Cats, Portland, And Obscene Library Hold Times

My short trip to Portland, Oregon was, in every sense of the word, wonderful. The weather (which is a perfectly fine starting point for any conversation, in my opinion) was rather cool most of the time, but the sun would make its appearances. On one such afternoon, I sat outside with my godparents eating dinner, and we watched a squirrel pluck a golden plum from their tree and eat it down to the core. Their cats are the sweetest things, one named Mr. Whiskers and the other Sweetie Pie. They get along quite well, occasionally grooming each other or racing around the house like madbeasts (I think fantasy-fiction vocabulary is getting to me). These two are relatively new, because when my godparents married, one had four cats and the other had two, and so they had their six cats for many years. Over time it dwindled down to one, Smokey, or Pokey as she was affectionately called, until she passed away recently. These two are the new felines in the house.

For some reason I consider Portland more of a "cat" city and Seattle more of a "dog" city. Maybe I'm biased because our closest family friends in Portland have cats, and I see a lot of dog walkers around Seattle. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of dogs in Portland as well. But Portland feels more laid back, content to just be. Like a cat. Sitting and watching a squirrel eat a plum, or people-watching in Peet's Coffee & Tea, or browsing Powell's bookstore, is a fine way to spend your day. In contrast, Seattle is more like an energetic dog, always something to do, somewhere to go. Eat, sleep, run around, poo, meet people, eat, sleep.

Speaking of Powell's, we stopped there briefly on our way back from Seattle, and I picked up their free "Map & Guide to Powell's City of Books." It almost looks like an old graphic novel, all pretend-faded and everything. It was too cute not to take. Free stuff = good. The back claims "Once you visit... you won't want to leave the City of Books!" I have to agree. The main store downtown has 77,000 sqft of space, 4 floors, and an amazingly organized system. Even their Neil Gaiman section had the largest selection of his works I'd ever seen in one bookstore. The Gold and Coffee Rooms, "Scenes of Discovery in 'Golden Grounds'" (as the pamphlet advertises) are by far my favorite. Sci-fi/Fantasy/Manga/Mysteries right next to the coffee. Score.

There is one book in particular that has caught my eye recently, if only because I see it everywhere and I can't help but be drawn in by the title, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson. I haven't seen the movie, I want to read the book first. I went to try and put a hold on it at the library, and I was number 600 in the hold's list, and they had over 200 copies. Outrageous. My godmother found an article in The Oregonian about their local library having over 1,000 holds on this book, and being unable to keep up with the number of copies they need to buy. So, people have to be prepared to wait quite a while to get their hands on it. Instead of waiting an obscene amount of time, I decided to buy it, since it is out in paperback, at the local Barnes & Noble. I've heard its a gripping thriller, so I'm going to save it for my long plane flight to Scotland, and hopefully I'll be able to get a break from the feelings of extreme excitement and fear I'm certain to have that day. Though, it is a thriller novel. Please share anything you've heard about this book in the comments! Was it worth a buy?

If you haven't seen it yet, CLICK HERE to read the three parts of my new blog-story, with more to come (no new parts if you've been keeping up, I'll get one up in the next day or two).

Photo: From the left, Mr. Whiskers and Sweetie Pie zonked out on the guest bed. My godmother quilted the comforter.