So I knew that I owned a copy of Lamplighter (which I want to re-read before Factotum) and a copy of The Explosionist (which I want to re-read before Invisible Things).
What I didn't know was where they were.
I suspected that they might be up in the attic. So I headed up there.
Thirty-five boxes later, I'd unearthed a TON of old friends (that includes books that I've owned but haven't gotten around to for so long that they've become old friends): Lois Duncan and Connie Willis, Denise Mina and a pile of Soho Crime, the unauthorized biography of 90210, the Days of Our Lives Complete Family Album and The Mabinogion, Jeff Vandermeer and Daphne du Maurier and Noel Streatfeild, two entire boxes of P.G. Wodehouse and three of comic books, Joan Aiken and Eva Ibbotson's romances and Andrew Vachss and Dirk Gently, two or three copies of pretty much every Barbara Michaels book ever, Isaac Asimov and H.L. Mencken and David Levithan and Edgar Wallace and Jim Thompson.
And THREE copies of Foundling. I kid you not.
But I persevered, and in the thirty-sixth box, I found my copy of Lamplighter.
What I didn't find, after box forty-three AND searching all of the bookshelves, was The Explosionist. So I decided, well, the hell with it: If I can own three copies of Foundling, I can own two copies of The Explosionist.
I bopped over to Amazon, and was ABOUT to order it... but then I had A THOUGHT. And I checked Book Closeouts. Lo and behold, there it was, for $6.99.
SCORE.
I mean, of course then I had to add another $30 of books to the order so I could get free shipping, but... YAY!
(Josh, in case you're wondering, was not particularly impressed by my logic. But I placated him with books I dragged down from the attic: a collection of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's supernatural stories and the aforementioned biography of H.L. Mencken.)
Please tell me there were also brownies involved. That's a lot of boxes to go through without brownies.
Posted by: Chrissy | 10 November 2010 at 05:53 PM
The brownies came later, but I *did* make them. And they're awesome.
I should know, as that's what I ate for supper.
Posted by: Leila | 10 November 2010 at 05:57 PM
Hahahaha!
In my own boxes! Looking for my own Explosionist!
Because D. is such a Cornish fan, however, we know where all of our Monster Blood Tattoos (I INSIST upon the original name) hide out, mainly because he just reread them.
Hmm! Some of us in this household think we have read all that Sir Conan every writ... must see if these Supernatural Tales have been seen before...
Posted by: tanita | 11 November 2010 at 06:02 AM
I love Denise Mina! Ach, wee hen!
Posted by: Kate | 11 November 2010 at 08:26 AM
I would like to spend my next vacation in your attic.
Posted by: SlyGly | 11 November 2010 at 10:54 AM
Please may I live in your attic? Just the Streatfeild, Wodehouse, and du Maurier would keep me happy for weeks.
Posted by: Gina | 11 November 2010 at 02:08 PM
That attic rocks, seriously!
I feel like such a geek that Jenny's book was right on the shelf, in abc order. The Cornish though...crap, I don't think I even got the Cornish books. (eep!)
Posted by: Colleen | 11 November 2010 at 11:52 PM