Today, I plan on walking down to Aqua Books, a local used bookstore, at lunch. I’ll be taking the fiction zeitgeist with me. If you have any last minute additions let me know in the comments.
I’m always struck by one particular thing every time I happen upon Aqua Books. It’s not the excellent selection of books. It’s not the excellent theology section, a rare thing I think. And it’s not the hip caricature of the store owner outside. Nope, what gets me every time is just how clean the place is. Maybe it’s just that their nearest competitor is infamously filthy – and, I mean, really, really filthy – but, still, that place is pretty clean.
Now, if I can’t find any books from the list I think I’m going to end up buying Miracle Monday by Elliot S! Maggin. I saw it there a few weeks ago and I hope it’s still there. Miracle Monday is the sequel to the 1978 novel adaptation of Superman: The Movie. An adaptation which had nothing to do with the movie but had everything to do with what Elliot S! Maggin thought Superman should be about. I read the adaptation when I was a kid and was completely and totally surprised by it. It’s far better than it has any right to be. It’s currently on my basement bookshelf with all the Burroughs and Robeson books I’ve permanently borrowed from father. I only recently found out there was a sequel. I have to have it.
I’m not sure what to say about this. How should one feel about going into a used bookstore carrying a short list of some of the best fiction from the past ten years and quite possibly coming out with a novel about Superman?
I hope it’s still there so I can find out.
Update:
I bought Miracle Monday. I feel great. I think I’ll read it this summer instead of my usual summer read, The Maltese Falcon.
Even better news: I get to keep looking for your book recommendations. Who knows what else I’ll find on the way to acting my age.
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