Thursday, September 20, 2007

Two Books From Bookmooch

I've received my first two books from Bookmooch this week. So the circle is now complete: I give, and I have received.

I'm mindful of my Mooch points though. I don't want to squander them recklessly on books that I could just have easily borrowed from the library. Somebody has to pay the postage afterall. So far, I have resisted mooching the few Graham Greene and Somerset Maugham novels available. Resist, resist.

Instead, I've mooched Barry Lopez's Arctic Dreams and an out-of-print edition of Nicola Griffith's Slow River.

Arctic Dreams is part of my ongoing reading on literature of Ice and Cold. The description on Amazon UK calls it is "a book which could be compared to Chatwin's The Songlines for its combination of travelogue and poetic vision." I had my eye on the title for about two years. Finally, my own copy.

As for Slow River -- I hate to admit the kind of bone-headed narrow-mindedness at work here -- because the protagonist is lesbian, my local library refuses to stock it. Hence I had to resort to other means of acquisition. I'm convinced to pick this book up after this review here.

I just need to find the time to read them.

6 comments:

chrisa511 said...

Well it's about time that you got to mooch something after your trials and tribulations with getting started ;)

Don't you love the feeling of finally getting a book that you've been wanting for a couple of years? It's one of the best! Those books tend to get a special place on my shelf.

As for Slow River and your local library refusing to stock it, I still remained baffled at the ignorance of modern society, but I guess that I shouldn't be surprised anymore. Are things ever going to change? I really wonder what century we're in sometimes...

darkorpheus said...

oh yes, my teething problem with Bookmooch. :) On hindsight, there were more good than bad experiences, so it's okay.

I know what you mean about those long awaited books. But I'll need space on my shelves though. :)

As for the librarians -- they were trying to do their job without getting into trouble, I guess.

These days, the most vocal public opinions seem to be the ones that don't read. But they want to police what goes into the libraries and the bookstores.

It's like the Yeats poem:

"The best lacks all convictions,
While the worst are full of passionate intensity."

Anonymous said...

i hope your mooching goes better this time around. but seeing that you're getting an out-of-print book illustrates just how valuable book mooch can be! :)

Andi said...

I'm hoarding about 11 mooch points at the moment, toiling over what to get. Decisions, decisions.

Enjoy your books!

Rebecca H. said...

I haven't decided how it's best to use those book mooch points -- for rare things? for things I wouldn't buy? for things I'm not sure about? I can see why each of these reasons would work, but they contradict each other.

darkorpheus said...

Jean Pierre Oh yes -- it's nice to have an out of print book -- but that's only because I was lucky. There's two other out-of-print books I really want, but the moochers who have them only ship within the US. *sigh*

Andi & Dorothy W Yeah, the dilemma of how to use the mooch points wisely. I could go on a mooching spree, but then -- I would like to use it for the rare/hard to find books too.

But then, so have all these mooch points and not to use them -- seems a waste.