KonMari-ing the Library and Other Blasphemous Things

When I first read about the controversy on Marie Kondo’s advice to throw out all your books that don’t bring you joy, my first thought was a cynical one–that this was promoted to generate buzz on her new show on Netflix. One must admit, the timing of the controversy and its availability on the streaming service was a little suspect.

I had heard of Kondo’s book when it first came out a couple years ago, but I paid it little mind, assuming that it was just one of many offshoots of the current minimalist trend. I didn’t need to read about something that I already quasi-practiced. I’m more on the pro-minimalist side of things, but this is about half due to necessity–I’ve moved around a lot and discovered that having too much stuff to move around is just a pain in the ass. Philosophically, I don’t attach too much of myself to things. I’m more of an idea person. So basically moving everything online–communications, writing, reading, research, entertainment–wasn’t a difficult transition for me.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand why people have an emotional attachment to things. There’s history behind those objects–and I think for some people it’s easier to keep those things around than to try to capture those feelings into words, photos, and three dimensional schematics and upload those documents into the cloud. If people don’t want to throw X, Y, and Z out even though they take up quite a bit of room, I wouldn’t really care as long as they don’t try to store X, Y, and Z at my place.

Anyways, after thinking about this some more, I find it hard to get worked up about this. I don’t really agree with Kondo’s methods (Why throw something out because it doesn’t bring joy? Why not use utility or some other quantifiable method as a criteria for throwing things out?), but I don’t see why I should use up so much emotional energy getting worked up about her notions on throwing books away when she’s not physically coming into my home to toss stuff out. (Although judging from some parody tweets on Twitter, maybe she is.) I think what’s really happening is that marketing a certain aspirational lifestyle that has its origins in one culture is clashing directly with the lifestyle philosophy of a different culture.

So why am I framing it as a clash of cultures? Well, take Kondo, for instance. Her methods are very much rooted in Japanese style and the way she advocates throwing things out harks back to the animist beliefs that still pervade the country. From her Wikipedia page, she made a statement to the effect that she sort of had a religious experience that set her on the path of becoming an organizational guru. In light of that, I think she’s fashioned herself into an organizational Joan of Arc, saving people from being besieged by their own stuff. Only instead of being burned at the stake for her heretical notions about books, she’s being pilloried on Twitter.

I also want to note that it’s individual books that are considered and then tossed if they don’t bring joy. For people who are outraged at this notion, it’s not so much that the books are individual, but they are part of a greater whole–the personal library. If you subscribe to the personal library as an entire entity, tossing books out is akin to, say, chopping a tail off a pet cat because you reason that the tail is not essential in keeping the cat alive and why not amputate because that would save space. But we all instinctively know that that is inhumane.

Books are also not just about joy. They bring all sorts of emotions because writers try to capture the totality of the human experience in words. So if you are throwing out everything except the joyful books, aren’t you metaphorically cutting off all your emotions except the happy ones? (It does not escape my notice that Japanese society is also a lot more conformist than others. Many emotions are hidden–to the detriment to mental health–in order to avoid conflict and to keep everything in harmony.)

For some strange reason, this whole thing reminded me of one of the books in Jayne Castle’s St. Helens trilogy which were futuristic romances written in the late 1990s before the whole paranormal romance thing blew up and took over bookstores. The conceit of these books is that human colonists landed on some weird planets (that somehow bear an uncanny resemblance to the late 20th century Pacific Northwest) and over time, developed psychic abilities or talents. In one of the books, the villain turned out to be this lady who had the talent to organize everything. Her downfall was that she was too obsessively organized. Anyways, the point of that digression is that it’s probably okay not to be perfectly tidy. Do what works for you. And if people are pushing some method or another, well, just assume they’re trying to take over the world. Or at least make a cash grab.

No Accomplishment Is Your Own

So, I recently came across this tweet on my Twitter timeline. It caused some outrage and controversy. So I went on this person’s profile page to figure out if I could get any context from the rest of the tweets. Unfortunately, I failed on that part. All I could figure out was that this person is a writer and a comedian and they went to Harvard at some point. Considering that this person makes a living in trying to be funny, I wasn’t sure if this tweet was a serious statement or her trying to be funny. Maybe it was both. Since I’m not sure what her intent was, I sort of find it as a failure on her part as a writer to try to convey her true intent.

Anyways, the replies to that tweet fell into two camps: 1) People who assumed that the author of the tweet aimed to skewer rich, privileged young people who boast about their accomplishments when it was in fact their parents’ money that funded everything, and 2) people who felt that they were being kicked while being down because the author did not explicitly state it was rich, privileged young people that she was talking about. Her statement was vague and could be easily interpreted to mean that it included EVERY person who was living at home with their parents, lumping in both the wealthy leeches with the poor, disabled, and others who live with their parents out of necessity.

And what do I think of this? Well, I think figuring out who pays the rent is besides the point of what constitutes a “real” accomplishment. And I’m speaking as someone who has paid my own rent ever since grad school (I lived in dorms as an undergrad and my college education was funded through scholarships). Accomplishments don’t appear from out of a vacuum. They get done from support of a lot of people: parents, yes, but also other relatives, friends, teachers, mentors, other people who believe in you, supporting organizations, networks, and sometimes just pure luck. Just because a smart, hardworking person also happens to be living with someone else who pays their rent doesn’t make them any less smart or hardworking.

I can, perhaps, make an educated guess as to where the tweet’s author was coming from. As the child of immigrant parents who managed to make it into Harvard and then into some high profile gigs–it’s probably easy to assume that she made it to where she is due to her own efforts. In fact, one might assume that I might be one of the most likely people to take her view because I’m also the child of immigrant parents who attended prestigious universities and now making it professionally in one of the most expensive parts of the country. However, I am also acutely aware that where I went to school also helped open doors that might not have been available to me otherwise. Yes, I did all the work, but someone has to open those doors, too. I suspect that all of her accomplishments would have been a lot more difficult to do if she had not had the network available to her simply by attending Harvard (and all the circumstances leading up to her getting accepted there).

So, one could argue that having any accomplishments is a mix of work and circumstance. And in this case, the “circumstance” is the sticking point. As the old saying goes, we all stand on the shoulder of giants. And regardless of who’s supplying the money and the opportunities and the moral support, perhaps we should all apply some humility when describing our own accomplishments rather than stomping on other people while trying to validate ourselves.

Organizing Everything

Don’t you sometimes get the feeling that life is nothing but organization, a fight against entropy?

Today in the mail, I got a mass of postcards from various places in the world. Usually it’s just one or two, but I guess after the holidays, a lot of mail accumulated at the post office and it was just today that everything got delivered. But instead of tossing all of these cards into a photobox where I’ve been keeping all of my postcards after reading them, I decided to do a mass organization by country. (This, to me, seemed like a more intuitive way of categorizing everything compared to, say, topic or style or shape.) It took longer than expected.

