Fort Hamilton #40, 9/8/07

So, I'm back already. I need to get my biking prowess back up to speed for the MS Bike Ride I'm doing next month (shameless plug), and I finally got the books which I had taken out of the library and the lent to someone else back (I recommend against doing this, ever, for any reason) so I decided to take advantage of one of Brooklyn's prettier bike paths and cycle down to the Fort Hamilton Branch.

Branch: Fort Hamilton
Location: 9424 Fourth Ave.
Transport: bicycle
Books: Assorted Fire Events by David Means; Let Us Be Perfectly Clear by Paul Hornschemeier
Date: Saturday, September 8, 2007

The results were not spectacular. Despite the fact that I couldn't have been riding more than 7 miles, I was completely exhausted by the end of it. Still, there were multiple factors at play here, most of which will (hopefully) not be repeated anytime soon. Namely, it was a lot hotter and humid than I thought it would be (85 degrees), I was dumb enough not to bring water, and with five books and a bike lock, I was probably carrying in the neighborhood of 30-40 pounds. Still, it's clear that working so much has cut into my biking, and I'll have to work on that. Which will mean more libraries! Yea! Anyway, I took the subway home.

Back to the matter at hand: books and things. I was gonna see the new remake of 3.10 to Yuma this weekend (and did), and since it was literally the first Western I'd ever seen, I thought I might prepare with some fine Western literature. Of course, the libraries that had some were either further than I was prepared to go or I'd already been to them, so I picked Fort Hamilton basically at random.

The books are both random titles that caught my eye. The first, Assorted Fire Events, was an interesting looking short story collection that has since (in the first few stories, anyhow) become an interesting short story collection. Means isn't in danger of becoming my new favorite author or anything, but he understands how short stories work and really creates some beautiful ones. Let Us Be Perfectly Clear is a comic anthology that contained one story I had already read. It's very good artistically, but the content is a bit repetitive, and wants too much to be like Chris Ware without actually being that good. Definite potential but in my opinion nothing staggering or must-read.

The library itself is down in Bay Ridge right by the Verrazano Bridge. It's small, but the space is used well and the layout was very conducive to browsing. I didn't have any questions for the staff, but I'd imagine if I had, they would've been nice about it. I have little to say here, partially because I was exhausted at this point and partially because I waited too long to write. So the lesson is, don't do that (the bike thing or the other thing). I can assure you all the next entry will be meatier. Perhaps more delicious. Pictures:



Wider.



Corner.



Doorer?



Ok, that's it.

But yeah, I'm done with one of the books and half through the other so I'll be back soon. Classes just started (yay!) but the serious work won't kick in for a bit. So keep watching this space!