Wandering the Shelves

And he returns…

I came back to the computer on Saturday night and stared at the keyboard, unable to think of something to say. I wrote the first line of about six different thoughts, but they all dissipated into random tangents before they were fully formed.

Sunday evening was spent roaming the shelves of the local Barnes and Noble. Growing up, I never was a recreational reader, unlike the rest of my family. My sister, Amy, can literally read two books a day, if so inclined. I enjoyed to read, I just thought there were better ways to be spending my day. Couldn't figure out all the hype.

It's an aquired taste. I remember sitting in the house I grew up in, all of eleven, begging my father to let me have a cup of coffee. I found it repulsive, of course, and couldn't fathom why he drank the filthy stuff. It wasn't until a couple years ago that I truly started to enjoy reading for reading's sake. Now I could spend hours in a Barnes and Noble.

I bought two books: The Dive From Claussen's Pier by Ann Packer, and The Year's Best in Science Fiction, an anthology I try to grab whenever I see a new one.

I picked up Claussen's Pier after stumbling across the Lifetime movie adaptation, starring Michelle Trachtenberg and Sean Maher, both of Joss Whedon fame (Buffy and Firely, repectively). The user reviews on IMDb just tore it apart, each of every one of them praising the book. So, I bought it.

Just finished it. My manhood aside, it's worth a read. It's never something I thought I'd want to touch, let alone recommend to others. A tale about a midwestern girl running away to New York after her fiance (and high school sweetie) becomes a quadriplegic – c'mon now, that's not at all manly. It was really good, though.

It's amazing what you find when you step outside your normal boundaries.