B&N
It's when the guy says on the microphone that the store will close in 30 minutes that I realize I've been in Barnes and Noble for about 3 hours.
It's been 3 hours and I've checked all the fiction shelves and the philosophy shelves and the history shelves and the "Who knew?" shelves and I just couldn't decide on what to buy. I was looking forward to that moment, though. But after the first 1/2 hour, no book seemed interesting enough. Because lately I had seen plenty of coincidences regarding Ayn Rand's books, I thought I'd try one. But after reading a couple of pages, I realized I really didn't want to read a book like that. I felt more like reading again Camus's Stranger but I didn't have the heart to read a translation.
At some point, I decided to return to the beginning of the alphabet of the fiction shelves when I overheard the end of a conversation between a black woman and a B & N employee.
"Where can I find Oprah's edition of the Faulkner book?
-- "First floor."
The black woman was on the fat side, in her mid 40s, dressed in pink and wearing mules (for me, mules rank only second behind flip-flops as a sure sign of the decay of the civilized world.) I stood next to her for a few minutes while she was checking the other books on "Oprah's bookclub" (or whatever they call it.) It really burnt my tongue to ask her. And then, I decided not to and she left shortly after. But then I turned toward the young black employee and she seemed smart and sympathetic so I asked her: "Hi, excuse me but I'm just curious. I heard this lady's request and I was wondering what's the difference between Oprah's edition of Faulkner and the standard edition? Because, I saw that you had Faulkner's books over there, so I don't understand why..."
She rolls her eyes and smiles and she says: "It's because Oprah has this bookclub where she tells people which books are good, which books to read and one day an author (I think she said Franzen or Foer) refused to be recommended by her so she was pissed and decided to only recommend books by dead authors from then on. And Faulkner is dead so she recommends it. But it's the same edition except that there's her name on the cover as well. It just appeals to a certain middle class... I told her we had Faulkner's books here but she only wants Oprah's edition. I can't tell you why. They are the same."
So later that day, I checked on the Net which of Faulkner's books Oprah thought people should read. And here we go: As I Lay Dying, Light in August and The Sound and the Fury. The latter is one of my favorites books, all categories. Of course, Absolom! is not in Oprah's list and it's no surprise. As for As I Lay Dying, it's one of Faulkner's easiest book so I'm not surprised. But I'd give a lot (well, if I had a lot, that is...) to see the face of that woman or any Oprah's fan trying to read The Sound and the Fury. I think that the opening pages of that book are amongst the most beautiful pages written by an American author. I have two copies of this book in France and none here, so from time to time I pick it up the shelve in a public library or a bookstore and read them.
Finally went home with a copy of Will Christopher Baer's book. For some reason, I can only read hardboiled fiction or minimalist writing these days.
Also these days, I have this urge to write, but I can't.
It's been 3 hours and I've checked all the fiction shelves and the philosophy shelves and the history shelves and the "Who knew?" shelves and I just couldn't decide on what to buy. I was looking forward to that moment, though. But after the first 1/2 hour, no book seemed interesting enough. Because lately I had seen plenty of coincidences regarding Ayn Rand's books, I thought I'd try one. But after reading a couple of pages, I realized I really didn't want to read a book like that. I felt more like reading again Camus's Stranger but I didn't have the heart to read a translation.
At some point, I decided to return to the beginning of the alphabet of the fiction shelves when I overheard the end of a conversation between a black woman and a B & N employee.
"Where can I find Oprah's edition of the Faulkner book?
-- "First floor."
The black woman was on the fat side, in her mid 40s, dressed in pink and wearing mules (for me, mules rank only second behind flip-flops as a sure sign of the decay of the civilized world.) I stood next to her for a few minutes while she was checking the other books on "Oprah's bookclub" (or whatever they call it.) It really burnt my tongue to ask her. And then, I decided not to and she left shortly after. But then I turned toward the young black employee and she seemed smart and sympathetic so I asked her: "Hi, excuse me but I'm just curious. I heard this lady's request and I was wondering what's the difference between Oprah's edition of Faulkner and the standard edition? Because, I saw that you had Faulkner's books over there, so I don't understand why..."
She rolls her eyes and smiles and she says: "It's because Oprah has this bookclub where she tells people which books are good, which books to read and one day an author (I think she said Franzen or Foer) refused to be recommended by her so she was pissed and decided to only recommend books by dead authors from then on. And Faulkner is dead so she recommends it. But it's the same edition except that there's her name on the cover as well. It just appeals to a certain middle class... I told her we had Faulkner's books here but she only wants Oprah's edition. I can't tell you why. They are the same."
So later that day, I checked on the Net which of Faulkner's books Oprah thought people should read. And here we go: As I Lay Dying, Light in August and The Sound and the Fury. The latter is one of my favorites books, all categories. Of course, Absolom! is not in Oprah's list and it's no surprise. As for As I Lay Dying, it's one of Faulkner's easiest book so I'm not surprised. But I'd give a lot (well, if I had a lot, that is...) to see the face of that woman or any Oprah's fan trying to read The Sound and the Fury. I think that the opening pages of that book are amongst the most beautiful pages written by an American author. I have two copies of this book in France and none here, so from time to time I pick it up the shelve in a public library or a bookstore and read them.
Finally went home with a copy of Will Christopher Baer's book. For some reason, I can only read hardboiled fiction or minimalist writing these days.
Also these days, I have this urge to write, but I can't.
posted by Cecyl at 11:13 PM
1 Comments:
hi and hi....
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