The Beauty of Browsing

Victor Gischler. Not a name I was familiar with before I happened upon Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse while shelving at my branch. The neon-orange lettering of the title along with the stark contrast of bomb-blast vs. babe gracing the cover really drew my eye and I just had to check it out. I’m not going to get into what the book is about, but rather I just want to talk about the experience of finding a good read when we least expect it. This kind of serendipitous discovery can often occur while browsing through the stacks of your local library. Sometimes the best books are discovered when they aren’t the ones we are looking for. After finishing Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse I was left with a desire to read more, and this one book became a gateway for me to Gischler’s other works. Over the course of the next year I would seek out and eventually acquire all seven of his novels. His easy flowing prose, memorable characters and quick wit are staples in each of his books and ultimately make for fast, fun reads. Sometimes we are looking for something intellectually stimulating or informative. And sometimes we are just looking for a little sex, drugs and rock & roll. That is the beauty of browsing – You never know what you may find, and sometimes you find exactly what you didn’t know you were looking for.