I can’t say that I particularly liked doing the organization, but now that all the postcards are in order, it’s interesting to note the patterns that emerge by country. Perhaps I’ll do an actual analysis at a later date when I have more time to kill.

Starting Small

It’s been a while since I’ve posted regularly in this blog. I don’t want to have a resolution saying that I will start posting regularly from now on, because let’s face it, most resolutions end up as failures as the rest of life gets in the way and attempts at establishing new habits get broken. But, perhaps I’ll start small with bits and pieces of observations rather than starting big with essays encompassing large ideas and perhaps that will make it easier to go on.

Anyways, I wanted to share my latest binge watching: Begin Japanology and Japanology Plus (it’s actually the same program, but the name changed). I discovered this on YouTube because the site began recommending this to me after I had been watching other documentary videos. I love these types of videos because it tells about different cultures through seemingly very simple things like home appliances and umbrellas as well as the more obvious cultural markers like food, literature, and religion.

I have to admit, part of the fun of watching this particular show on YouTube is reading the comments. (Yes, yes, I know. Never read the comments. But I can’t help myself.) It’s usually overwhelmingly positive for the main host, Peter Barakan, who has a very calm, British demeanor. But the commenters have such a hate-on for the host of the “Plus” segments, Matt Alt. It’s probably because Alt’s character is so obviously that of an exuberant American that for whatever reason, fans of the show find too jarring in comparison to the subject matter and the other host. I personally don’t get the hate (Alt definitely has a different style of presenting, but I’ve seen worse), but I do find it amusing that in the comments of the later episodes, the haters reluctantly post that he’s “getting better”. Maybe they don’t want to admit that Alt is growing on them.

NaNoWordSprints Prompts for November 2018

Finally! These are at least sort of on time. At least I’m not waiting a full year to post them. Anyways, have fun with these writing prompts!

* * *

November 1, 2018, 10:00pm-12:00am (UTC-8)
Madam Sprints Sprints

10 min	screaming
15 min	entering store
30 min	taking a seat
10 min	it’s all ruined
20 min	magic mirror

 

November 6, 2018, 7:30pm-12:20am (UTC-8)
Food Facts

10 min	fish sauce – something disappearing because something new replaced it
20 min	melons – perplexing the experts
30 min	resurrection cheese – ruins
10 min	grapefruit – forbidden (citrus x paradisi) (Jamaican sweet orange and Indonesian pomelo)
20 min	börek – rivals (rival monarchs)
30 min	shipworm, shivers of pleasure
10 min	isinglass – book
20 min	lettuce – soporific
30 min	spices – difficult to define
10 min	jellyfish, tender, crunchy and elastic
20 min	wigs – symbolic
15 min	pizza – layers
10 min	waffles – becoming a leader (Germany becoming a leader in development of waffle recipes in the 18th century)

 

November 8, 2018, 10:00pm-11:00pm (UTC-8)
Unusual Modes of Transportation

10 min	hot air balloon
20 min	penny farthing
10 min	space hopper

 

November 9, 2018, 9:00pm-11:00pm (UTC-8)
June 2012 Book Titles

10 min	gone missing
20 min	love in disguise
30 min	breaking the rules
10 min	damage control
20 min	temptation

 

November 11, 2018, 7:00pm-11:00pm (UTC-8)
Names and Meanings

10 min	Isra (Arabic/nocturnal journey), Miyako (Japanese/beautiful night child), Otieno (East African/born at night)
20 min	Behrooz (Persian/good day), Dagmar (Old Norse/day maid), Daisy (Old English/day eye)
30 min	Meltem (Turksih/sea wind), Tuulikki (Finnish/little wind), Amihan (Tagalog/winter storm)
10 min	Emeka (Western Africa/great deeds), Grant (French/great, large), Morrigan (Irish/great queen)
20 min	Leto (Greek/hidden, forgotten), Darnell (Old English/hidden nook), Amon (Egyptian/the hidden one)
30 min	Chloris (Greek/pale green), Qing (Chinese/blue, green, young), Irving (Scottish/green water)
10 min	Somsak (Thai/worthy power, honor), Mandla (Southern African/strength, power), Ulric (Old English/wolf power)
15 min	Ahtahkakoop (Native American/star blanket), Jiemba (Indigenous Australian/laughing star), Maristela (Spanish/star of the sea)
30 min	Brynmor (Welsh/great hill), Ruba(Arabic/hill), Hamilton (Old English/crooked hill)
10 min	Kahina (Northern African/the fortuneteller), Tashi (Tibetan/good fortune), Audhild (Norwegian/fortune and battle)

 

November 13, 2018, 8:00pm-10:00pm (UTC-8)
HAL Sprints

10 min	fixing things
20 min	double checking
30 min	struggling with command
10 min	getting to the source
20 min	argument
30 min	shutting down the rogue
20 min	into the unknown

 

November 15, 2018, 10:30am-11:00am (UTC-8)
SFO Sprints

30 min

flying

 

November 16, 2018, 6:30am-9:00am (UTC-8)
The Great Train Escape

10 min	traveling
20 min	eavesdropping
30 min	double entendre
10 min	groundbreaking
20 min	innovation
30 min	fantastic scenery

 

November 17, 2018, 6:00pm-9:00pm (UTC-8)
Night of Writing Dangerously Sprints (Prompts by NOWD Participants)

10 min	a sea monster that is more comedic than scary
20 min	every phone in the room begins to ring in a cacaphony of turkey gobbles
30 min (part 1)	your main character falls out of a window naked
30 min (part 2)	you’ve approached the elevator and the down button has been selected already, but no one is there
10 min	insert a message on a wall written in something unusual: blood, glowstick fluid, super-glued coins
20 min	your main character slow dances with their new pet cat
30 min (part 1)	a pigeon appears and lands on the love interest’s head
30 min (part 2)	that’s what she said
25 min (part 1)	a character just stepped into a bear trap
25 min (part 2)	a character breaks into a musical number

 

November 21, 2018, 12:00am-2:00am (UTC-8)
Postcard Sprints

10 min	opulent surroundings
20 min	chaos
30 min	familial ties
10 min	the power of science
20 min	running away

 

November 21, 2018, 7:00pm-9:00pm (UTC-8)
Phrases

10 min	eat, drink, and be merry
20 min	heard it through the grapevine
30 min	the elephant in the room
10 min	all that glitters is not gold
20 min	piece of the action

 

