How do you get your "kicks"?

[nausicaa]

I know what you mean, brenna. I've got two Achilles heels - right heel for books, left heel for films. Last year, I spent my Frosh week money ($100) and then some for a Gala pass to the Toronto International Film Fest. (Mum was hoppin' mad - being a Eng/Polisci major is bad enough...but imagine having your only child become one of those poor sods with iPods trying to sell a screenplay or some hacked directorial vision...she just wants me to be normal, that's all, w/ normal, teenage interests. )

Oooh...and 25-cent book sales!! Haven't encountered those in a while, but every time it happens, I go on a high (can we say "nerd"?) that rivals anything from partying at Brunny's. Of course - that's contingent upon me actually getting *good* books I'd be wanting to read.

Brenna, you're Canadian, aren't you? Not discriminating against Americans, but few have heard of, much less read, Margaret Atwood - even though she's such an icon this side of the border, and deservedly so. I don't know why. I mean - many Americans *I've* encountered like Alice Munro...maybe it has something to do with Munro being (kind of) similar to Eudora Welty or Flannery O'Conner? Atwood, however, is an uniquely Canadian literary voice...for example, you know you're reading Atwood when you read her works. But then again, *is* there such a thing as a specifically Canadian literary voice?

Sidebar: Canadian bestseller lists are usually more literary than American ones. No Clancy or Grisham. Make what you will of that.


Now, all American posters - feel free to feel indignant and flame me about my Canadian-centric tendancies.

[brenna]

Yep, I'm Canadian.
That's strange that most americans haven't heard of her. She's so popular over here. I never knew that. (Hey, and incidently, I got my copy of A Handmaid's Tale for 25 cents at a church bazaar!)

[Marysafan]

My husband went to a garage sale in a small town in Iowa. He saw a hard cover version of "The Blind Assasin" by Maragret Atwood in excellent condition for 50 cents and picked it up for me along with "Up Country" by Nelson Demille also in excellent conition for 50 cents.

They were both excellent reads and I went on a quest to find other books by those authors. I have since read "Cat's Eye" by Atwood and have several more of her books on my "must read soon shelf".

Being originally from the Upper Penninsula of Michigan and of French Canadian heritage...I seek out and love all things Canadian. There have been several of her books listed on ebay...so she is somewhat known here in the states.

[nausicaa]

Not nearly as much as she should be. *mutters quietly*

[nausicaa]

Oh, and Marysafan, since you're French-Canadian - have you heard of Marie-Claire Blais? Brilliant female literary figurehead of Quebec literature. I just finished reading "Anna's World", and re-read "Mad Shadows" (written when she was merely 20. Oy!) Lucid prose, so lyrical at times it feels like being immersed in warm water. Other times, it's like she scrapes your flesh with sandpaper made out of savage words. There's just no explainin' it.

Definately a writer worth checking out. Though her style is very different from Atwood's.

Sometimes I would borrow library books. Randomly. Just go to a shelf and pick something out. Eyes closed - so I'm not discriminating. Like a blind date. That's how I met Shusaku Endo's "Silence", Mikhail Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita", Yukio Mishima's "Death in Midsummer and other stories", Anne Rice's "The Vampire Chronicles", Maurice Druon's "The Iron King", Marguerite Duras' "The Lover", Ying Chen's "Ingratitude", Mario Llosa Vargos' "The Storyteller", Brian Jacques' "Redwall", Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time" (which I absolutely *hated*), and Sophie Kinsella's "The Dreamworld of a Shopaholic"...etc.

Good times.

[unexplained]

Oh man. I wish I could spend so much time reading like you nausicaa. But with all the studying I do, I can't spare anytime doing leisure reading.

I got caught reading and was forced to put it away so as to continue reading the textbooks.

[Wilde]

A great source for new and used books is www.half.com. It's like a division of ebay but you just buy outright rather than bidding. They have never not had a book that I've been looking for and I just bought a brand new paperback for .75 plus $2 s&h.

Also, it's a really fantastic source for textbooks. I've bought $70 brand new textbooks for $5 on that site before.

I'm totally tied to all my books, including textbooks. I will lend them, but I will never, never sell or get rid of them. I also re-read books quite a lot so it's good to keep them around. However, I love used book stores so I'm glad that some people do.

I love buying used books, especially used philosophy and history books, because 1) they are usually too expensive to buy outright and 2) I just love that all this fascinating stuff is getting recycled rather than trashed.