Why I love Amaranth Books

For lunch today I subjected myself to a mediocre shawerma rather than the Chipotle calorie bomb that I really craved, so in compensation I decided to get some yoghurt from Red Mango and, as long as I was there, pop into Amaranth Books for a bit. Or maybe I decided to go to the bookstore first and then the frogurt place, I can't recall now.

It's not important. The important thing is that I went in there with the names of two authors in my head on account of recently reading very positive reviews of their work. One was David Mitchell, who's Cloud Atlas has the most intriguing formal premise I've heard about in years. They had it in paperback, a rather lightly-used copy for $4. The other author was Alan Garner, whose The owl service sounds like something I should've read ages ago. As far as I can tell, they didn't have him, but while looking I came across John Gardner's Grendel, which is unquestionably something I should've read ages ago. Equally good condition, but fifty cents cheaper.

All in all, I think we can increase the number of Books I'll Read Before Bolaño by 2.