of the New Sun is in my top-10 books of all time, so I'm always eager to try something else Wolfe has written.
A book of drawing prompts. I've lately gotten out of the habit of drawing, which sucks because I felt like I was making actual progress in my skill level for the first time in years. I'm hoping this will help me get back to it.
And the find that I am probably most excited about:
The Holy Qu-ran. There are numerous editions and translations out there. I've read some of A. J. Arberry's translation, but since I'm stuck (for now) with translations, I always like to find multiple versions to compare.
And I really lucked out with this one. It's the "official" edition published in Saudi Arabia, at the King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Quran. But not only that, this particular one was published in 1990, which means it uses an updated version of Abdullah Yusuf Ali's translation. This version is supposed to be a good rendition, and it also includes commentary.
This matters in particular because, regrettably, Saudi Arabia started using the Hilali-Khan translation in 1993, which has been criticized as being heavily Wahhabist (and thus overly conservative, prejudiced, and too supportive of violence) as well as a bad translation from a linguistic perspective. I have heard some criticism of the Yusuf Ali translation as being anti-Semitic in its commentary, so that's something I'll have to watch out for (assuming that's still present). Apparently too the King Fahd Complex's editors made some changes to put it back more into orthodoxy, which is a pity as the original apparently had some Sufi leanings, which is a tradition I resonate with a great deal.
The other reason that I'm super excited about this find is that this version is dual-language! I find Arabic beautiful just from an aesthetic standpoint (both as written and spoken), and Qu'rannic Arabic is next on my list of languages once I finish with Coptic. This version has both, which means I'll have a ready resource once I get there, to supplement the online versions (which thankfully are myriad and offer multiple translations in parallel).
This version is lovely in terms of aesthetics, and given its provenance I like wondering about its journey. I admit I was a little surprised that someone would sell it to some random bookstore, but maybe it was purchased for a class or something. Still, the image of a holy book sitting so unobtrusively on a shelf, having been given up, is a poweful one.
I have a love/hate relationship with 2nd & Charles. I got all of this from their free bin one day: I sold that haul for like $125 to a used CD store later. And so I kept checking their free bin and at a point moved to an apartment close enough to walk to a 2nd & Charles so I kept checking their free bin. I've still got a load of free books in my closet that I'm going to donate to a place that needs books in the future. As far as personal gain from this weird behavior, I never hit the jackpot again. I'd get a few bucks here and there. One time I found a copy of Pokémon Ruby. Because I kept checking, I had a load of used books in my car at a point and, on a lark, I tried to sell them to a different location. It worked and I walked away with a free BN nook by taking trade credit for some bestseller shit the one near me wouldn't take. The hate part is when I want something specific. The computer once told them they had three copies of Man's Search for Meaning in the store. And between me and about two employees, none of us could find any copy anywhere. I wanted to slap everyone involved in the company. The shelving is random as fuck. I swear there's been a copy of Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King in the romance section since the spring. I did get The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson there but I paid for the used discount with my effort in finding it. Whatever. I don't go near one very often now and my expectations are now very low
Word. If you ever come across it, I'd very much recommend you pick up a copy of The Study Quran. It's not as "poetic" as other versions I've read, because it's written in a more "accessible" manner, but the commentary in it is very insightful, almost to a fault. There's times where I'll be reading it and find myself reading the commentary on the Quran more than the Quran itself. While I haven't finished it, because I'm honestly not to much of a fan of books that "mess with peoples' heads" (as Dala puts it), I'd second Kazuo Ishiguro's The Burried Giant. I got about two thirds of the way through it and it's wonderfully written, both in the sense that Ishiguro does amazing work with words and also in that I feel like I'm reading a modern tale about The Matters of Britian or The Matters of France.[T]he image of a holy book sitting so unobtrusively on a shelf, having been given up, is a poweful one.
Cool, I'll have to check that out. I enjoy having my head screwed with....
Having read The Sparrow, Children of God, and Never Let Me Go, good luck to you and prepare to be messed up. I've not read any of Mary Doria Russell's other books, but I just finished Kazuo Ishiguro's The Buried Giant last week and I am pretty sure that man exists just to mess with peoples' heads.
Just the other day my gf and I figured out that a really cool used bookstore that was located 30 minutes away from us just relocated to a town much closer! I forget what she picked up, but I got a copy of Dune since I've never read it. I think we'll be back frequently.
I look forward to hearing about Dune: it's my single favorite fiction book (and series) of all time. NOTE: stay far, far away from the books written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. They're stupid garbage that completely misunderstands the original series.
Check out Goodwill for books if you don't already. The selection tends towards the demographics of the area the store is in. I thought I found a first edition of Dune there. Which is worth like$10,000 or something ridiculous. It was the Book of the Month Club edition but I also got a couple other early hardbacks from the series and sold the set to someone who would appreciate them more. I used to never shop at thrift stores for books but if you're persistent and don't go looking for anything specific it pays off
Good call, and I found the first Spanish-language edition of Don Quijote that I ever owned at a random thrift store in the Outer Banks.
I thought you were making fun of me for being some kind of thrift store get rich quick person until I read your comment again I got a first edition third print of In Cold Blood at a Goodwill. I just enjoy browsing for the most part when I'm there. Then if you find something cool it's really exciting. Primal hunter gatherer something blahhhhhh. I just think it's fun
absolutely not. You can find some really neat stuff at thrift shops. I have a neat depression and carnival glass collection that is partially inherited and partially from thrifting and yard sales. I just got a book from the library and it turns out some of my stuff might actually be worth tens of dollars, I was pretty surprised. I just bought them because they were pretty.