Fun food

There's an interesting thread about bookstores going on over at Electrolite, Patrick Nielsen Hayden's website. (Nielsen Hayden is an editor of science fiction anthologies and an editor at Tor Books.)

I always feel a little guilty when I think about bookstores, because I know that in this politically correct world I should be in favor of independent bookstores rather than big chain ones, and of course, I am--in favor of independent bookstores, I mean. I'm also in favor of big chain bookstores, and of bookstores of all types.

There have been small independent bookstores that I loved, just like there were small music stores that I loved, most of which are also gone, although I notice that the music stores don't seem to be as much affected as the bookstores, I assume because the chain bookstores charge ridiculously high prices for CDs while discounting books, in most cases. Who knows why? I don't, nor care, I suppose.

I lament the death of the small independent bookstore only because it is sad when the small businessperson loses to the big corporation, but honestly, I love the big bookstores. I love being able to go to Border's and find just about any book I want, any time. I like Barnes & Noble, too, but less than Border's--B&N seems to me to have much less selection than Border's, and very seldom has anything other than (as far as fiction goes) the classics and the most popular writers; and even then, only the most recent issues. But they're open until 11:00 every night, and they're sort of on my way home, so I do sometimes stop there.

They annoy me with their frequent buyer club card, though; I wish Border's had one.

I'm enough of an old fuddy-duddy to be annoyed by the cafés, although I'm not entirely sure why. I do know that I'm also annoyed by the people who come to both B&N and Border's (although mostly B&N, it seems) as some kind of vacation destination, collecting a large pile of magazines and books, ensconcing themselves in an overstuffed chair, and proceeding to read them all, with no intention of buying anything. Whatever happened to libraries for that kind of thing? Oh, right. No café.

I'm not at all thrilled at the thought of buying a book or magazine for full price that someone else has already read and probably spilled coffee on. It would never even occur to me to gather up all the newest issues of magazines and take them with me to read as I have a snack or cup of coffee, then return to them to the racks. I guess I have more respect for the pristine printed word than that. It's not that I never read anything that I haven't paid for--I visit the library almost every weekend--but this isn't a library, it's a bookstore. Ah well. I know it's silly, and it's a losing battle, one that I'm not really fighting, except sometimes I feel like I am when I'm climbing over the legs of someone sprawled in a chair in the middle of the science fiction section of Barnes & Noble . . .

Last night's dinner was Caesar salad, French bread, and ravioli, which is way up there on my list of fun food. Ravioli!

Tonight I think we're going to get grocery store Chinese. We took a risk a few weeks ago and tried it, and it was good, so we've gotten it a few times since then. It's not as good as Chinese restaurant Chinese, of course, but it's a LOT cheaper--about 1/3 the price, and it's not bad.

My only complaint is that it's always the same, there are never any new or different dishes. I get rice noodles, braised stringbeans and crab rangoon. Bob gets fried rice and eggrolls, and he's tried several different entreés. At about $5.00 for each of us, not bad.

Gard came into my office this afternoon, saw my desktop, and called out to the office in general, "Willa has an elf fetish!"