When you were a little kid, did your parents ever give you a dollar to spend anyway you wanted at the candy store? (are there still candy stores?) It was always such a hard decision for me to figure out just what combination of chocolate would be, not only the most enjoyable but the longest lasting. Oh how the tension would mount as I slowly made my way through the store, looking at all the chocolate before making my decision. AND THEN, once I'd made my decision, there was always that stray gummy sour that caught my eye - should I switch it out for one of the lesser (filler really) chocolates?!? With my candy laid out before me, impatient parental figures behind me, and the saliva building up in anticipation, I quickly made the switch and my decision. After all, a sour gummy is a nice compliment to the smooth, creamy chocolate, right?
Apparently not much has changed, not even the saliva build up. Except now, my candy store is the book store.
A couple of days ago I returned home to find a box sitting on my doorstep, left by our friendly UPS guy. Inside were treasures from my mom - some books (of course), curtains she and my grandmother had made, and a $25 gift card to Barnes and Noble. I felt my saliva glands activate immediately. Keeping my cool, I unpacked and appreciated the contents of the box fully and didn't even suggest a trip to the bookstore until the following day.
When we got there, we set up camp at the cafe, each of us taking turns to wander the store while the other guarded the table. When it was my turn, it was just like being back in that candy store when I was six. I slowly perused the bargain section before making my way over to new fiction. I noticed the paperback of Mathilda Savitch was in a prime spot on their display and that most of the Jacob de Zoets had made it out into an aisle display. I pulled a few new books off the shelf, thumbed through to the copyright page to check out the edition, then flipped back to the cover to read the synopsis. I wrote a few titles down for later research, then moved on to Fiction.
I knew the book I would get the moment I laid eyes on it. In utter amazement, I discovered three hard cover copies of Mathilda Savitch tucked into the shelf with spines sticking out. I pulled one off the shelf, opened it up to the copyright page fully expecting to find the third, fourth, or even 10th printing, but no. Barnes and Noble had on its shelf, not one, but three first editions of this book. I tucked one copy under my arm and headed back to the cafe pleased with my choice.
Just as I was about to enter the cafe, though, a wild hare caught me and I diverted to the Teen section. I figured since I had my trusty notebook with me I could, at the very least, write down any titles that looked interesting - to research later. Starting at the end and working my way back towards the As, I found a couple books to look into. But it wasn't until I hit the last (first) section that a wrench was thrown into the works. Here on the first bookshelf of the teen section was the equivalent to my gummy sour: Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi. I picked it up and flipped to the copyright page making a deal with myself that if it wasn't a first edition, I'd put it back and there would be no problem. Of course, I knew it was a first edition. Even though Bacigalupi was an award winning author, this book had just been released a week or two earlier - there hadn't been time for it to go into 2nd printings. I couldn't put it back, not yet.
With my two books in hand, I walked back to the cafe and began weighing the pros and cons. I was six years old again and dealing with the most crucial decision that a six year old could possibly face in a candy store, Chocolate or gummy sour?
One of the great things about being an adult is the ability to decide outside the set parameters. Truth is, if I had to choose, I would've put Ship Breaker back because it was a newer release - and if I hadn't started to read it in the cafe, I probably would've put it back. It pulled me in much more quickly than did Bacigalupi's adult novel (The Windup Girl) - which either tells me his adult novels are too complex for me, or he should stick to young adult books - either way, it came home with me. So, too, did Mathilda Savitch. The $25 gift card paid for one of the books, the credit card for the other - and I don't at all regret the decision.
I will let you guys know how the books are. They've been bumped to the head of the line and are next in queue.
Labels: Bacigalupi, Barnes and Noble, books, candy store, chocolate, first edition, gift card, gummy sour, Mathilda Savitch, Ship Breaker, victor lodato
