Confessions of one Brunette Book Junkie
As a reward for finally meeting a work-related deadline, I decided it would be okay to pick up this month's book selection, Wicked. Even if I didn't really have the time to read it, it would be there when I was ready. The husband and I ventured out with our Half-Priced Books and B&N gift certificates and my short list of one book.
I was crushed when I saw the 1-inch wide gap next to Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister. I felt like I had just missed the book, and I just knew that somewhere, wandering around the store, was some guy with my copy of Wicked under his arm. As consolation, I wracked my brain for the authors of the other titles...was it Dunant and Diamanti?...they seemed too similar to be right and with my memory these days... Consolation, indeed! There were six copies of The Red Tent to make up for the lack of Wicked and The Birth of Venus and I wanted to buy every single one of them just to share with the gang.
Six books later (five for the husband--which he claims are for his mother), we walked out with B&N still on our list. (This post should really be titled Pathetic Date Nights of the Tired and Married.) Perhaps B&N has some magical lighting, but every book looked good and so very promising. I remember the days when as a poor graduate student I would stand and stare at the displays of books, picking one up at a time to carefully to flip through...then I would pull out a little ringed note pad and make a list--for the library. It was my "books-to-check-out-when-I-have-time-to-read-list" which I would tear out of the note pad, fold up and place in my wallet right next to my "CDs-to-buy-when-I-have-money-list."
In no time, I found Wicked. And then I found next month's selection. My husband said to me, "I thought you wanted the one." And I thought so loudly, "I want them all," I was sure he heard me think it. Maybe after two years, the poor, graduate student ways are starting to finally fade. Maybe the need for a little r&r is ringing loudly in my ears. Maybe the lighting in B&N was especially effective this particular night. I really did want them all. I counted at least five books I would have eagerly jotted down in that little note book if I was still in the habit of carrying it everywhere and making wish lists.
In the end, we left with three new books between us and a new calendar (with an astrological theme--to fill my recent quest for an "almanac" to warn me of an auspicious day for traveling). A nine-book night, not bad for a Saturday night. The bonus, those two gift certificates we were shrewd to take with us were never actually remembered or used. Which means...we've got another bookstore date-night in our future!
[As a follow up...I learned today from a fellow brunette that despite my wide-eyed wonder, I missed the 3-for-the-price-of-2-books-table (or something like that) which actually had next month's book on it. It looks like I'm not the only Brunette Book Junkie...]
