Saturday, July 5, 2008

The Time Traveler's Wife

This is the book I'm reading right now. In case I never mentioned it, I'm a HUGE fan of reading. I minored in English literature in college, and deep down (or maybe not so deep down?) I'm a big nerd, but I'm cool with that. ;) Anyway, my sister-in-law recommended this book to me, and let me borrow it. It took me awhile to get into it, and I started wondering if it was really my cup of tea... but I'm glad I gave it a chance, because now I love it. I'm almost finished with it, and I have to say, I'll be a little sad to see it come to an end - it's that way with every good book I read.

I'm not sure what direction this blog post is going to take. Thinking about this book has led me to think about a lot of things - one of them being how hard it is to find a lot of good books in English in Santiago, and how that's one thing I'll miss when I move back to Chile in August. I'm definitely bringing some books with me from the States, but I don't want to bring too many, because the weight adds up quickly and makes my suitcases ridiculously heavy! So ideally, I'd love to find somewhere in Santiago with a good selection of English literature. But I realize that's going to be practically impossible. The last time I was in the city, from January to mid-March, I found this place with A LOT of tiny bookshops, and a few of them had a little selection of English books. I actually ended up finding a couple of books I'd been wanting to read anyway, for $2 mil I think it was... which was a heck of a lot cheaper than my first venture to the Librería Inglesa, on Pedro de Valdivia. WAY too expensive, let me tell you. This place I found with all the little bookstores was somewhere really close to the metro Manuel Montt (I think - honestly I can't remember exactly where it was). I wandered there one day when I was out looking for some things to buy to make Diego a Valentine's Day present.

In my dream world, I'd open up my own English bookstore in Santiago, and it would be wildly successful, and I'd even have enough money to buy a perfect little apartment with a beautiful view of the Andes. Like I said, in my DREAM world. So in reality... when I get back to Santiago, I guess I'll just have to keep scouring the city for books. But that's just fine with me; I like a challenge. :)

1 comment:

Shannon. said...

i have the same problem!
I love reading, I brought 2 books here when I came in January, but I read them already...twice. My friend at work borrowed me 4 of her books, I read 3 already, and I got one as a gift for my birthday. But other than that there isn't a lot of selection. I am bringing the books that I have here back when I go, and bringing some new ones. I will probably end up spending like $50 at Barnes and Noble, but its worth it!!
I am SOO excited for my trip! I am trying to write a list of what to bring back here, besides my books!!
PS if you put all your books in your carry on and pretend like its not heavy, you can get away with bringing it on the plane, just remember that you have to lift it into that thingy above the seats!!