November 22, 2018, 8:00am-11:00am (UTC-8)
Lost Words Part 1

10 min	fallaciloquence (deceitful speech), foppotee (simpleton), fumificate (to make smoke), famigerate (to carry news from abroad)
20 min	labascate (to begin to fall or slide), lampistry (art of decorating lamps), lugent (weeping), latibule (hiding place)
30 min	acrasial (ill-tempered), alabandical (stupefied by drink), austerulous (slightly harsh), amarulence (bitterness, spite)
10 min	temerate (to break a promise), tremefy (to cause to tremble), tussicate (to cough), teterrimous (most foul)
20 min	mariturient (eager to marry), misqueme (to displease), murklins (in the dark), morsicant (producing the sensation of repeated biting or pricking)
30 min	cacozealous (imitating badly), celeripedian (swift-footed), citharize (to play the harp), crocitation (croaking)
5 min	welmish (of a pale or sickly color), wanchancy (unlucky), whipcat (tailor), wondermonger (one who promises miracles)
10 min	namelings (persons bearing the same name), nidifice (a nest), nerterology (study of the dead or the underworld), noscible (well-known)

 

November 22, 2018, 4:00pm-8:00pm (UTC-8)
Lost Words Part 2

10 min	damson (dark brownish purple), didapper (someone who disappears and bobs up again), diffluent (readily flowing away), dudgeon (resentment)
20 min	brio (enthusiastic vigour), bilious (ill-tempered), barracan (fine silk cloth), burrole (an eavesdropper)
30 min	rinkomania (obsession with skating), roulade (melodic embellishment sung to one syllable), rannygazoo (foolish nonsense), rigescent (becoming numb or stiff)
10 min	eclat (to make notorious), encraty (self-control), etiolate (to make pale by depriving of light), ebeneous (like or resembling ebony)
20 min	privatism (attitude of avoiding involvement in outside interests), psittacism (parrot-like repetition of speech), pabouche (a slipper), peise (weight, burden, load)
30 min	gewgaw (toy, trifling object, bauble), gulpin (credulous person), gyve (to fetter, to shackle), galanty (shadow play)
10 min	vafrous (cunning, sly), videlicet (to wit), vorpal (keen, deadly), veneniferous (carrying poison)
20 min	haematic (blood-colored), hednon (wedding present), homarine (pertaining to lobsters), hypogeal (underground)
30 min	kismet (fate, destiny), kyphorrhinos (humped nose), knarred (gnarled, knotty), kalon (beauty that is more than skin deep)
5 min	uberty (fruitfulness, abundant productiveness), umbracious (shady), upaithric (roofless, open to the sky), ustulation (buring, roasting)

 

November 23, 2018, 9:00pm-1:00am (UTC-8)
October and November 2011 Book Titles

10 min	sparks, saints astray, swift edge, some like it hot, stuck
20 min	revelations, race against time, rush, roam, the reckoning
30 min	last breath, love of the game, lesser evils, letting misery go, legend
10 min	blink of an eye, before the fall, bride of the night, breaking point, blank confession
20 min	heart of darkness, hunter of shadows, hit girls, his steadfast love, head over heels
30 min	cold glory, cloudburst, cemetery girl, crushed, covenant
10 min	firestorm, fake me a match, flipped out, flyaway, the final exam
20 min	darkness rising, destined, deadly desires, the disappearing dog, devoted
30 min	it happened on a train, the infernals, if I tell, in memories we fear, imposters
5 min	expectations of happiness, engaged with the boss, everybody sees the ants, enchanted by the blood, eyes to see

 

November 24, 2018, 8:00am-11:00am (UTC-8)
Tea Superstitions

10 min	Putting milk in your tea before sugar could condemn you to a life of solitude.
20 min	Leaving the top off the teapot could mean a stranger will bring bad news.
30 min	If you brew a pot of tea too strong you will make a new friend.
10 min	Bubbles that form in the middle of your cup indicate you will receive a lot of money.
20 min	Tea leaves scattered in front of the house will ward off evil spirits and protect the family that lives there.
30 min	It is very unlucky to stir the tea in the pot – if you do you will certainly quarrel with someone.
10 min	If the tea leaves form a cross in the cup, it means there’s trouble ahead
5 min	If tea accidentally spills out of the teapot while it is being carried, a secret shall be revealed.

 

November 24, 2018, 1:00pm-2:00pm (UTC-8)
Meow Sprints

10 min	getting tangled up in the thread of fate
20 min	scratching up a storm
10 min	a flying leap of faith

 

November 25, 2018, 7:15pm-11:00pm (UTC-8)
Words That Shakespeare Created

10 min	embrace, engagement, enrapt, excitement, eyewink
20 min	amazement, anchovy, arch-villain, auspicious, addiction
30 min	radiance, rawboned, reinforcement, remorseless, restoration
10 min	majestic, malignancy, mimic, mockable, mortifying
20 min	hint, heartsore, howl, honey-tongued, hornbook
30 min	compact, clangor, coppernose, countless, circumstantial
10 min	outbreak, overblown, overgrowth, obscene, ode
10 min	inducement, informal, investment, invitation, import
30 min	fanged, fashionable, fathomless, freezing, footfall

 

November 27, 2018, 8:00pm-10:00pm (UTC-8)
Gemstone Superstitions

10 min	Carbuncle dispels evil thoughts.
20 min	Ruby gives peace of mind, courage, insight, and mental power.
30 min	Lapis luzuli strenghtens friendship.
10 min	Malachite protects against lightning.
20 min	Agate can turn an enemy’s sword against himself.

 

November 28, 2018, 10:00pm-1:00am (UTC-8)
Tom Gauld Cartoons

10 min	many versions of the same thing
20 min	following trends
30 min	being pretentious
10 min	an unexpected loss
20 min	taking care of something
30 min	the big reveal
10 min	an unexpected antagonist
5 min	an embarrassing incident

 

December 1, 2018, 12:00am-2:00am (UTC-8)
Idioms

20 min (part 1)	out of the frying pan and into the fire
20 min (part 2)	broken heart
30 min (part 1)	keep the wolf from the door
30 min (part 2)	all that glitters is not gold
15 min (part 1)	fall from grace
15 min (part 2)	go with the flow
30 min (part 1)	in the nick of time
30 min (part 2)	famous last words

NaNoWordSprints Prompts for July 2018

It’s already past November and I’m incredibly late at getting these out, but better late than never, eh?

