My new favorite bookstore

I almost titled this post 'cabin lit', and really that's what the post is all about.  Last fall during an archaeological survey by kayak around Afognak Island Mike S and I gained an appreciation for paperback novels found in cabins. During the trip, we were weather bound next to two remote cabins,  and we shamelessly plundered their bookshelves for tent bound entertainment. 'Cabin Lit' is by definition limited.  You choose what you choose and that's what you read.  Afterall, every book there was already chosen by a prior cabin dweller and NOT YOU.  It tends to be action/adventure, romance, bra buster, sci-fi, fantasy type stuff.  But really the operative words are random and 'limited selection'.

Despite the random, limited selection, Mike and I enjoyed every book that we read. We even did book club like talk about what you read type stuff. And this got me thinking, 'how important is a big selection of books?'  Might I be better off with a more limited selection where it is easier to make a choice?  Sort of like TV channel selection in the pre cable days - no angst about choice?

Fast forward to post Christmas holidays when I go online to buy some new books.  Both Amazon and Barnes and Nobles no longer let you check out 'as a guest'.  It is all password and account driven.  Of course I'd forgotten my passwords, and after many complications I bagged the whole online thing.

And that is when I found Safeway!  I found books to buy while shopping for food. And I am happy to say that it is the ultimate version of 'cabin lit'.  There is not a huge selection, but it is bigger than it looks because each rack contains many titles - you have to flip through them by hand, each rack at a time.  But I am realizing that I don't like a lot of choices.  I have not picked a loser yet and I KNOW that I would not ordinarily have chosen many of the books I have recently purchased at Safeway.

Just this week I discovered a new series that ought to keep me entertained for years.  It is the 'Rogue Angel' series by 'Alex Archer'.  And I put quotes around Alex Archer for a reason.  On Wikapedia I learned that it is bi monthly series is put out by Harlequin and written my multiple authors (there are already like 40 titles for me to read).  It is about a female archaeologist who is the heir to Joan of Arc's sword.  What's there not to like?  The one I am reading now takes place at an archaeological conference in Madison, WI - the very place where I went to archaeological graduate school!  All about Mayan temples underwater in lakes and lots of murders etc. It's like a comic book for adults - HUGE entertainment value.

To finish, I have to add that Zoya wants me to go to the new Kodiak library.  And that makes total sense - check out books for free!  But hey, I still like Safeway.

Patrick