Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Peaks and Valleys

I have some good news and some bad news with regards to my reading life. I tend to prefer the bad news first because then the worst part is over and there's only good left. So let's get to it. Last weekend, I headed over to my local Barnes and Noble to browse and do some purchasing. B&N being a favorite destination of mine, I was devastated to see zero books in the windows and this on the front door:



ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!? I was literally here two weeks ago and had no idea my favorite store was closing! I know they've been closing a lot of brick and mortars, but this is a great location right next to the huge mall and all of the shopping centers so I definitely didn't see this coming. Thankfully, there is another B&N in my city but it's wayyyyy across town which is just inconvenient. To say I'm depressed is an understatement. Tear.

After that blow, I didn't know how I was going to recover but when I got my mail yesterday, I found this beauty and my happiness has been restored (mostly.)



Isn't she beautiful?!? For Christmas I asked for the Outlander books so I could have them in the non-electronic version as well as the ebooks. I've read all of the books digitally at this point and it's one of my top three favorite series so I decided it was worth it to purchase the real books for my bookshelf and the big re-read I'll be doing this year. I have all of the others in paperbacks but I decided to get the 20th anniversary edition of Outlander and I could not be more pleased with this hardcover!

But it gets better. When my mom was shopping for Christmas, someone told her about a bookstore in Arizona that sells signed copies of the Outlander books (The Poisonned Pen and they sell signed copies of lots of books) and when she told me about it, I had to have one. So here it is!




Diana Gabaldon had her hot little hands on my copy of her book and signed that baby!!! I'm in love! I think this is actually the only signed copy of a book I own (nobody visits my town) and I'm super excited about it. I will now officially begin re-reading all of the books to prepare for the show coming out this spring and the next book hopefully coming out soon after that. 

While the loss of my favorite bookstore is sad, Diana mended my broken heart and I think I'll be ok in the long run. I really wish the loss of B&N meant there would be a better market for the small bookstores but there really aren't any around. There is a book depository right up the street from me, but they don't always have what I'm looking for so I'll keep my fingers crossed for some better options to pop up soon. But let's be honest, my book buying/reading will not stop because my neighborhood giant bookseller has disappeared. Might actually be good for my wallet...

Did you have any peaks or valleys this week?






2 comments:

  1. Wow that's so weird for a Barnes & Noble to just close like that, they usually have an everything must go sale or something. I think its just closed for a short time like maybe they're remodeling, getting the carpet cleaned, or something, otherwise I think that sign would say something else

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    1. I wish that was the case :( Their sign on the building is gone and the store is empty. I'll keep hoping but the chances are slim.

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