* * *

July 1, 2018, 5:00pm-7:00pm (UTC-8)
Beginning Tropes

10 min	big first choice
20 min	dramatic chase opening
30 min	morning routine
10 min	wake up in a room
20 min	starts with a murder

 

July 3, 2018, 9:00pm-1:00am (UTC-8)
Word Pairs

10 min	first and last, fish and chips, flesh and blood, forgive and forget
20 min	ladies and gentlemen, law and order, life or death, lock and key
30 min	birds and bees, black and white, body and soul, bread and butter
10 min	cloak and dagger, coat and tie, coffee and doughnuts, cream and sugar
20 min	prim and proper, profit and loss, pros and cons, pure and simple
30 min	signed and sealed, slip and slide, soap and water, sooner or later
10 min	tall and thin, thick and thin, terms and conditions, to and fro
10 min	rain or shine, ranting and raving, read and write, rhyme or reason
15 min	high and low, hot and bothered, huffing and puffing, husband and wife
30 min	drawn and quartered, day or night, do or die, dead or alive

 

July 5, 2018, 10:30pm-1:00am (UTC-8)
Magic: the Gathering – Ice Age and Dissension

10 min	chill to the bone, commandeer, controvert, counterbalance, cover of winter
20 min	feast of flesh, field marshal, flash freeze, frozen solid, fury of the horde
30 min	scrying sheets, sheltering ancient, snow-covered forest, sound the call, stalking yeti
10 min	bond of agony, bound, brace for impact, brain pry, bronze bombshell
15 min	cackling flames, celestial ancient, condemn, crime and punishment, coiling oracle
30 min	supply and demand, seal of doom, spell snare, squealing devil, stalking vengence

 

July 6, 2018, 10:00pm-2:00am (UTC-8)
Magic the Gathering – Ice Age Block, Dissension, Guildpact, Ravnica

10 min	research and development, rise and fall, rain of gore, ratcatcher, riot spikes
20 min	pain magnification, plumes of peace, pride of the clouds, proclamation of rebirth, proper burial
30 min	stealing stance, stoic ephemera, stomp and howl, street savvy, swift silence
10 min	walking archive, war’s toll, weight of spires, wit’s end, wrecking ball
20 min	castigate, caustic rain, conjurer’s ban, crash landing, cremate
30 min	savage twister, seize the soul, steam vents, stitch in time, stomping ground
10 min	bound and determined, belfry spirit, benediction of moons, bioplasm, blind hunter
20 min	resize, rabble-rouser, repeal, restless bones, rumbling slum
30 min	bathe in light, benevolent ancestor, birds of paradise, blockbuster, breath of fury
5 min	cry of contrition, caregiver, char, clinging darkness, concerted effort

 

July 7, 2018, 9:45am-12:00pm (UTC-8)
Magic the Gathering – Ice Age Block, Dissension, Guildpact, Ravnica

10 min	dark depths, debtor’s knell, douse in gloom, droning bureaucrats, dark confidant
20 min	earthen goo, electrolyze, empty the catacombs, eye of the storm, ethereal usher
30 min	fertile imagination, flash foliage, feral animist, frazzle, fiery conclusion
10 min	grim harvest, govern the guildless, ghost warden, godless shrine, gather courage
20 min	hallowed fountain, hide and seek, hit and run, hatching plans, hour of reckoning
10 min	into the north, ignorant bliss, infernal tutor, incite hysteria, induce paranoia

 

July 7, 2018, 4:00pm-6:00pm (UTC-8)
Magic the Gathering – Ice Age Block, Dissension, Guildpact, Ravnica

10 min	lightning storm, luminesce, leap of flame, living inferno, last gasp
20 min	magmatic core, mystic melting, macabre waltz, mortify, moonlight bargain
30 min	odds and ends, overrule, overgrown tomb, overwhelm, oathsworn giant
10 min	perilous research, psychic possession, psychotic fury, pure and simple, peel from reality
20 min	predatory focus, primeval light, pyromatics, perilous forays, perplex

 

July 8, 2018, 10:30am-2:00pm (UTC-8)
Magic the Gathering – Ice Age Block, Dissension, Guildpact, Ravnica/Book Titles from January 2014

10 min	surging dementia, swift maneuver, sacred foundry, scatter the seeds, shadow of doubt
20 min	thermal flux, trial and error, taste for mayhem, thrive, telling time
30 min	thunderheads, train of thought, temple garden, three dreams, tunnel vision
10 min	wall of shards, writ of passage, withstand, wreck havoc, watery grave
20 min	arctic flats, agent of masks, angel of despair, anarchist, annex
30 min	killer instinct, keening banshee, kraken’s eye, king cheetah, kami of old stone
10 min	vanish into memory, valor made real, vindictive mob, voyager staff, venerable monk
20 min	siren song, sunshine shimmers, stake a claim, star road, shadows of death
10 min	bitter spirits, bird, butterfly palace, breach zone, bed time

 

July 8, 2018, 4:30pm-8:00pm (UTC-8)
Book Titles from January 2014

10 min	firelight friends, flying colors, forgiving the angel, flower power, fearless
20 min	crossfire, classroom capers, cursed in the act, crimson veil, cry of the children
30 min	working the farm, wicked after midnight, welcome to the neighborhood, winter sky, work done for hire
10 min	ripper, ravens and gorillas, radiance of tomorrow, red rising, rancher rescue
20 min	after the storm, alliance, autumn rose, audacious aviators, anything to have you
30 min	take to the sky, time of attack, tooth fairy, tugboat, trouble on her doorstep
10 min	dinosaurs, dancing days, dreaming out loud, dark wolf, death of a chocoholic
20 min	unexpected father, undercover captor, up from the grave, under the wide and starry sky, unhinged
10 min	lost lake, lizards, lethal lawman, love by the book, lord of the hunt

 

July 10, 2018, 8:00pm-12:00am (UTC-8)
Book Titles from January and February 2014

10 min	monster mania, meeting her match, mitigating circumstances, moon rising, minders
20 min	hope flames, hold my hand, how to be a pirate, happily ever after, hanging devils
30 min	protectors, promise bound, portrait of a scandal, playing with fire, prisoners of war
10 min	iron night, independent study, if only for tonight, in the clutches of the penguin, introspection
20 min	going rogue, gift of truth, galactic battle, garden gate, ghostly liaison
30 min	nothing sweeter, no one else can have you, nightmares, northern girls, night lights
10 min	race against time, river road, revolution, romance for cynics, raven’s hollow
20 min	walking on air, white hot kiss, wings of death, white space, while beauty slept
30 min	triangles, two to tango, teen spirit, tremor, three souls
5 min	days of wine and roquefort, dog gone, do or die, death among the ruins, destination unknown

 

July 11, 2018, 8:00pm-10:00pm (UTC-8)
Book Titles from February 2014

10 min	southern heat, strays, scintillate, strange adventures, something real
20 min	broken homes, burn, before my eyes, bubble, boy on the edge
30 min	high seduction, hunter, hopeful, humbled, hearts rekindled
10 min	scarlet devices, second chances, secrets at court, sniper, stillwater
20 min	better off friends, birthday hiccups, bound to be dirty, burn bright, before the rose bloomed
30 min	fates, fallout, fools’ gold, falling light, forever
10 min	unforgotten, under your skin, untethered, underwater adventures, unexpected temptation
20 min	night’s promise, not time like the past, never too late, not without you, nest
30 min	conquest, cell, children of paradise, close pursuit, coincidence
5 min	weasels, when shadows fall, willow, wake, whispers of the heart

