…is mostly books, and gym stuff, since there are two gyms near the courthouse. I searched several used bookstores* for a paperback copy of Infinite Jest, which I could rip into more portable chunks. But I learned an obvious lesson: if you go to a used bookstore with a specific book in mind, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Here’s what I discovered instead:
- In the Blink of An Eye, A Perspective on Film Editing, by Walter Murch
- The Orwell Reader, 1956 ed. (without the inaccurate cover the Amazon reviewers complain about.)
- Among the Believers, An Islamic Journey, V.S. Naipaul — travel through the ancient (i.e., late ’70’s) Islamic world.
- The Believer, Among the things Dave Eggers has been up to. We’ll see.
- The real find: Hollywood on Trial: The Story of the Ten Who Were Indicted, 1st ed., 1948, by Gordon Kahn, a contemporary, insider account of the 1947 HUAC hearings.
(Blacklist trivia: The blacklist era didn’t end until the director Otto Preminger openly hired Dalton Trumbo, one of the original Hollywood Ten, to write the script for Exodus, a 1960 movie about the founding of Israel. Preminger’s sleek, modernist house was across the street from mine. I’m looking at its English/Portuguese replacement right now.)
* Shopping credits: East Village Books, 101 St Mark’s Pl (1st & A); Bookleaves, 304 W 4th St.