Let's Go Hunting...

... book hunting, that is.

So, devoted readers, I am now back in the land of academia, where mountains are made of molehills, minutia is debated, French words are mangled by students who have no experience in such an area (that would be me), etc., etc. In the midst of dodging the debates and trying not to sound like a complete idiot in French class (which ship has already sailed, btw), I'm also taking my first honours class: Technologies of the Book.

Isn't the name of this textbook
magnificent? It's a reader. I'm
feeling so very Laura Ingalls
right now. Pretty cover, too!

I know fellow readers and writers are filled with as much delight and glee as I am at the thought of such a class even being offered, never mind one's being allowed to take it! But taking it I am. I read the introductory chapter of our textbook as assigned, and throughout I had this overwhelming urge to get up, dash outside... and head for the nearest used bookstore.

What can I say, bookstores call me. Used bookstores, even more so. I love the smell of old books, I love seeing notes in the margin to show that this book was used and loved before. I don't even mind the occasional coffee stain, as long as it doesn't obscure the words; that tells me that a kindred spirit once sat with this book and read with coffee in hand, much as I do with my delicious cups of tea. Unfortunately, one of the curators of the university book collection spoiled that for me a bit by telling us that the smell of old books was merely the old chemicals off-gassing. Dang-- I'll never smell a library in the same way again.

So, who's with me? Let's go hunting! Grab your tote, head out, and see what treasures await you in the used bookstores of your vicinity. And don't come back until you find some good ones!