(no subject)

[prosodic]

Oh Barnes & Noble, how I both love and loathe your bargain books section.

*sigh*

Lance and I went there after dinner tonight. No reason really, except it was there and I haven't stepped foot in a bookstore for some time.

Dinner was good by the way. I do miss the Italian restaurants in Europe. They are so much more authentic, whereas here, they just throw together a bunch of Italian ingredients to make "Italian" dishes, and I don't think they really resemble anything you would actually eat in Italy. Exceptions to this are lasagna, fettuccine alfredo, and spaghetti with meat sauce.

I had Marsala Chicken Ravioli. Tasty. It was ravioli stuffed with grilled chicken, smothered in a marsala wine sauce, and dressed with crumbled cooked proscuitto, asparagus, and parmesan cheese.

While we were eating, Lance talked about going back to Italy. He wants to see Venice again. I am done with Venice. I told him I would rather do Rome or Florence. We basically planned out our next trip to Europe...where we would go...but it won't be for a long long time. We know that we're definitely going back to England though. And almost certainly Sweden.

Anyway, back to Barnes & Noble. The store there is two stories, so I wanted to check it out, having never been in a 2-story Barnes & Noble store before. There's nothing particularly special about this one, as it doesn't really have more selection just because it has 2 floors. But just try and keep me out of a bookstore anyway.

And so I caved and got 2 bargain books. Couldn't resist them.

First there was Hunger's Brides by Paul Anderson. The sheer size of this book and the cover caught my eye simultaneously. It's a 1400 page, absolutely massive hardback...very heavy and could probably be used as a lethal weapon. Reading the summary on the inside of the cover, I was incredibly intrigued. And for $7...well, damn.

But of course, I didn't stop there. I spotted The Memoirs of Helen of Troy by Amanda Elyot, and having just read her novel about Mary Robinson, I had to get it. For $5, how could I not? The Pre-Raphaelite painting on the cover was hard not to notice.

Lance rolled his eyes and then we headed up the escalator to the humor section. But he didn't get himself anything, even though I told him he would want something to read for his long journey to Oklahoma City tomorrow.

Speaking of long journeys...I-5 Southbound on the North end of Seattle was INSANE on the way home. Bumper to bumper. On a Saturday evening. What was that about? Surely it wasn't a Sonics game.

Oh, right now for curledup.com, I am reading a novel about the French Revolution. On the one hand, the plot makes for interesting reading. On the other, I find the dialogue to be irritating. Some of it doesn't seem to ring true at all.

Comments

[hollyqueen.livejournal.com]

I5 on Saturdays is often worse than on weekdays. I have no clue why, but if we miss our exit(don't ask why we do this frequently) for 520, we usually just drive around the lake to Redmond rather than try to get onto 5 South to get back.

[prosodic.livejournal.com]

I've never seen anything like this in my life, and I grew up in a big city...not as big as Seattle, mind you, but the freeways were only bad during rush hour. Here it seems they're bad almost all the time.

We noticed a long line of cars on the off ramp to the Seattle Center, so I figured something was going on.