WHAT THE BOOK?

I can't believe I haven't made a blog entry for so long! Anyone would think I'd forsaken books! Never happen! In my defense, I must say that making piles and piles and piles takes up time.

I'm studying on a field trip to a bookstore called WHAT THE BOOK? Here's their website: http://whatthebook.com This field trip will be good for me for two reasons:

1. I'll get more books! DUH!

2. I'll overcome my fear of traveling in Seoul alone. Not sure what ails me. Busan presents no problem. I feel comfortable there, but when I think of strolling around in Seoul, my self-confidence is somewhere down around my ankles. Especially when I think of taking the subway from Seoul Station to their store in Itaewon...and having to change lines???

Gulp. But I'll do it all, and more to get to WHAT THE BOOK? I'll be so proud of myself for being independent and brave. I've come to notice lately that generally, it's not worth my time and energy to be independent and brave unless it involves something to read. Bookwormishness has the damnedest by-products at times!

I know intellectually that I'm equal to this adventure, but the craven & cowardly part of me is whining piteously and wishing to find a friend that's middle-aged, female and bookwormy to a fault. Someone who knows Seoul like the back of her hand and will guide me/us to the books.

Snort. My chances of that are as remote as those of waking up tomorrow morning with an autographed first edition of The Great Gatsby under my pillow and Larry McMurtry and Anne Tyler standing over my bed fighting about which of them is going to bring me an Egg McMuffin.

In an attempt to jack up my own morale, I repeatedly remind myself that WHAT THE BOOK? supposedly has around 20,000 titles in stock. And it's not just the new bullshit that *everyone* is reading -- like The DaVinci Code, for example. No, WHAT THE BOOK? also has a nice selection of used books, so many reading treasures await me.

Yo, Bybee! Listen up!

Are you going to let almost twenty thousand books lay around unopened, unread, unsmelled (or worse, bought up by someone with courage!) while you sit around quivering because you might get lost on the subway?!