 

July 13, 2018, 10:00pm-1:00am (UTC-8)
Book Titles from February 2014

10 min	letting go, love and chaos, life support, light it up, liberty
20 min	missing monkey, mending horses, melting the ice, moving target, maybe one day
30 min	retribution, reflected, road to reckoning, runner, rule breaker
10 min	dreams to sell, dark moon, deep winter, deliverance, days of the knights
20 min	pillar to the sky, pieces of me, pioneer girl, pulse point, perfect together
30 min	atonement, all that glows, armed and famous, alone with you, avenger’s heat
20 min	hard going, heartbeat, house of glass, half a chance, heavy hitters

 

July 14, 2018, 7:30pm-10:00pm (UTC-8)
Book Titles from February 2014

10 min	only the good die young, our first embrace, outback attack, off and flying, oopsie-daisy
20 min	extra innings, evening stars, exchange
30 min	valley of fire, vacation in the wild, vengeance, vampire most wanted, Vienna nocturne
10 min	just one more night, jaded, judgement call, joust of honor
15 min	gorilla, grandmaster, glass houses, golden state, grasshopper jungle
30 min	twisted hills, take a chance, that part was true, truly madly deeply, the truth lies

 

July 15, 2018, 7:30pm-10:00pm (UTC-8)
Superstitions

10 min	the evil eye
20 min	ace of spades
30 min	black cat
10 min	shoes on the table
15 min	knocking on wood
30 min	the law of contagion

 

July 16, 2018, 7:30pm-12:00am (UTC-8)
Idioms

10 min	ladies who lunch
20 min	the dog ate my homework
30 min	loose lips sink ships
10 min	peanut gallery
20 min	popularity contest
30 min	You kids get off my lawn!
20 min	throw under the bus
10 min	my way or the highway
30 min	playing by ear
10 min	a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
20 min	a fish out of water

 

July 17, 2018, 7:30pm-10:00pm (UTC-8)
Book Titles from February 2014/Word of the Day – Merriam-Webster 2018

10 min	killer frost, kinder than solitude, kiss and tell
20min	mise-en-scene, mantic, meritorious, menagerie, muliebrity
30 min	boondoggle, balmy, bedizen, beaucoup, besot
10 min	abrogate, amortize, agonistic, aggress, arrogate
20 min	shenanigan, skirl, slumgullion, sacrosanct, sensibility
30 min	collaborate, cajole, chastise, cuckoo, career

 

July 18, 2018, 7:30pm-10:00pm (UTC-8)
Word of the Day – Merriam-Webster 2018

10 min	roseate, remuneration, raillery, riposte, reify
20 min	epithet, effigy, eventuate, embarrass, elucidate
30 min	lambaste, layman, loath, lexicographer, laudable
10 min	tantalize, tome, transpire, traduce, telegenic
15 min	fustigate, flocculate, flummox, founder, farce
30 min	notorious, nascent, newfangled, nondescript, never-never land

 

July 20, 2018, 10:00pm-12:00am (UTC-8)
Idioms

10 min	between the devil and the deep blue sea
20 min	exception that proves the rule
30 min	kick the bucket
10 min	red herring
20 min	smoke and mirrors

 

July 21, 2018, 7:30pm-12:00am (UTC-8)
Word of the Day – Merriam-Webster 2018

10 min	proficient, pugnacious, palindrome, petard, parlous
20 min	defenestration, decimate, defer, delegate, divest
30 min	ingenue, indigence, ineluctable, invigilate, instauration
10 min	voracity, veld, vulnerable, vanward, validate
20 min	opportune, ostensible, otiose, onomatopoeia, officinal
30 min	homogeneous, headlong, hachure, hornswoggle, homiletic
10 min	garrulous, grudging, grandiose, gainsay, gravamen
20 min	whelm, winsome, woolgathering, wend, wifty
30 min	squirl, satisfice, scrouge, senectitude, stent
10 min	copper-bottomed, carcinogenic, cervantic, cremnophobia, collusion
20 min	nepotism, natant, nitty-gritty, nephalism, narcissism

 

July 22, 2018, 1:00pm-10:00pm (UTC-8)
TV Tropes – Plots

10 min	15 minutes of fame
20 min	all for nothing
30 min	broken masquerade
10 min	crossing the desert
20 min	destructive savior
30 min	evil plan
20 min	fight to survive
15 min	great escape
20 min	he knows too much
30 min	innocence lost
10 min	just fine without you
20 min	kids play matchmaker
30 min	lonely at the top
20 min	maintain the lie
10 min	no sympathy
20 min	on the money
30 min	protect this house
10 min	quest for a wish
20 min	ransacked room
30 min	seal the breach
10 min	talent contest
10 min	unwanted gift
15 min	visions of another self
20 min	we need to get proof
30 min	let X be the unknown
10 min	your worst nightmare
20 min	zany scheme

 

July 23, 2018, 7:00pm-12:00am (UTC-8)
Unusual Words

10 min	vaaljapie (inferior wine), vacherin (sweet mixture of meringue and whipped cream), vacive (empty), vadelect (servant)
20 min	gabble (to chatter or talk inarticulately), gaita (Spanish bagpipes), galanty (shadow play), galeanthropy (belief that one is a cat)
30 min	dealbation (whitening), deasil (sunwise motion), decalvant (removing hair), decatise (to uncurl through the use of steam)
10 min	tectrix (small feather of a bird’s wing), telarian (creature that spins a web), telos (aim/purpose), temulence (intoxication)
20 min	windlass (indirect action), windrow (hay raked together into a line), wirble (to whirl), wist (to know)
30 min	bickern (anvil pointed at both ends), biggin (a building), bight (a wide bay), bismer (shame, disgrace, scorn)
10 min	modena (crimson), modish (fashionable), moilsome (laborious), mollescent (softening)
20 min	nobbut (except), nodated (knotted), noddypeak (fool, imbecile), nolition (adverse action of will, unwillingness)
30 min	puisne (inferior in rank), pulicide (flea-killer), pulvil (perfumed powder), punnet (small shallow fruit basket)
10 min	huckaback (absorbent cotton used for towels), hulchy (swollen), humgruffin (terrible person), hummock (pile or ridge of ice)
20 min	adhibit (to attach), adjutage (nozzle), adunc (hooked), adynamia (helplessness, lack of strength)
30 min	cabasset (light iron helmet), cachinnate (to laugh loudly and inappropriately), cacogen (antisocial person), cadge (to beg or sponge from another)

 

