Picking the Carcass

I think it is just horrible that a nationwide chain bookstore like Borders is closing, leaving us . . . Really?  Up to 90% off of everything? I am soooo there!

After work meetings in Sacramento yesterday, we stopped for lunch in the college town of Davis.  We finished our salads or sandwiches and then went to the nearby Borders, intent on plunder. I was, anyway. We had done a mini-plunder last month, and that had been depressing, even though I did get Talking About Detective Fiction by PD James.  “Everything must go, Including Fixtures!” That’s pretty depressing.  “Bathrooms are Closed, Sorry.”  That’s depressing.  “No Sitting on the Floor.” That’s . . . just strange.

Yesterday, at the front of the store they had a circular display table with The Rising, by Temple Matthews; Book Two of a YA urban fantasy series.  (“Fantasy?  I can’t read that stuff,” said Debbie, who car-pooled with us to the meetings this month.) They had about twelve copies of Book Two, and about ten of Book Three.  Did they have Book One?  They did not.

They had Sarah Palin; America by Heart  lined up near the front, right below a row of about ten copies of Decision Points, with George W Bush’s name on the cover. Lots of America by Heart, and lots of Decision Points.  Also, an abundance of an urban fantasy called Dead on Delivery—almost as many as the Palin book.

Back, for a moment, to The Rising.  I picked one up as we walked in, thinking I would find Book One somewhere. After I cruised the literature section (score! Ward Just’s Exiles from the Garden, for $3.00!) I flipped open The Rising and read a page at random.  I decided I must have picked a bad page, so I riffled deeper into the book and read another page.  Then I walked up to the front of the store and put the book back.

So what did I get? After taxes, two books for eight dollars; the Just book, and Habitation of the Blessed by Cathrynne Valente. Valente recently put a rant on her blog about things she hates for people to say about her books.  She hates for people to say she writes like a poet.  She hates for people to say, “Her books aren’t for everyone, but. . .” Okay, since I think Valente is a prose goddess and I am terrified of incurring her wrath, here’s what I will say about her:

She writes fantasy. If you like vivid imagery and prose that pays attention to compression and rhythm, that weaves a dream-like experience rather than laying out facts, you will probably like her work. If you can tolerate ambiguity, don’t require a linear plot, and appreciate correspondences that are thematic rather than plot-driven, you will probably like her work. Or, you might hate it. It’s hard to say.

I had never read Ward Just before, but he won me over with Rodin’s Debutante so finding Garden seemed like a sign. There was only one copy (only one copy of the Valente, too, that I could see) and that also seemed like a sign.

Whatever I think of Borders (and I liked it better than Barnes and Noble), it is always sad to see a national book-chain close its doors. I suppose I should be deploring the terrible state of the paper publishing world, the economy, and corporate business, instead of gloating over my finds, but– Ward Just and Cathrynne Valente for eight dollars! Does that make me shallow? If so, I guess I’ll just have to live with it.