Bookstore temptations
While in the Mission today I went on a little trip to the bookstore Dog Eared books. Here are the books that I found the the ones that I took home with me.
The Geometry of Art and Life, caught my eye, because any book which title includes Art and Science will always grab my attention.
The Hero With a Thousand Faces, because I am now reading The Writer’s Journey which is an analysis of Campbell’s book.
Children of Dune, because I am always tempted to get started again with Herbert’s saga
Reamde, because I stopped reading it after 100 pages and I should probably pick it up again and finish it.
The Art of Choosing, because I saw that Hugh Howley is currently reading it, and because the irony of the title didn’t escape me.
Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements, Just because of the topic (“[…]the first anthology of short stories to explore the connections between radical speculative fiction and movements for social change.”) and the nice details in the cover.
The Octopus: A Story of California, because I love simple titles. One, two words. A name. An idea. No more.
A Field Guide to Insects, this might seem like a strange choice but insects are cool and every now and then I have to pause and ask myself, what if I leave it all behind and dedicate the rest of my life to the study of insects?
The Poetics of Space, because the title intrigued me and the passages I read too.
Bachelard takes us on a journey, from cellar to attic, to show how our perceptions of houses and other shelters shape our thoughts, memories, and dreams.
The final choices
After an hour in the bookstore and being tempted by the titles above and more, here are the books I got:
- Cinematic Design, a 1931 book, with zero review online (how is that even possible?). Listen to the back cover
“Cinematic Design” is a handbook for the amateur cinema artist and those lovers of the motion picture to whom visions of beauty, mirrored by the crystal lens, transcend all trivial representations that have marred adequate expression and labelled the motion picture as unworthy of consideration as an art.
Well that is a great description of me if there ever was one!
- Tales of the City, because I read it 15 (20?) years ago and I fell in love with The City even before knowing I would move to San Francisco one day.
The honorable mention
I Was a Teen-Age Dwarf, because just look at that cover—and that title!