July 24, 2018, 8:00pm-11:00pm (UTC-8)
Rhymes

10 min	binge, cringe, fringe, singe, twinge
20 min	agree, banshee, carefree, debris, goatee
30 min	crumb, dumb, numb, plumb, thumb
10 min	belong, daylong, furlong, headlong, prolong
20 min	acrobat, bureaucrat, copycat, diplomat, habitat
30 min	broomstick, chopstick, joystick, nightstick, slapstick
20 min	backlash, eyelash, mustache, slapdash, whiplash

 

July 25, 2018, 8:00pm-11:00pm (UTC-8)
Random Tropes on TV Tropes

10 min	you can barely stand
20 min	portrait painting peephole
30 min	silence is golden
10 min	a mind is a terrible thing to read
20 min	no animals were harmed
30 min	anti-magic
20 min	not helping your case

 

July 26, 2018, 10:00pm-1:00am (UTC-8)
Random Tropes on TV Tropes

10 min	amazingly embarrassing parents
20 min	eliminated from the race
30 min	intrepid reporter
10 min	testosterone brigade
20 min	bridezilla
30min	music soothes the savage beast
20 min	sticky situation

 

July 27, 2018, 10:00pm-1:00am (UTC-8)
Phrases

10 min	some things never change
20 min	annoying yet ultimately successful
30 min	an entirely different perspective
10 min	ready to say goodbye
20 min	visible traces
30 min	when the sun sets we start to worry
20 min	rebellion brewing

Postcard #245 – Sort of Dada

To me, this makes too much sense to be Dada, but I like the notion.

Postcard #212 – Imaginary Lighthouse

The sender says that they mailed this postcard because they wanted to share their childhood dream of living next to the sea, but part of me wonders why they mailed this particular postcard and not some other postcard with the sea in it.

I admit, it’s mostly because of the lighthouse. I have nothing against lighthouses, but I live in fear of the postcard collector enthusiasts who would rail at me for receiving a lighthouse postcard when I don’t collect any postcard topics specifically. Or maybe it’s because I’ve read too many forum posts by crazy postcard collectors who think there’s only One True Way To Do Postcards.

(Also note especially for the overzealous postcard enthusiasts who can’t read the handwriting and want to report me to the postcard police: The sender wrote that I could share this postcard on the blog. Everything else is blacked out.)

NaNoWordSprints Prompts for April 2018

Seriously, where has the time gone? I feel like I’m perpetually behind. I will say that the April session of Camp NaNoWriMo was a little unusual this year on my part because I went on vacation on the last week of April and then when I came back to work, I basically had a lot of catch up to do.

Anyways, here are all the prompts from the word sprints I lead last month on @NaNoWordSprints:

* * *

 

April 1, 2018, 10:00am-12:00pm (UTC-8)
Food Idioms

10 min	to go bananas
20 min	to spill the beans
30 min	to be in a pickle
10 min	two peas in a pod
20 min	the proof is in the pudding

 

April 4, 2018, 10:00am-12:00pm (UTC-8)
Magic: The Gathering – The Initial Sets

10 min	bad moon, badlands, balance, bayou, blaze of glory
20 min	dark ritual, deathgrip, disenchant, disintegrate, demonic attorney
30 min	instill energy, invisibility, illusionary mask, icy manipulator, island
10 min	wanderlust, weakness, web, word of command, white knight
20 min	power surge, plateau, phantom monster, pirate ship, paralyze

 

April 8, 2018, 4:15pm-10:00pm (UTC-8)
Magic: The Gathering – Legends, Mirage, Tempest

10 min	horror of horrors, imprison, jovial evil, kismet, lifeblood
20 min	primordial ooze, quagmire, rabid wombat, seeker, transmutation
30 min	avoid fate, backfire, cocoon, darkness, eureka
10 min	killer bees, lost soul, master of the hunt, north star, puppet master
20 min	crevasse, divine offering, equinox, fallen angel, greed
30 min	invoke prejudice, juxtapose, knowledge vault, land’s edge, mountain stronghold
10 min	waiting in the weeds, wall of resistance, wellspring, worldly tutor, ward of lights
20 min	torrent of lava, tidal wave, tombstone stairwell, tranquil domain, thirst
30 min	blind fury, boomerang, binding agony, barreling attack, barbed foliage
10 min	flare, flash, forsaken wastes, favorable destiny, firebreathing
20 min	painful memories, power sink, purgatory, political trickery, pacifism
30 min	illicit auction, ivory charm, incinerate, infernal contract, illumination
10 min	abandon hope, anoint, avenging angel, advance scout, aftershock
20 min	diabolic edict, dismiss, dregs of sorrow, duplicity, disturbed burial

 

April 9, 2018, 8:00pm-10:00pm (UTC-8)
Magic: The Gathering – Tempest, Urza’s Saga

10 min	rampant growth, recycle, reflecting pool, ruby medallion, repentance
20 min	sacred guide, sadistic glee, shatter, spontaneous combustion, sudden impact
30 min	light of day, lobotomy, living death, legerdemain, lightning blast
10 min	fevered convulsions, firefly, frog tongue, fireslinger, forest
30 min	glorious anthem, greater good, greener pastures, gamble, grafted skullcap

 

April 11, 2018, 8:00pm-12:00am (UTC-8)
Book Titles from December 2009

10 min	burning desire, bone chamber, bandit queen, beast with 1000 eyes, black ships
20 min	last chance to see, lost in paradise, little white lies, luck of the draw, lost dogs and lonely hearts
30 min	shades of midnight, sweet deception, scorched, somewhere towards the end, sparkling steps
10 min	invisible lines, if looks could chill, immortal, ice journeys, I so don’t do spooky
20 min	veil of shadows, virus attack, village of the ghost bears, vendetta
30 min	getting lucky, glitter, goodness and mercy, green-eyed monster
10 min	final exam, force of nature, flame seeker, fire and ice, full of money
20 min	double booked, dark hunter, dawn, dying scream, divine misdemeaners
30 min	murder has a sweet tooth, man in the moon, my own worst enemy, more than a woman, my soul to save
10 min	hard winter, hidden empire, heart of the witch, homefront, horsewhipped

 

April 12, 2018, 10:00pm-12:00am (UTC-8)
Magic: The Gathering – Urza’s Saga

10 min	parasitic bond, persecute, pit trap, polluted mire, pouncing jaguar
15 min	darkest hour, despondency, destructive urge, douse, duress
30 min	cackling fiend, confiscate, curfew, congregate, carpet of flowers
10 min	hidden spider, hollow dogs, humble, healing salve, hermetic study
20 min	torch song, telepathy, turnabout, time spiral, thundering giant

 

April 14, 2018, 2:00pm-4:00pm (UTC-8)
Book Titles from December 2010

10 min	realm of kings, romancing the chef, ride the fire, rosebush, reckless in paradise
20 min	undertow, unified action, underground warrior
30 min	circle of lies, caveat emptor, catacombs, caught off guard, courting sparks
10 min	stranger, senseless, shattered light, something like hope, sugar and spice
20 min	winter wood, wild stallion, what the heart sees

