Desperately Seeking THAT Dupont bookstore…
Oh no! I entered a charming little second-hand bookstore in Dupont as I was walking home yesterday. I paid cash and threw away my receipt so now I don’t know the name of that bookstore. I wanted to tell you how fabulous it was, but all I can say is that it’s a fairly new store somewhere on Connecticut Avenue. I’m so bad with directions, I can’t even describe where I was…blah. I heard an employee tell another customer that they used to be originally located in DC, then they moved to Santa Monica, CA, and now they are back in DC. I wasn’t paying much attention as I was focused on In Vogue: Sixty Years of International Celebrities and Fashion from British Vogue. I was also searching for that Vogue book based on Grace.
Anyway, after an hour of browsing, I resolved to buy two books. The first is Seven Men and Two Others. It was written in 1919 by Max Beerbohm (caricaturist, essayist, and parodist). I’m exciting to read this book because it’s been called a post-modernist fiction written before its time.
The other book I bought is Miss Manners’ Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior by Judith Martin. I have only skimmed through a few chapters and so far it seems witty and hilarious, yet insightful. I bought the 1979 edition, but it has actually been updated to include modern etiquette (e.g., answering cell phones, responding to emails). What I love about this book is that it is smart-ass and practical.
I have a lot of reading to do!
