"O, my black soul, now art thou summoned"; in other words, why Books-A-Million sucks.

Today was, decidedly, a good day. School was fine. After school, I had the afternoon to myself. First of all, let me mention that this was the first afternoon I've had completely to myself since...August. Determined to enjoy this afternoon to its full potential, I grabbed my Starbucks gift card, enjoyed a Peppermint Latte (hooray for Christmas flavors!) and went to Books-A-Million. (It should be noted that my addiction to lattes is growing faster than my wallet can afford. I've consumed no less than 4 lattes in the last 5 days...major problem. Giftcards should last me a while, but...soon it will be back to my once-every-two-week latte routine. Whenever I move into my first apartment, the first purchase I will make is an expresso machine, I promise. Also, it should be noted that Starbucks is not usually my cafe of choice- waaaay to pricy...and mainstream. I prefer the local Julia's Coffee- much cheaper, and all proceeds go to Habitat for Humanity. But enough about coffee...I'm starting to get a craving).

I was excited to go to Books-A-Million because there was a list of books I needed to purchase for school (most notably, Paradise Lost for English. It is definitely the third copy of the book I've purchased in the past week...there is an explaination, but that would be a post in itself). (I have no idea why this post is so parenthetical). Let me just say, the Books-A-Million trip was an epic fail. Not only did they not have any of the books I needed...they didn't even have them in their supply so I could order them. Problem was...I had a $21 gift card to BAM that I was hoping to use to cover the cost of my school books. Oh well. I bought, instead, books I had been wanting- A collection of John Donne's poems (note the title of this post) and a collection of plays by Sartre (because I'm into metaphysical plays, all of a sudden...not really, I just wanted to extend my collection). Then I hightailed it to the nearest Barnes & Noble (my own personal favorite) to get what I needed.

Reasons why Barnes & Noble trumps Books-A-Million

1) They had all three books I was looking for.
2) They actually have a section devoted to plays and drama. Books-A-Million does not, resulting in a major point loss for them.
3) The staff is way more friendly and helpful and were sure to wish me a happy holiday.
4) They were not playing Christmas music before Thanksgiving.
5) They not only had the books I was looking for, but they had the specific required editions of the books I needed.
6) They sell music. And books about music. I mean, educated, scholarly books about music, as opposed to the fake introductory books sold by Books-A-Million.
7) They do not have half of their store devoted to the Bible and Christian fiction. Books-A-Million has not only that, but a shelf of shirts saying things like "get-out-of-hell-free card" and "I've been saved...ask me how you can be saved too!" (blech) (I'm not opposed to Christianity at all...I just would rather not have religion stuffed down my throat).
8) They actually have books by David Foster Wallace (my all-time favorite author). Books-A-Million does not. MAJOR point deduction for them.

So, $35 later, I walked out with the two books I needed as well as another book I had been looking for and hadn't been able to find. They may not be the used bookstore (always my first preference, although I rarely have good luck there), but it made my afternoon more successful.

And thus ends my rant about bookstores. Now, it's off to clean my room, listen to some Gabe Dixon Band, complete Online Psychology work (ew), and curl up in bed with a (new) good book.

"These morning shadows wear away,
But these grow longer all the day;
But O! love's day is short, if love decay.
Love is a growing, or full constant light,
and has short minute, after noon, is night."

-John Donne, "A Lecture Upon the Shadow"