 

April 14, 2018, 9:00pm-3:00am (UTC-8)
Book Titles from December 2010 and 2011

10 min	eternal prey, empire of silver, entice, explosive, enchanted no more
20 min	no place to run, night prey, naked cruelty
30 min	if walls could talk, indefensible, irresistible fortune, into the night, in too deep
10 min	dead or alive, danger in the desert, devil’s mark, dark waters, defiant
20 min	all the wrong moves, against the wind, ascension
30 min	big noise, bedeviled eggs, bloody valentine, boiling point, battle dress
10 min	goddess of legend, getting even, good behavior, ghost country
20 min	outrageously yours, one grave less, old border road, out for blood, off kilter
30 min	her healing ways, home invasion, hand of the hunter, high country horror, hot to touch
10 min	famous, flirting with destiny, fall for anything
20 min	the last word, the cartel, the red well, the wrong side of happiness, the dispatcher
30 min	sanctuary cove, still waters, spells and stitches, smitten, slash and burn
10 min	island of wings, in the flesh, infamous, it’s all Greek to me, illuminated
20 min	devil’s kiss, dead bolt, daybreak, death benefit, danger in the wind
10 min	triple shot, to get to the other side, threadbare, trouble at the wedding, true shot

 

April 15, 2018, 7:00pm-10:00pm (UTC-8)
Magic: The Gathering – Mercadian Masques & Nemesis

10 min	cackling witch, cave-in, ceremonial guard, charisma, close quarters
20 min	lure, lunge, liability, last breath, larceny
30 min	tremor, tranquility, tiger claws, thwart, thunderclap
10 min	ferocity, flaming sword, forced march, furious assault, false demise
20 min	vendetta, vernal equinox, vine trellis, volcanic wind, venomous dragonfly
30 min	barbed wire, bargaining table, black market, blood oath, bribery
20 min	daze, dark triumph, dominate, downhill charge, defiant vanguard

 

April 16, 2018, 8:00pm-10:30pm (UTC-8)
Magic: The Gathering – Invasion

10 min	absorb, aggressive urge, agonizing demise, ancient spring, archaeological dig
20 min	maniacal rage, manipulate fate, meteor storm, mourning, malice
30 min	obliterate, ordered migration, overload, overabundance, opt
10 min	probe, prohibit, psychic battle, pure reflection, pledge of loyalty
15 min	backlash, battery, bend or break, blinding light, breaking wave
30 min	fertile ground, fight or flight, frenzied tilling, fact or fiction, faerie squadron

 

April 17, 2018, 8:00pm-2:00am (UTC-8)
Magic: The Gathering – Odyssey, Onslaught, Legions, Scourge, Mirrodin Block

10 min	cabal inquisitor, call of the herd, careful study, cartographer, chance encounter
20 min	decaying soil, decimate, dedicated martyr, deep reconnaissance, devoted caretaker
30 min	earnest fellowship, elephant ambush, embolden, epicenter, escape artist
10 min	gallantry, ghastly demise, graceful antelope, gravedigger, ground seal
20 min	impulsive maneuvers, infected vermin, innocent blood, immobilizing ink, ivy elemental
30 min	need for speed, nimble mongoose, new frontiers, nut collector, nomad decoy
10 min	blackmail, blatant thievery, break open, beacon of destiny, brain freeze
20 min	death match, defensive maneuvers, demystify, dirge of dread, discombobulate
30 min	reckless one, reminisce, renewed faith, righteous cause, risky move
10 min	steely resolve, swat, scion of darkness, stoic champion, scornful egotist
20 min	covert operative, carbonize, carrion feeder, coast watcher, consumptive goo
30 min	fugitive wizard, faces of the past, fatal mutation, final punishment, frozen solid
10 min	ghastly remains, gilded light, goblin psychopath, grip of chaos, guilty conscience
20 min	hollow specter, hindering touch, hunting pack, head games, harsh mercy
15 min	electrostatic bolt, echoing truth, emissary of hope, early frost, endless whispers

 

April 18, 2018, 9:00pm-12:00am (UTC-8)
Book Titles from December 2011

10 min	every other day, endangered, earthbound, everything in between, enchanted again
20 min	awkward, agony, asunder, all fall down, assume nothing
30 min	brothers in arms, bestial, bedeviled, bleeding hearts, borrowing a bachelor
10 min	fractured, freezing, flyaway, fair game, family way
20 min	hidden summit, human for a day, hostage bride, hope blooms, how to worship a goddess
30 min	a giant crush, a haunted twist of fate, a play of heresy, a place called home, an unexpected gentleman
20 min	legacy, left hand magic, love in play, lake country, lesson
extra	winging it, winter town, wild thing, where she belongs, wicked circle

 

April 19, 2018, 10:00pm-12:00am (UTC-8)
Book Titles from December 2011 and 2012

10 min	covert warriors, conqueror, claim the night, chocolate covered murder, cry of the ghost wolf
20 min	scales of retribution, straight to the heart, soft target, shattered dreams, seductive as flame
30 min	abominations, absolute value, acceleration, ace of spades, aftermath
10 min	before the fall, behind four walls, beholden, believe it or not, betrothed
20 min	circle of lies, clandestine, clash, clever crow, conflagration
extra	destined, dirge, divergent lives, doesn’t really matter, double exposure

 

April 20, 2018, 10:00pm-12:00am (UTC-8)
Book Titles from December 2012 and 2013

10 min	edge of sanity, elemental music, elevation, emerald eyes, encounter
20 min	facing the dark, fair play, family ties, first journey, flawed
30 min	wild children, windswept, winged, wishes, water pressure
10 min	undercover rebel, unexposed film, unleashed, unmasked, unnatural acts
20 min	totally spaced out, tours, towers of dust, trace evidence, transfusion
30 min	support, surreal dreams, survival skills, swan song, symbiont
10 min	royal blue, rude awakening, rumors, runaway, ricochet
20 min	playing with fire, poison, poker face, possession, phantasmagoria
30 min	breathe, bet on love, black flag, balloon blow up, born in blood
10 min	out to lunch, once upon a lie, offering, obsessed by him, out of the shadows

 

April 22, 2018, 3:00pm-5:00pm (UTC-8)
Sprints from SFO

10 min	traveling
15 min	snacks
30 min	announcements
10 min	duty free perfume and wine
20 min	departures

 

April 23, 2018, 1:40pm-4:00pm (UTC+2)
Travels in Copenhagen

10 min	Finding the right path
15 min	Wandering around
15 min	A helping hand

 

