TSS: Books and Bars

Hey Saloners! I'm a bit late today writing because after I perused through your blogs, I check my e-mail and found a 40% off coupon FOR TODAY ONLY! I mean, really?! Can you blame me to stopping what I was doing to run to the store. I printed out two coupons (texting D to hurry up so I could drag her with me - one coupon per customer, peeps!) I already told myself that I would not purchase anything other than graphic novels (they are ohso expensive and lordy knows I have tons of books in my TBR pile since bookmooch came into my life...) I made out like a bandit: I finally got my own copy of Blankets (my all time favorite graphic) and picked up a coveted copy of Comic Book Tattoo Tales Inspirited by Tori Amos. Squeal! It's such a beautiful book and I know that I'm going to love, love, love it!

Books & Bars

This past Friday I met some girlfriends up at our local bar for Happy Hour/Birthday celebration. A couple of drinks later, I snuck outside for a breath of fresh air. Okay, okay. I'm lying here. I snuck outside for a smoke. I know. *cough* *cough*. But it's so smelly. And you're right it is. I justify myself by saying, "well, you know, I only smoke when I drink...." and since I hardly drink every day, I'm not a real smoker, right? Ah, the things we do when we are too afraid to give up a bad habit.

But I digress.

I'm outside "breathing in fresh air" and reading a magazine. So's the dude next to me. Another gent makes a comment about how nice it is to see people read. Especially at a bar. And you know, I guess it could be strange...but that's how I spent a good portion of my college years. At bars. Reading. With my friends. Who were at bars. Drinking. Umm..yah. I was drinking too. But you know, I was STUDYING as well. :P (Do you think that's why I love The Great Gatsby soooo much??).

But i digress. Again.

I talked to the dude sitting next to me about what a voracious reader I am and what do you know, so was he. So we shared tales. He made a comment about how, when he was younger he loved science fiction and read it all (I know, sooo stereotypical right?) but now he's been getting into some 19th century fiction because "You know, it's like science fiction to us now. What I read about as a kid is now the present and the stuff back in Little Women's time seems so unreal." I wanted to say, uh well, it's more like history and I don't know how real our world resembles the worlds of all science fiction as thoughts of Heinlein's Starship Troopers comes to mind (which, people, I cannot stress how much I can't stand Heinlein. Yes, yes, he had a woman protagonist. Go Friday. Kudos for him. For real. But geez louise his characters were sooo dull!) Of course, I didn't say this to Dude because I was at a bar and I'm too girly to get into nerdtastic bar fights. Although *that* would be a great post.

I don't mean to sound too pretentious by this conversation. Because really. I wasn't. And I'm not. Plus, I'm at a bar, and I've already had a couple of drinks. How pretentious could one be? It ended up pretty fun. I talked to him about some adolescent literature, recommending John Green, Carrie Ryan, and Suzanne Collins. And parted ways. All in all, good times were had.

So, what was the strangest, coolest, or most spontaneous place you've ever discussed books?