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first editions
Mar. 31st, 2007 09:54 ami love amy tan.
i read the joy luck club first, of course. it was ok. i have never seen the movie.
however, i read the hundred secret senses and i freaked out. i loved that book, and reread it a couple of times. it is delightful and amazing. for a long time i only had a battered massmarket copy. i began reading her other books and when i started collecting first editions of things i sought her out. i do not have a first ed of the joy luck club, but i do have a 10th run of it in hardback. i have first edition copies of the kitchen god's wife, the hundred secret senses (in mylar. i love that book, it's probably one of my alltime favorites), and the bonesetter's daughter.
when i was in big n nasty the other day i saw her "new" one (new to me, it's been out long enough to be in trade paper), saving fish from drowning. i just started it and i LOVE it so far. i'm very early in, but it's making me remember why amy tan is one of my favorite authors. have any of you read this one? now i feel i must have it as a first edition to help my collection.
i wish she were considered more intellectual and less fluff women's fiction. i don't know, maybe that's my own projection.
my most collected author is barbra kingsolver. i have first editions of all her books except: the poisonwood bible (i WORKED at a retail giant bookstore when it came out! a first could have been mine easily but i didn't know about first editions then), animal dreams, and homeland. have i ever told you how i found a first of her debut novel? first novels from then-unknown authors that get famous are usually highly sought after. barbara k lives and writes in tucson so i have a special connection to her.
one morning i was at my favorite thrift store in tucson (casa de los ninos on prince ave) browsing the books. they were having a giant sale where you fill a grocery bag of books for 50 cents. they had tables set up outside. the tables were filled with readers digest compendiums, mystery paperbacks, and waterdamaged textbooks. i had isaijah with me in a stroller. i knew about firsts by then, and i found a copy of the bean trees, her exquisite wonderful first novel. i doubtedly flipped to the plate page to see what printing it was. the numbers went down to 1. i couldn't believe my eyes. is this a book club???i thought, and examined it closely. no, it wasn't. and the dust cover was intact. i knew then it was valuable and put it in my paper bag with my heart soaring. i paid for my filled bag and rushed home. i had found a first of a first novel of my favorite author!! one that wrote abut tucson and lived in tucson and that made me cry. i looked it up online and found it was for sale for up to 250 dollars. i did some math and figured i had paid about 3 cents for it. i was ecstatic.
even better, she was having a reading in town soon, ON MY BIRTHDAY. sam was out of town (and could care less) and my coworker zach went with me. he was a gay boy and loved him some barbra k, but also thought i was adorable in my fangrrlness for her. we went to the reading and then she signed my copy of the bean trees. "oh a first of the bean trees!" she quipped as she signed. after that zach bought me a signed first of pigs in heaven. when prodigal summer came out i bought a first from a retail giant for full price and went to a signing. i have 3 signed first editions of barbra kingsolver.
look at it now!
ha, this entry got away from me. i love books.
i read the joy luck club first, of course. it was ok. i have never seen the movie.
however, i read the hundred secret senses and i freaked out. i loved that book, and reread it a couple of times. it is delightful and amazing. for a long time i only had a battered massmarket copy. i began reading her other books and when i started collecting first editions of things i sought her out. i do not have a first ed of the joy luck club, but i do have a 10th run of it in hardback. i have first edition copies of the kitchen god's wife, the hundred secret senses (in mylar. i love that book, it's probably one of my alltime favorites), and the bonesetter's daughter.
when i was in big n nasty the other day i saw her "new" one (new to me, it's been out long enough to be in trade paper), saving fish from drowning. i just started it and i LOVE it so far. i'm very early in, but it's making me remember why amy tan is one of my favorite authors. have any of you read this one? now i feel i must have it as a first edition to help my collection.
i wish she were considered more intellectual and less fluff women's fiction. i don't know, maybe that's my own projection.
my most collected author is barbra kingsolver. i have first editions of all her books except: the poisonwood bible (i WORKED at a retail giant bookstore when it came out! a first could have been mine easily but i didn't know about first editions then), animal dreams, and homeland. have i ever told you how i found a first of her debut novel? first novels from then-unknown authors that get famous are usually highly sought after. barbara k lives and writes in tucson so i have a special connection to her.
one morning i was at my favorite thrift store in tucson (casa de los ninos on prince ave) browsing the books. they were having a giant sale where you fill a grocery bag of books for 50 cents. they had tables set up outside. the tables were filled with readers digest compendiums, mystery paperbacks, and waterdamaged textbooks. i had isaijah with me in a stroller. i knew about firsts by then, and i found a copy of the bean trees, her exquisite wonderful first novel. i doubtedly flipped to the plate page to see what printing it was. the numbers went down to 1. i couldn't believe my eyes. is this a book club???i thought, and examined it closely. no, it wasn't. and the dust cover was intact. i knew then it was valuable and put it in my paper bag with my heart soaring. i paid for my filled bag and rushed home. i had found a first of a first novel of my favorite author!! one that wrote abut tucson and lived in tucson and that made me cry. i looked it up online and found it was for sale for up to 250 dollars. i did some math and figured i had paid about 3 cents for it. i was ecstatic.
even better, she was having a reading in town soon, ON MY BIRTHDAY. sam was out of town (and could care less) and my coworker zach went with me. he was a gay boy and loved him some barbra k, but also thought i was adorable in my fangrrlness for her. we went to the reading and then she signed my copy of the bean trees. "oh a first of the bean trees!" she quipped as she signed. after that zach bought me a signed first of pigs in heaven. when prodigal summer came out i bought a first from a retail giant for full price and went to a signing. i have 3 signed first editions of barbra kingsolver.
look at it now!
ha, this entry got away from me. i love books.
