I didn’t write a lot about our Portland trip, and my Current Reading link is partly dishonest. What’s the connection between those two statements? Powell’s Books.
We got into Portland late on Friday, went out for a quick dinner with Shel and Vik, and crashed. Saturday we visited Ponzi Vineyards for a quick tasting, went into downtown for lunch at the Tao of Tea, and then Vik and I wandered over to Powell’s. I came away with a rare slipcased edition of Watership Down, which I had re-read in Pennsylvania and fallen in love with again, and a hardcover first edition, with dust jacket, of Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand.
I spent almost a whole year trying to read Stars in the mid-eighties when it came out, renewing it month after month from the library, and ultimately gave up. After finishing Dhalgren, I’m ready to approach it again. The only catch, and my small dishonesty, is that I haven’t read more than a few pages because I promised Lisa I’d try reading some of her books first, starting with the Belgariad. I have to say, so far I’m unimpressed with Eddings’ craft, but the plot is OK (as it had better be for a book that sprawls across two trilogies) and at least it’s a quick read. For now, though, Stars is sitting in my Current Reading slot until I finish it. Is that elitist of me? Probably. I guess I’m a poser, baby. Soy un hipócrita, so why don’t you kill me?