I see Dean as having a small collection of books that he discovered along the years that he loves for random reasons-- maybe one that Cassie gave him, and another one that he had to read in high school and fell in love with anyway, and one that he picked up from the hospital book cart when he was laid up with a broken leg when he was 23.

He never told John though, and he still hides them from Sam.

rewatching Playthings and I have no idea why I thought the drunk!Sam scene was only mildly bad.

Mayhaps I was drunk...

And even with the previouslies focusing on Ava's disappearance and the murder of her fiance, even with the opening scene being about Sam and Dean trying to find her, and even with that pissed off look as Sam watches from the window after the company man is found hung in his room, it still was way out of the blue. *

If there had been some build-up of frustration simmering to the boiling point in Sam througout the ep, I could buy the scene for the context, if not the delivery, but I don't see any support in JP's performance or the writing really to get Sam to that point.

I don't think Dean reads for pleasure. I think he has his head full with the research reading he has to do and doesn't understand the concept of reading for fun. Unless it's the "articles" in Playboy and Maxim.

But that's coming from someone who has a brother who puts on some of the same fronts as Dean (but my brother does devour insect and animal ID books, and makes a pretense of owning the Jackie Chan definitive biography, although he's never read more than the chapter titles.)

* and that sounds like I'm deliberately ignoring the evidence, but I don't think I am. The emotional build-up wasn't there, and the lip-service was barely there, and not played for the right tone-- not even written in the right tone. In the scene when they're looking for Ava, and Sam brings up the new job, it's played straight. There's no guilt, there's just that nauseatingly healthy attitude that is, well, played straight, and not that there's some underlying angst and guilt. Even Sam's need to save people if they can't find Ava isn't played with the emotional fervor of someone who feels like they need to redeem themselves through good acts or else be put down before they do something horrible. I think I really could accept the bad drunkeness if the lead-up was executed better.

And now I shall put this dead horse in the ground and salt it's bones and burn it.

I see Dean as having a small collection of books that he discovered along the years that he loves for random reasons-- maybe one that Cassie gave him, and another one that he had to read in high school and fell in love with anyway, and one that he picked up from the hospital book cart when he was laid up with a broken leg when he was 23.

I can see this. I was being a little mean to poor Dean.

I can see the Cassie thing, and the hospital book cart thing so easily. The book cart book might be something like ... Ludlum. Or possibly Pet Semetary, which I could see him really getting into for a lot of reasons.

The Cassie one and the school one I would have to think about. Maybe To Kill a Mockingbird.

Or possibly Pet Semetary, which I could see him really getting into for a lot of reasons.

"Dude, I totally need to know this shit in case we ever run across a zombifying cemetary!"

Dean used to have a stash of Blue Moon titles, found by chance in a laundromat in El Paso after Sam left, but before he went off on his own. We're talking about some messed-up shit, but compelling. Man, who knew frig really meant something dirty?

Sadly, they went missing after the accident.

If Dean ever searched through Sam's duffle, he'd find a stack of fairly harmless Earl Emerson paperbacks that didn't seem to quite fit right in their covers, some of them with some glue smudges along the edge of the spine.

Lucky for Sam, even if Dean does search Sam's duffle, he's unlikely to pop open a worn copy of Yellow Dog Party or Nervous Laughter.

Hee. Exactly, Matt! But I was also thinking about subconsciously planting the seed of bringing someone back.

God, that was a creepy book.

What's Blue Moon, Plei?

Why do I not know, really, any of the books you're talking about.

Also, insent to you a while ago. A little prezzie. Never mind! I should check my email before I post!

Blue Moon Books is the publisher that reprinted about 95% of the stuff in my Victorian and Edwardian erotica collection.

Earl Emerson writes mysteries with great action scenes, a fabulous sense of place, and craptastic women.

Ah. Interesting.

And yes, I made these personal fanon decisions by turning my head left, instead of right.

Right, and Sam would have shoved all of the text of Wanton Women (a trade-sized Blue Moon book) into The Crimson Petal and the White (about the same size, and currently next to the former on my floor, sharing space with Everything's Eventual).