Has anyone read Music of the Spheres or something like that (maybe a longer title)? I'm listening to it on the iPod before bed, and I can't tell if it's good or I just like hearing Tim Curry read me to sleep. I haven't gotten very far, and I'm wondering if there's something I might enjoy more.

Has anyone read Sue Monk Kidd's new book, The Mermaid Chair? I'm pretty sure my mother loved The Secret Life of Bees, so I was thinking about getting this for her for her upcoming birthday, BUT the review on amazon says

Jesse, thanks for mentioning the connection to The Secret Lives of Bees. Mom loved that book; I'll have to look into the Mermaid Chair for Mother's Day.

Heh. David, San Francisco is rather specially gifted in used bookstores, though. Many places, I don't end up in ANY used bookstores! Though I admit, when I went to Portland I was in Powell's about an hour after I touched down in the airport. :)

I have been known to carry more books back than I carried to my destination, though. In fact, that probably happens most times. I mean...why buy books if I'm just going to toss them?

I'm thinking on this round-the-world trip, though, I'll have to buy some crappy books that I don't mind exchanging--hopefully can swap them at hostels or sell them at used bookstores to keep my load light.

David, San Francisco is rather specially gifted in used bookstores, though.

It's true. When I was growing up, I'd excitedly wait for the new Yellow Pages to see if there were any new bookstores within reach of me and my bike. Now I can take them for granted. I basically know where they all are, but I don't have to hit all of them to get what I want. It's usually enough for me to hit the ones on Haight Street, or swoop by a few in Berkeley when I collect Emmett.

Speaking of which...wish me good traffic.

Aw, Hec, that's great. I've never had a used bookstore like my favorite since. It was run by a Cool Dad that brought his daughter in there all the time. But a new one has opened I think. And of course Changing Hands, Lefty Mecca.

Anyone who comes to Salt Lake, there is a bookstore here that rivals Powells. Seriously. It's called Sam Weller's, and it's right downtown. Yes, they shelve the used books with the new. Yes, they have an independant coffee shop inside. Yes, they have the obligatory used book store basement, so byzitinely designed you need a guide book and a trail of crumbs to find your way out.

you need a guide book and a trail of crumbs to find your way out.

"Out"? I don't understand. People actually try to get out?

That's the mother ship, baby!

Yes, but even the employees are afraid to venture down there. Particularly into the "Biography" section. There's no way you can get food delivered to you.

And you will soon run out of crumbs.

Well, I always knew, in the back of my mind, that books would kill me one way or another.

Mmmm, Sam Weller's ... the basement ... down the stairs, around the pillar, over the raised bit where they cut the hole through the wall, down a step and through the door ...