Used Bookstores = True Love

So, the hubby and I sneaked off for a weekend getaway at one of our favorite places--Eagles Mere Inn in Eagles Mere, PA. Eric likes it for the hiking and outdoorsy stuff within 15 minutes of the fantastic little bed & breakfast we stay in, but I like it for the fantastic (and I mean fantastic) food and the adorable little used bookstore about a block away from the Inn. Eric and I made a total killing again this year; 6 books or so for about $50. I, unfortunately, didn't have my 1,001 Books list with me so I didn't look for novels or anything (I'm trying to limit my book purchases to those that the local library system doesn't have...my reading habits already take up an oddly large portion of our money), but I've found that their selection of history non-fiction is spectacular. When we were there for our honeymoon, I bought Robertson's Stonewall Jackson and Remini's History of the House of Representatives, and this time I picked up McCullough's John Adams as well as books on the Duke Lacrosse case and the Soviet Union's activities in Eastern Europe during and after World War II. It really should be some good stuff; plus, I still need to read Remini's book that I've had for almost 2 years and just haven't gotten around to (damn college and all its silly reading requirements). So, the blog may take a bit of a turn as I read these books and others that have been sitting on my bookshelf for way too long as a result of impulse book buys and a very busy school-related reading schedule. But now that I'm unemployed, have no school obligations, and have plenty of open time to spend reading by the apartment complex pool, I should be able to move through a big chunk of the unread books on the shelves (I know, I am filling out 100s, nay 1000s of job applications too...I promise). Of course, considering the content of those bookshelves at the moment, this will mean a sometimes-long foray into novels not on the 1,001 Books list and plenty of non-fiction that I need to catch up on. I hope you'll bear with me here.

I just finished reading the U.S.A. Trilogy by John Dos Passos, and I should get a chance to post about it tomorrow sometime (probably after hitting up the farmer's market for local strawberries--I know you're jealous). I thought it was fantastic, and, even if I hated it, the novels deserve a much longer and more in-depth treatment than I can muster at the moment (I know, I'm too young to be tired at 10:30, but such is life).