Book buying. Not so grate akshully.

I treated myself to a little outing to the Barnes & Noble today with the gift card I got for my birthday last week.

I only came out with three books because the SF/F selection at the B&N is kind of crappy. Well, at least at that one. Still better than the local Borders, though. I still have 20 bucks left on the gift card, but I may just go through the website. The B&N I went to has become exceedingly unpleasant to shop at.

I expected the crowds of people, but I was really disappointed that the store has shelves which are so tall that I can't reach the top of them (and I'm a female of average height) for a book that I really wanted to buy and I couldn't get any of the staff to give me the time of day to get it for me.

It's sad when a fellow customer gives you better service and is nicer to you than the people who are paid to be there. A really nice and really tall gentleman finally pulled the book down for me after watching me struggle and try to devise McGyver-like contraptions using my umbrella and some chewing gum to get said book.

My customer service expectations are pretty low because hey, I get it. It's a chain bookstore and I don't think it's anyone's dream career to be working hourly at the B&N - but maybe when you all gather for your little informal employee chitchat where you get together to bitch and gossip and hang out, you could do it:

a) not blocking three different shelves and the only pathway in and out of that area in the store

b) not so loudly that I can hear what you're saying about your manager and am so put off that I go to another section until you disperse and

c) and not while the phones are ringing right in front of you and nobody even picks it up.

I did actually manage to buy some books, however! My three buys for this round were The Pretender's Crown by C.E. Murphy, Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn, and Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch. I'm really happy with my purchases. I'm currently working my way through the first Kitty book and liking it.

I really wanted to buy Cast In Fury by Michele Sagara, but the B&N didn't have the cheaper mass market paperback edition and I really could not, even with a gift card, justify spending fifteen bucks on a page inflated edition that was basically printed on paper towels. I love the series but when I am presented with a cheap-o copy that probably cost less than an MMPB to make and is twice the price? I'll just wait it out for the less pricey version. It'll give me time to re-read the previous books and catch up again.

I've noticed that I get really annoyed by the fancier copies of books that are somewhere between hardbacks and paperbacks. I think they're called trade paperbacks in the business. All I know is that they cost about fifteen to twenty bucks and are never really worth it.

Most insulting? When a publisher thinks I'm going to buy a trade paperback of a novella for eighteen bucks. Seriously? You want me to pay that much for what amounts to an out-of-control short story because it's got a pretty cover and expensive paper? Because it's clear you're not charging based on the quality of the work. Seriously. I've read other things by that author. She is not worth the better part of a twenty and mediocre writing is mediocre writing no matter how lovely the cover art.

Still, I shouldn't complain. I mean, I got to spend today reading books and then buying them! That's a damn good day any way you cut it.