The Book Thing and Charles Theater!

If you've read the other posts (or the title above) you already know that I went to The Book Thing of Baltimore. This place is crazy. I expected some sort of tattered, yard sale-esque selection of books with the covers torn off, or else a church basement trade with poor lighting, but it is beyond that! Even with my seemingly negative presumptions, I knew this place would be special. And I was right. This is an amazing service that intrigues all of my friends at home. The selection of books is massive, and they are all categorized orderly and in a huge space, making the books look endless. In the twenty-eight--that's right, twenty-eight--books that I grabbed, you would find everything from Tender Is The Night to The Five Little Peppers, a favorite story my dad read to me as a kid. I took a few books on music composition and writing,  which will make great gifts (Merry Christmas, Nick Ratterman). I did very well on my adventure to The Book Thing with Richelle and Amber, and will definitely be back again. I'm so excited to have such an amazing resource in the community.

I also revisited Charles Theater, so as to both cross something off the community arts map and escape finals for roughly two hours. The place has a very fun, hip vibe. The employees seem involved and active in arts of all kind. The first time I went there, I bought a ticket from a girl playing violin, this time a twenty-something man with a Charm City Cakes t-shirt collected it. The theater is small, but intimate, and connected to a restaurant next door. I can't speak too much about the crowd, as I have gone at unusual times, opposed to a Friday night showing or a Sunday matinee. My first trip to the Charles was to see 50/50 around two in the afternoon while everyone was in school or at work. My second was on a Wednesday night around 9:30 to see Like Crazy. Neither of these are prime time movie going hours, but I have enjoyed my experiences greatly both times. They show both indie, film festival hits for the art student in you and big named successes like Twilight, etc for the part of you that wishes to connect to the masses. I would highly recommend this theater as it is a short walk from campus and provides excellent service.

Julia