Old Books

Yesterday a friend visited from my undergraduate university and we spent most of the day used book shopping. It was fabulous. She and I always enjoy book shopping and do it every time we get together. I had not yet visited any used book stores here in my Masters town, but I printed off directions to several and we only made it to two. I bought a few used, more recent historical fictions (because what historian can't get enough of those) and then I also bought a 1913 edition of The Education of Henry Adams and a copy of this fiction he wrote entitled Democracy about the dirty side of Washington politics (something I didn't even know he wrote). I'm very excited about these two buys. I feel that they are two very important pieces in American historiography; well at least the first, since I had never heard of the second haha).

The second bookstore we went to, however, had an annex of really old books. It smelled, it was musty and dusty, but I loved it. I found this beautiful edition of Frederick Jackson Turner from the 1800s and many other old beautiful books out of my price range. The Turner book wasn't bad, but I just couldn't justify purchasing it a this point. My friend and I always get really stoked looking at the old books, though. She found something she was really excited about and said "I feel that the owner should just be excited that we are this excited about these things and cut us a deal." I liked that, because I often feel that way, well, not the cutting us a deal part, but I often hope that people who own old books shops or anything historical really should just be excited that we are excited.

There is apparently some large Medieval Congress thing happening here this weekend and there is apparently a large book exhibit area. I may check that out today, but I'm not sure. I don't really need any monographs about medieval history, but if I could find cool medieval literature that would be different. I would probably be too tempted to purchase more books that I probably won't finish this summer and spend money that I don't have. This Congress will always be back next year :)

Fiction

Last night I watched The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and it got me thinking about one of my favorite subjects; fiction. Everybody who knows me, knows that I enjoy stories of faraway places, dreamed up in the imaginations of brilliant authors. I like movies that involve imaginary worlds. I am a fan of Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, the Narnia series, the Golden Compass, and this Doctor Parnassus movie touched on this topic. I like them for two reasons. 1) I enjoy escaping the woes of the real world and jumping into these make believe lands and 2) I am in awe when it comes to the minds that have worked ever so hard to create these lands, with new creatures, languages, histories, customs, etc. I love writing, but I could only dream of creating pieces as epic as these. Perhaps that is why I'm drawn to history. Although the stories involved do not contain house elves, centaurs, or a magic mirror that takes into a land based upon your own imagination, I do meet new characters, languages, customs, and beliefs. History is an escape and perhaps by writing it I can recreate a land, although not purely fiction, far different than any in existence today.

As a sidenote I urge everyone to watch The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. It was a fabulous film, filled with fabulous acting, amazing scenery and costumes, and a great story line. The characters were extremely well developed and the plot was anything but predictable. And it is the last film that poor Heath Ledger was part of. If you get the chance, watch it!