books bought today
listed in order of purchase
7 tattoos (peter trachtenberg) -- $7
why big fierce animals are rare (paul colinvaux) -- $5
the japanese mind (robert c christopher) -- $8
waiting (ha jin) -- $2
the best american nonrequired reading 2002 (dave eggers) -- $4

the boy from oz. on our afternoon stroll through the annual hillcrest open air book fair, i took the opportunity to figure out what my book buying process is. my money situation is usually pretty tight and as valuable as reading is, spending fifteen dollars on a book (which lasts for technically, maybe a few hours) is not usually wise economically. this means that hard choices have to be made, even when books are being sold at wonderful prices of five to ten bucks each. hillcrest contains some neat used book stores already and the addition of the open air booths made the selection even greater. now, this book fair was hardly a complete selection of great books, and pales in comparison to the ucla book fair i attended last month. however, in any stack of books, there are always gems.

for example, i got a first edition paperback copy (from 1979) of "why big fierce animals are rare: an ecologist's perspective." i thought it was kind of a big deal. i mean, i've been wondering myself why there aren't more big fierce animals around (not to mention why the word "fierce" isn't used more often in book titles to capture the attention. it's such an evocative word.) hong and i have often had conversations about why animals aren't bigger. like giant size. maybe not gigantic like dinosaurs, but still giant sized. we've always wondered why. hopefully by reading this book i'll soon know.

the key to buying used books on a limited budget is to limit yourself to books that: (1) you think you will re-read (2) is a special edition (3) you won't be able to find elsewhere (4) you can't borrow from the library (5) an absurdly great deal. otherwise you pretty much have to pass. i mean, without some guidelines set up, you could literally run out of money in minutes. every shelf and corner of a used bookstore becomes a dusty musty money trap if you just wander in willy nilly. it's literallly (economically) life threatening to walk into a great bookstore.

walking into an used bookstore, you kind of have this aloofness at first. you wander around for a bit waiting for something to catch your eye. then it happens and you're engaged and inevitably you see another and another, getting sucked in ever deeper. pretty soon you're just going up and down each row browsing at books that you had just passed but now could'nt help but reveal themselves to you. book shopping is one of those things where you can walk right in and out and miss everything, or stick around and get increasingly rewarded. i guess all of shopping is like that. the more you look, the more you find. oh wait, everything is like that. except well, maybe some people i guess. anyway.

my totally awesome book fair moment was looking at all of these wizard of oz books and then at the same booth were these age of bronze books (about the trojan war) that i'd seen before. while the wizard of oz stuff caught my eye first, i couldn't help but notice these age of bronze books. before even getting within looking distance of this booth, i was drawn in by the sight of an amazing wizard of oz lunchbox. like probably the greatest wizard of oz lunchbox ever. the art was perfect, the lunchbox perfect, basically the whole thing was wizardly perfection. i couldn't quite figure out the connection between the wizard of oz and trojan war stuff until i noticed that the guy who created/drew/wrote age of bronze had also done many of the covers (and written some) of the oz books. needless to say, i almost flipped.

i maintained a semblance of composure, of course, as i prepared to haggle with the artist about the price of his priceless lunchbox. i was pretty much prepared to pay anything for such a lunchbox. turns out, priceless has a price and it was just ten dollars. and yes, i ended up getting two (i had to come back to get another one, and i felt strangely sheepish about it). the artist, eric shanower, autographed both for me and i was pretty much the happiest boy in the world. i tried to strike up a conversation with mr shanower but he really wasn't having it. he was standoffish and not the friendliest person i'd ever met.

then again, maybe it's weird to have someone accost you about your love for all things wizard of oz. maybe liking the wizard of oz (he joined the official fan club when he was six or so) was a source of teasing for him, so he had to be a bit reserved before he could open up to me. i mean, if i liked the wizard of oz as much as he does (which, of course, i actually do) i'd maybe try to make sure that someone wasn't yanking my chain first, before committing to an in-depth love affair conversation about it all.

it was pretty hard for me to process that this guy, right in front of me, was an acclaimed artist who had not only been recognized for his work on wizard of oz books, but also trojan war graphic novels. two of my passions entertwined in one person? how could this be? i mean, this would be like meeting another guy who loved alanis and jewel as much as i do. mind numbing right? i stopped short of mentioning that along with my wizard of oz obsession i had acquired an (socially) unhealthy taste for all things judy garland. that might have been just a bit too much.