Booksellers

Berry & Peterson books in Kingston, Ontario.

The first time I went to Berry & Peterson, I was skipping an English lecture. I was skipping an English lecture to browse used books. I have a funny life, I think.

It was within the first few weeks of school - too early for the rush of assignments to begin piling up, and too late for my friend and I to find any books we needed for our syllabi. According to the store owner (who routinely purchases books from antique markets and book sales), students pretty much flee to the store to save a few extra dollars.

It's cool though. After spending an hour to two sitting on the floor literally digging through piles of books (there are few things as enjoyable as that) I found a good handful of things to read.

I've been going back ever since. Perhaps I'll start posting hauls of books I purchase here?
One of my best purchases was a cloth cover collection of W. Somerset Maugham short stories. He's my housemate's favourite writer so the book was for her - and so I could buy in on the discount deal.

Maugham wrote the novel that was the inspiration for one of my favourite films The Painted Veil. I am forever searching for a used copy of this book since the one at Indigo costs about 20 dollars. It hasn't appeared yet, but maybe appear in a timely way. Just like the book I'm reading right now: Tender is the Night. I found it at B&P a month or so ago and added it to my growing collection of books that smell like they came from someone's dusty basement.

I am a huge F. Scott Fitzgerald fangirl. I think that was apparent when I wrote a huge post about Midnight in Paris, a film that I (yet again) stayed up til four in the morning to watch the other night. It's soothing, okay?

One of the best lines from Tender is the Night occurs when Dick Diver, one of the main characters, turns to the very young and naive Rosemary. He says, "You're the only girl I've seen for a very long time that actually did look like something blooming."
I wonder why people don't speak that way anymore.

Also, for the sake of everyone, I will leave my Gatsby movie trailer for another time. I hope I'll be okay with it, but it's always terrifying when someone touches a beautiful thing.