Lit Fest 2011
Jun. 6th, 2011 08:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
danalwynI imagine that the city fathers of Chicago hate me.
I imagine that their conversations go something like this:
City Father 1: You know who I hate? People like [danAlwyn]
City Father 2: Yeah, they're a bunch of bastards. All they do is sit around and try not to spend money.
CF1: And without that money, our diabolical plan to keep all city streets in a state of permanent construction is doomed to fail.
CF2: I have a clever plan! We'll rope off a city street or two, call it a festival or something, and then we'll fill it with an incredible number of folding tables loaded with used books at bargain prices!
CF1: And then after they spend their money, they'll spend the rest of the day hauling around huge, heavy bags of books and give themselves sore backs!
CF2: It's perfectly diabolical!
Together: BWAHAHAHAHAHA
So you can tell how my Sunday went.
Latin America's Wars: Volume I: I already have volume II, which has been of tremendous assistance since it lists dozens of conflicts that most Americans are either not aware of or would rather forget. I've been looking for volume I for a while, as it has even more obscure stuff about the part of the hemisphere we tend to forget.
The Middle Kingdom: Volume II: A politically incorrect, racially charged, and archaically translated series of observations and descriptions of China. Only Volume II was available. Normally I don't condone personal observation in my historical narrative, but seeing as how the first edition apparently came out in 1848, before we had access to much else, I might give him a bit of a pass.
The Last Empress: Madame Chiang Kai-Shek and the Birth of Modern China: I bought this out of curiosity as to what it would say. Chiang Kai-Shek himself is a figure of oriental despotism (can I even say that anymore?) who has invoked numerous examinations and analogies. His wife isn't highly regarded either. I was wondering if this book would explain the complex, fantasy world of the Chiangs.
D&D 3.0 Dungeon Master's Guide: I don't game, so this was just bought out of a need for completion, and because I thought it might have something neat in it.
The Onion: Volume 14: Oh come on, it was two dollars.
In the Hot Zone: One Man, One Year, Twenty Wars: Always good to learn about the way the world really is, including the similarities and differences between each of the places we like to pretend don't exit. Also, it was two dollars.
Cities and People: A Social and Architectural History: Indulging my fetish for urban design and planning.
Cyrano de Bergerac: You know, I'll probably never read it, but it was twenty cents.
A bunch of other twenty cent books: You know what happens when there's a five for a dollar bargain bin. It isn't pretty.
I imagine that their conversations go something like this:
City Father 1: You know who I hate? People like [danAlwyn]
City Father 2: Yeah, they're a bunch of bastards. All they do is sit around and try not to spend money.
CF1: And without that money, our diabolical plan to keep all city streets in a state of permanent construction is doomed to fail.
CF2: I have a clever plan! We'll rope off a city street or two, call it a festival or something, and then we'll fill it with an incredible number of folding tables loaded with used books at bargain prices!
CF1: And then after they spend their money, they'll spend the rest of the day hauling around huge, heavy bags of books and give themselves sore backs!
CF2: It's perfectly diabolical!
Together: BWAHAHAHAHAHA
So you can tell how my Sunday went.
Latin America's Wars: Volume I: I already have volume II, which has been of tremendous assistance since it lists dozens of conflicts that most Americans are either not aware of or would rather forget. I've been looking for volume I for a while, as it has even more obscure stuff about the part of the hemisphere we tend to forget.
The Middle Kingdom: Volume II: A politically incorrect, racially charged, and archaically translated series of observations and descriptions of China. Only Volume II was available. Normally I don't condone personal observation in my historical narrative, but seeing as how the first edition apparently came out in 1848, before we had access to much else, I might give him a bit of a pass.
The Last Empress: Madame Chiang Kai-Shek and the Birth of Modern China: I bought this out of curiosity as to what it would say. Chiang Kai-Shek himself is a figure of oriental despotism (can I even say that anymore?) who has invoked numerous examinations and analogies. His wife isn't highly regarded either. I was wondering if this book would explain the complex, fantasy world of the Chiangs.
D&D 3.0 Dungeon Master's Guide: I don't game, so this was just bought out of a need for completion, and because I thought it might have something neat in it.
The Onion: Volume 14: Oh come on, it was two dollars.
In the Hot Zone: One Man, One Year, Twenty Wars: Always good to learn about the way the world really is, including the similarities and differences between each of the places we like to pretend don't exit. Also, it was two dollars.
Cities and People: A Social and Architectural History: Indulging my fetish for urban design and planning.
Cyrano de Bergerac: You know, I'll probably never read it, but it was twenty cents.
A bunch of other twenty cent books: You know what happens when there's a five for a dollar bargain bin. It isn't pretty.