April 24, 2018, 9:00pm-11:00pm (UTC+1)
Travels in the Faroe Islands

10 min	getting lost
20 min	an unexpected find
30 min	getting things to work
10 min	planning ahead of time
20 min	strange landscapes

 

April 26, 2018, 9:00am-10:00am (UTC+1)
Travels at Sea

10 min	in the open water
20 min	in the murky depths
15 min	land in the distance

 

April 27, 2018, 8:45pm-12:00am (UTC+1)
Magic: The Gathering – Mirrodin Block, Kamigawa Block

15 min	icy manipulator, incite war, irradiate, inflame, into thin air
10 min	alter of shadows, annul, ancient den, arrest, assert authority
30 min	power conduit, predator’s strike, promise of power, psychic overload, purge
15 min	march of the machines, mask of memory, mass hysteria, mind’s eye, mourner’s shield
20 min	tangleroot, temporal cascade, thirst for knowledge, thought prison, tooth and nail
30 min	befoul, blessed breath, blind anger, blood rites, brutal deceiver
20 min	call to glory, candles’ glow, commune with nature, consuming vortex, crushing pain
10 min	dampen thought, dance of shadows, devouring greed, distress, day of destiny

 

April 28, 2018, 8:00am-9:00am (UTC+1)
Breakfast

10 min	getting things started
15 min	breaking the fast
20 min	finishing the drinks

 

April 28, 2018, 11:00pm-3:00am (UTC+2)
Magic: The Gathering – Kamigawa Block

10 min	eerie procession, ethereal haze, enshrined memories, eradicate, exile into darkness
20 min	field of reality, faithful squire, final judgement, first volley, freed from the real
30 min	gale force, ghostly prison, gifts ungiven, glimpse of nature, guardian of solitude
10 min	hideous laughter, hinder, hold the line, harbringer of spring, hero’s demise
20 min	indomitable will, in the web of war, ideas unbound, inner calm outer strength, into the fray
30 min	midnight covenant, mystic restraints, mending hands, mirror gallery, measure of wickedness
10 min	otherwordly journey, orb of dreams, one with nothing, oppressive will, overwhelming intellect
20 min	part the veil, peer through depths, pull under, phantom wings, psychic spear
30 min	reciprocate, rend flesh, reduce to dreams, rally the horde, reverence
5 min	serpent skin, sideswipe, sift through sands, squelch, strange inversion

 

April 29, 2018, 5:00am-7:00am (UTC+2)
Magic: The Gathering – Kamigawa Block, Aether Revolt

10 min	teller of tales, time of need, tranquil garden, that which was taken, threads of disloyalty
30 min	uncontrollable anger, unearthly blizzard, unnatural speed, unchecked growth, uproot
20 min	waking nightmare, wandering ones, wear away, ward of piety, wine of blood and iron
10 min	alley evasion, barricade breaker, call for unity, daring demolition, efficient construction
20 min	audacious infiltrator, bastion enforcer, cogwork assembler, dark intimations, enraged giant

Bookshop Hunting #5

Note: These are only my opinions and impressions of bookstores, book fairs, book sales, and/or other book-related events I’ve visited. I am not reviewing or ranking them because I’m sure other people will visit these places and have diverging opinions. Everyone has their own ideas and preferences of what a great bookstore should be. If you have a suggestion, feel free to comment on this post and take a look at my bookstore list in progress to make sure your suggestion doesn’t overlap with a place I already know about.

* * *

Paulist Center Bookstore (614 Grant Ave, San Francisco, CA) | Website
This Catholic gift shop is located on the edge of Chinatown and to me, seems rather out of place. There’s religious knick knacks and gifts here, of course, but there are also books. Most of it is of a Christian bent so of no interest to me. However, they also do sell a few used books and I was somewhat surprised to find several Danielle Steel novels on sale. I’ve never read a Steel novel, but I didn’t think they were particularly religious…

Louie Brothers Book Store (754 Washington St, San Francisco, CA) 
I had been here before to buy a few postcards. The store itself is narrow, but neat. The selection here is mostly Chinese literature (in Chinese, of course), but you can also find greeting cards in the front (I bought a Chinese New Year card for my parents here). There are also Asian skin mags near the front counter, which seems somewhat unusual.

Sino-American Books & Arts (751 Jackson St, San Francisco, CA)
I had been visiting the fortune cookie factory and I turned a corner and there this store was, squeezed in between some other food stores. When I visited, there was a blaring television and the whole store seemed to channel a paper factory explosion. They do have a lot of manga/graphic novels and books in the same series were tied together into bundles with twine and stacked like abandoned cords of firewood. The aisles are extremely narrow with barely enough room for one normal sized person. Again, it’s mostly literature in Chinese. There might be some great stuff in this store, but the general disorganization makes the neat freak in me cringe.

City Lights Booksellers & Publishers (261 Columbus Ave, San Francisco, CA) | Website
This is the iconic bookstore in San Francisco, located on the edge of Chinatown and Little Italy. Every time I come here, there’s always something new to see. The first time I came to the store, the booksellers were very helpful with finding a book I had been trying to locate forever. The front door to the store is narrow and when it’s crowded with tourists, it’s impossible to navigate (I had gone there once when it was bursting with tourists, but I gave up quickly after one step into the store and found that I could not move anywhere—this would be frustrating for other tourists, but at least I had the luxury of living in the Bay Area and coming at a different time). The second floor is devoted to poetry, the first floor is fiction, and the bottom floor is non-fiction. I spend most of my time on the bottom floor, wishing I had enough money to buy their entire mythology and folklore section. When I visited this place last Sunday, there were a moderate number of patrons, which was great. I really don’t like crashing into other people every time I want to browse books.

Eastwind Books & Arts, Inc. (1435 Stockton St, San Francisco, CA) | Website
I mentioned this store in a previous post on this store’s Berkeley branch. This particular store is located next to a bank down some stairs on the lower level. Right outside the door of the store are carts of sale DVDs, CDs, books, and magazines. Most of the store’s inventory is Chinese media and literature (the stuff in English is tucked away all in the back). It’s a large, well organized store with books available in many subjects. When I last visited there, they had Chinese New Year cards on sale (without the envelope) and I discovered they had a large cook book section. If my parents visit me again, this would be a place I’d recommend they check out.

Coit Tower Gift Shop (1 Telegraph Hill Blvd, San Francisco, CA) | Website
I walked to the Coit Tower from Chinatown, but if you’re feeling lazy and don’t want to scale Telegraph Hill, you can take bus 39 or drive (warning: extremely limited parking). Getting up the tower itself will set you back $8, but if you’re just there for the gift shop, you’ll find a lot of Coit Tower knick knacks, overpriced postcards, prints, and vintage books for $10 each. Personally, I’d say go for the views from Coit Tower and avoid the gift shop. You can get better deals of the postcards and books elsewhere. You won’t be missing much.