Second Order

Ordered a second batch of used books over the weekend. I am very, very hopped up! Admittedly, I am a recent convert to the idea of buying used books online. What appeals most to me is the hunt. The thrill of the chase! (Says the bookworm as if he’s on safari with Hemingway.) I enjoy shelves and shelves of old, used books, hunting out titles and authors, stealing upon unexpected finds at bargain prices. A lot of the stuff I’m into is long out-of-print, and over the years I’ve gotten used to this process of seeking out. But lately I’ve been somewhat disappointed in my used books stores (four of which I frequent fairly regularly). I’m seeing the same old titles over and over again.

So, two months ago I bit the bullet and went to an online used book distributor. I hunted up a couple of out-of-prints from my youth and a couple I came upon in my writing and reading research. None disappointed. I have one left on deck, one which I’ll get to once I’ve finished the George R. R. Martin book, which should be in about a week or ten days.

We’ve been subjugated to seriously high winds and heavy rains all weekend up here. Power has been sporadic. Massive trees are laying across the roads. Fighting cabin fever, I decided that it was time for a second batch of books, so I waited until the gales subsided and went down to the writing office to place my order. In a few days I should have …

The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann.

Found it online for a good price … heard it’s a big, difficult novel with promises of philosophical weirdity. Other than that, know nothing about it. Looking forward to the challenge.

Flying Saucers by Carl Jung.

Did a post on this a few days back, here.

Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson.

Always been on my radar, never could find it. Written a century ago (I think), dramatizing the second coming of Jesus amidst a world conquered by communism. Again, I think. Should be interesting, to say the least, to see how that touchy topic’s handled.

Moreau’s Other Island by Brian Aldiss

Tried to score this one for ages. Simply hooked by the title alone. Aldiss is a great writer who never disappoints, yet somehow I never quite got into him. His collection of short stories, Who Can Replace A Man, was tremendously influential on me, being one of the mysterious half-dozen novels of my father’s I found hidden away in a dining room hutch.

Introduction to the Theory of Relativity by Peter Bergmann

All the general-public physics books say the same things over and over. It’s all history of the book’s topic and how the book’s topic relates to Einstein, with nary an equation ’cause we don’t want to scare off our dumb readership. Well, I’m not looking for a textbook, per se, I still have a couple from my college days, but I’m looking for something a bit meatier and substantial. Though I do believe Einstein wrote the intro to this book; Bergmann being a very close student-turned-colleague.

Triumph: The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church by H. W. Crocker III

Again, this has been on my radar for a while. Read part of it when I borrowed it from the library as a new book maybe seven or eight years ago, and thought, gee, this is a book I’d like to buy and take my time through. Well, that time is now. It seems for every pro-Catholic Church book out on the library shelves there are four or five (or six or seven) anti-Church books. Why is that, I wonder? Crocker’s book is very much pro-Church, and I’m looking forward to it.

When does that postman get here, dammit? …