Thursday, March 27, 2008

Books, books galore!

The little brother and I went to Myopic Books yesterday, as I attempted to show him one of the more "well known" neighborhoods in Chicago -- Wicker Park. He tracked down a copy of "Wicked," the story that's now the play, which he saw when he was in Chicago last May. I, on the other hand, hit the Judaica section (this is the place where I tried to sell some of my Judaica and they said "Sorry, they're just not selling well").

I left with a copy of Maimonides' "Mishneh Torah," the abridged edition, annotated with an introduction by Philip Birnbaum, published 1974 (from what I can tell). The true selling point (other than its usefulness) was a tidbit in the introduction that read,
"Anyone reading this book carefully will greatly help reduce our generation's painful ignorance of the contents of Judaism's traditional literature."
That, folks, is plenty a reason to pick up this book.

I also picked up a copy of "Living Judaism" by Rabbi Wayne Dosick, which means I can pull it off my Amazon Wish List. I kept seeing this book everywhere I went, but I couldn't bring myself to pick it up fresh. So here was a used copy, in perfect condition for $6.50. Hot dog! What a steal.

Of course, neither of these purchases helps with my overflowing book problem. Luckily, I returned many books to the library (mostly those that I'd checked out for reading-up for the class I attended while checking out schools last year). Right now I'm reading "Heat" by Bill Buford -- a non-Judaic book, but an amazing book that I can't seem to put down (it's for a bookclub, actually). I'm still into "Constantine's Sword," but I'm about ready to just give up on that and pick it up in another lifetime when I have the time to sit down with a 700-page giant. There are about five other books that are sort of sitting in the wings that, well, aren't super high on my list of priorities to indulge in. I am, however, going to start putting some books on hold at the library (the pocketbook thanks me), since I finally paid off my $1.50 fine (a late fee for CS, of course). Did I mention that the library is literally around the corner? Yah, I'm just slow.

Here's to books, read, unread, and piling up all over my studio apartment.