Some Books from the Trip

As things get hectic with everything, I wanted to mention a few books I either were given, picked up, or were refocused upon during our northern excursion of (check notes) only a few weeks ago.

Firstly was a handover from Norm:

I read over the first page or so and got very excited to check it out. Norm and I joked about the current discourse surrounding Murakami and the women in his stories, and the back cover synopsis looks like it wouldn't do much to, or even attempt to, stifle that conversation, but...if Murakami is up to his usual tricks otherwise, that seems to paper over some of the complaints.

At the Cabin itself were a few copies of Cliff's Notes, the high school aid that helps students try to warp their head's around various works of literature. One was for Gatsby. I thumbed through it, and was intrigued by the four page summary of Fitzgerald's life. There was plenty of information I'd never known. I didn't bother with the summary, but thought about finding an old copy ad checking it out, to see if all the fuss is warranted.

Another edition of Cliff's Notes was for Wuthering Heights. Again I read the author bio, but was struck by something in the intro: on occasion Wuthering Heights has been considered ne of the greatest works in English.

Say WHAT? I mentioned that to Corrie, and said, "Yeah, I think I remember hearing that in high school somewhere."

I made sure to dust off my copy once I got home:

As a birthday gift one year my Uncle Mark got me a copies of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, written by Charlotte and Emily Bronte, with matchy-matchy dust covers. I thought they were cooler without the covers, so I removed them, and they're long gone, lost to time. I'm looking forward to getting into it.

On the walk down Solano Ave in Berkeley with Sam we visited Pegasus Books, a wonderful independent bookstore, and like usual, I found something to buy:

My only other copy was on my Kindle, but I could never really get into it, and now that my daughter buys books against my will on it, I've had to shelve it up real high. I've wanted the physical copy for a while, and not I'm getting deep into it, starting over from the beginning. It's SO good.

Cass joined Sam and I inside the bookstore and settled on the following Lego Yoda+book combo:

I thought, eh, whatever, when I agreed to get it for him. But goddamn if it isn't one of the cooler, most basic and yet deep collection of Star Wars information out there.

Okay, I'm sure there is plenty of Star Wars detritus floating in the ether. But this little Galaxy Atlas explains the orientations of the planets named in Episodes I through IX, Rogue One, Solo, and the Mandalorian, has inside jokes for most, and shows Lego examples of nearly every character throughout all 11 films and 2 seasons of the Mandalorian. It's shockingly thorough.

Sometimes you never know. But, as a rule: Always by something from independent bookstores.