Sat 4 Aug 2007

I Had A Good Excuse... Honest!

I may have mentioned this before: books in Australia cost a lot. It's more than the cost of shipping and exchange rate (and there is no import duty). It's some sort of magical far away tax. Something about supply and demand, I guess. Or possibly suckers and their wallets.

I have been very good about (not) buying a lot of books on this trip, though. They're cheaper, but not free. Two trips to Powell's Technical Books in Portland (and one trip to the main store) and no books were bought (by me). Still, I'd finished the two novels I brought with me to read on the road by last weekend, so I needed to stock up for the flight back home. A quick trip to a Barnes & Nobel yesterday and that problem was solved (plus a couple of extra for the suitcase, just in case).

Often when I'm over here, I'll buy one or two books that I am unlikely to ever purchase deliberately online or at home. This time it was Three Nights In August, a "follow the team manager" baseball book by Buzz Bissinger, the guy who wrote Friday Night Lights, about US high school football. It better not suck. It's that and one other book to last 22 hours of flying (plus movies, safety demonstrations, a couple of take-offs and landings, meals and some catnaps).

Looking forward to being home now. Travelling is fun, but living out of a suitcase in a tiny hotel room gets tiring after a while and home is easier.

Topics: books, travel/New York