Anybody here ever read The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie? I just finished it yesterday and would like to talk it over a bit.

Probably too long ago to be of any use in a discussion. I've never seen the movie at all. Sorry.

And Coffee People! Machismo Mouse!

Not so much anymore. Coffee People retains the name, but was bought out by Starbucks. You can still get Black Tiger there.

Machismo Mouse crashed and apparently only has one franchise left, I'm not sure where. ::shrugs::

Still, Portland is wonderful. Meara, save time to visit the Rose Garden (not the arena, the actual garden) in Washington Park, particularly if it's clear. Gorgeous views, beautiful roses. And yes, go to Powell's.

They'd moved the children's section since I'd been there (and expanded it hugely); I was all disoriented.

Meara, you do need self-control at Powell's, but the good thing is they shelve used copies with the new ones, so you can often find a version in your budget.

And the Chinese Classical Garden is only a few blocks away. Very beautiful and calming.

I've lived in Portland for 15 years now, and would not live anywhere else.

I lived there from 1990 to 1994, and every time I go back I wonder why I ever left.

And then I remember: I like to eat.

Also? Clothes and housing are cool too.

meara, which used bookstore is the one you've been visiting in DC?

Second Story in Dupont is very hit or miss. Bonifant up on Georgia Avenue is much better (I think that's where it is). Book Bank in Old Town is also hit or miss.

Nutty, have you seen the film recently?

Not in probably 3 years, but one does not forget That Voice and That Accent saying "I am in my prime." I don't think I entirely appreciated what a role that is when I saw the movie for the first time.

The really confusing part is that the movie and the book have different plots, in some ways, but at least on the surface have the same point. But I'm not sure that the point stays the same once you get below the surface. I never felt particularly sorry for movie-Brodie, but I pitied her terribly in the book.

It's "Pages from a Young Girl's Journal." I think the easiest place to find it (still in print, also likely to be in libraries) is Alan Ryan's Penguin Book of Vampire Stories. Oh! Which also has the Fritz Leiber, one of the novellas that makes up The Vampire Tapestry, and C.L. Moore's "Shambleau," which I love with a mad passion. And really lovely romantic vampire story called "Bite Me Not; or Fleur-de-Feu" by Tanith Lee.

I have that! I love, love, love it! I've had it for years, and I regularly re-read it.

Jilli, if you don't have it, you must own it. It's a great anthology. It's got Wellman's "School for the Unspeakable" and excerpts from "Varney the Vampire" and Byron's vampire novella.

I read "Sunshine" and it was...fine. Nothing amazng, to me, but certainly good enough for an afternoon's reading. It's not up to par with "Hero and the Crown" or "The Blue Sword."

Edited for idiot-speak

Bonifant up on Georgia Avenue is much better (I think that's where it is)

Ooh, I'll have to look that one up...

The one I've been going to is up in Gaithersburg, but it's quite fabulous--it's a total semi-underground warren of bookshelves, and the first few times you go, you keep discovering new rooms you didn't know were there. Cramped, but packed. It's near the Nordstrom Rack, too. Shady Grove Road. I used to work right near it, but now it's a hassle to get to. There's a Second Story books about a block from work, but I'm very not impressed by their selection of mystery/scifi, even though they're HUGE.

I just remembered another vampire book: "Children of the Night" by Dan Simmons. There's a lot of present-day stuff about hematology science and AIDS, but everything he wrote about the country of Romania under Ceaucescu was more horrifying than the monster, and that is saying something.

meara,

The Book Alcove? I live real close to that store, and it is way cool. (Reminder to self: next available Saturday, see what books you can sell there from the chair o' culled books)