I noticed a couple eying George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, boxed set version, and I thought I'd make a comment. Why not. I've actually noticed people in the fantasy/scifi section really like talking about their books, recommendations, etc. and I happen to be a big proponent of this.
I always like to ask what people recommend to see if there's anything I've been missing. Usually it ends up being the same things (Eddings, Tolkien, Feist, etc.) and sometimes it's crap (Brian Herbert's Dune books one time). But I digress...
Well, I told this couple they wouldn't regret picking up ASoIaF. To be honest, I couldn't believe they'd never heard of it, but I guess not everyone lives in this lovely niche of the internet as I do. They saw it was an HBO show, which I recommended as well. I did warn them of the wait between books, which actually made them opt only for the boxed set and to wait on the hardcover A Dance with Dragons, which I thought interesting.
I guess I make this post to let you know I'm fighting the good fight...recommending awesome fantasy to those in need. Kinda like Superman.
Does anyone else talk to people in bookstores or am I just strange? Anyone else make recommendations in bookstores? Anyone have bad experiences with it?
I wonder if they just walked away with it and stashed it somewhere in the Romance section or something. What I'm thinking is that I'll find these people some day with the back of their heads missing (minds blown) and they will have named their first child after me.
5 comments:
Sometimes I talk to people on Amazon?
But in bookstores, no. Maybe I would if I still shopped in bookstores, but I don't. Haven't since I dropped £50 on a Prime membership... gotta make it worthwhile somehow! :/
Kinda miss the conversation, though, I don't mind admitting. Out here in the sticks of Scotland the Empty it's not like there's any other place - excepting the internet - to get together with random but (at least a little) like-minded people, and have a yarn. And the internet's not built for that... more's the pity.
A very similar thing happened to me recently.
I was browsing the shelves at a certain large bookstore which happens to be going bankrupt and overheard a woman who was looking for AGoT. The clerk pointed her in the direction of the box set, which was the best deal, then he told her "The last book just came out" and was available in hardback.
After he shuffled off, being the conversation spy/creeper I am, I filled her in on that fact that there are at least 2 more books left unwritten in the series, and mentioned that it would probably be a few years before they were published. I sang the praises, and all that good stuff, hoping to score another GRRM fan.
I also noticed that the boxed set she was holding had the books in the wrong order, despite still being shrink-wrapped, so I also filled her in on the proper reading order.
This occurred in Seattle a place where no one talks to anyone, especially in bookstores, so she looked at me like I was crazy, and her BF seemed pissed that I was talking to his lady.
I have the feeling that she probably ditched the box set as soon as she left the aisle in favor of the latest Twilight book or something. So much for changing lives...
@Niall - I do love a good internet chat about the things I love, namely SFF, but you're right, it just doesn't beat real life. Twitter does get things a little better, what with the more real-time conversations. Prime is a good deal too, I've been debating that one.
@Ryan - It goes SoS, GoT, FfC, DwD, CoK right? Nice work carrying on the flame especially in Seattle. I bet your blog is more bad-a than her BF's blog. :D
I've talked to people about books and recommended different ones, but never in a book store environment. I'd feel that they thought I worked there or something :P It's a damn good way of increasing your library though. I might give it a shot :)
I buy most of my books online because in German bookstores they do not offer the books I want to buy and read.
In former times I went often to bookstores together with my wife. We did not need to talk with other people because we both talked endlessly about books :-)
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