Then why did you buy the book???

In the effort to recoup the massive amount of money I have poured into textbooks over the past four years, I've been selling books on half.com. It's really easy - just type in the ISBN of each book, set a price, and that's it! No need to monitor a bidding war like on eBay. You only pay a commission when the item is sold. Since school is starting again, I've been able to make a few sales.

Most of the interaction I receive with buyers is through the seller feedback area, where users can leave comments about the interaction. Yesterday, however, I received the following letter in the mail:

"To whom it may concern:

Received the book on **********. Its very nice but was surprised at the price of such a small book. Is there a reason for such a high price? Was expecting a bigger paperback.

Thank you,"

...

Are you serious? Then why did you buy the book? I didn't force you to buy the book. In fact, if you look at the book information, it tells you how many pages are in the book as well as its dimensions. I can't believe someone spent more money and time writing back to me. And, now that I think of it, it's slightly sad that I took even more of my time to blog about it here.

Remember what the correct title of a book is when you're recommending it to a friend

J had raved to me about reading "The Inheritance of Loss." In an effort to be erudite, I had purchased the book and started to read it last week. I unfortunately had trouble getting through it, ending up on around page 100 after a few hours of half-hearted reading. So, talking to J a few minutes ago, here's what transpired:

Me: so far i'm liking the story of biju in new york better than the things going on in india
J: biju????
Me: maybe because the narrative is something that i can understand and picture a little better
J: who's biju?
Me: the cook's son in new york
Me: who is going between lots of jobs
J: who huh?
Me: lol didn't you read this?
J: ummm
J: i don't remember a cook
Me: the cook in india
Me: the cook for the judge
Me: who has a son in new york city
J: wut judge?
Me: WHAT
J: ummmmm
Me: are we reading the same book?
Me: The Inheritance of Loss?
Me: by Kiran Desai
J: OMG
J: i guided u to the wrong book
J: O_O

I'm supposed to be reading "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri! I'm going to pick that up tomorrow after I return this other book!

Rediscovering Reading

To occupy my newfound freetime, I've taken up reading. In the past month I've read Prep, The Search, The Headmaster Ritual, HP7, and the Time Traveler's Wife. All excellent books. Well, the Headmaster Ritual was the worse of them all. I'm now onto The Inheritance of Loss. I feel like I'm doing some hit parade right now, going to Border's and picking whatever was a NYT bestseller a few months ago and is now discounted. Either way, these are good books to occupy myself when I'm tired of staring at the computer all day.

HP7 / Arrested Development

So yes, I finished Harry Potter. I don't want to give anyway any spoilers to the vast majority of people who haven't read the book, but suffice it to say, it was much different than previous versions, although not in a bad way, but in one that just made the book not as exciting as others have for me. Plus, since it was the official end to the series, I thought the ending was cliche and somewhat contrived, but in many ways it really did finish an excellent series. So read it, definitely.

And while you're at Borders or Barnes and Noble, be sure to get:

Arrested Development.

I just bought season 1, and holy shit, it's hilarious! The Bluth's are a seriously dysfunctional family and what's better is that their interactions are shockingly funny. It almost feels like a reality show, like Real World, mixed with an element of third-person narration to keep the plot moving. I particularly enjoy Tobias, who is struggling to be an actor, is a "never-nude," and likes to cry in the shower. Good stuff.

HP7 is Coming

Of course the internet is buzzing with spoilers, activity, etc of the upcoming HP7. Myself included, will be getting the book as soon as possible and reading it this weekend. Hopefully the next update will be my own impressions of the book.