The other day I was at a bookstore here in Montana. I visit it often, and is named the Country Bookshelf, and it is an older, beautiful bookstore with character and many many books: "The largest Independent Bookstore in Montana" which may sound slightly oxymoronish to some, but Montana actually has the most bookstores per capita in the US, and the Country Bookshelf is impressive enough to even have been named one of the top 19 independent bookstores in the world in this article.
I have too many books, which is why the electronic Kindle on iPad books are so useful, but they don't have the appeal of being real paper and bought in a bookstore like the one I was in. And I do like to support those.
I had recently read a book called Surrender, New York, set in New York and about murder and forensics versus criminal science and other things, and it was mostly well written and very engaging, written by - someone - whose name I couldn't remember at the moment, but I did recall he had also written a book called The Alchemist, which I also had enjoyed, and was also about a murder story and other things set in New York at the end of the last century and so I asked the clerk for the author's name.
"Paulo Coeho" he promptly replied, and so I went off in search of other books by him. I found a recent book called The Spy about Mata Hari. Wow I thought the guy certainly writes quickly, I think Surrender New York just went to paperback and here is another one. I bought the book (and a couple there because why not) and went back home.
When I opened the book up, I read in the introductory material that Mr. Coelo had written many books, was claimed to be the best selling author in the world(!) and I thought wait a minute. But I started reading it, and I didn't like it very much (Mr. Coeho is about soft spirituality, it turns out, which is something I am not really enamored with, and the book was too fuzzy and distant for me to get into it or learn about Mata Hari.)
I realized then that it was The Alienist I had read, not The Alchemist, and it is by Caleb Carr, who also wrote Surrender, New York.
So I blew a little money on a book I have no intention of reading, and I also realized that my memory is slowly fading.
Ha ha...what an interesting anecdote!
ReplyDeleteIt occurs to me that a patriotic Dakotan could set up a couple of bookstores in Pierre and Sioux Falls, or Bismarck and Fargo, and so bump that state a notch or several up the list of bookstores per capita. But I'm glad to hear that Montana has a well-stocked bookstore.
ReplyDeleteThese days, alchemy is not a trade much practiced, but "alienist" is not a word much used. In trying to come up with a comparable pair, the best I can do is "reiver" and "reeve".