My husband says it's cheating.
I don't know. It's a pretty tough vow. It means I have to walk into a bookstore and pay the cashier if I want a book. It means I have to look the cashier in the eye whether I choose Balzac's A Harlot High and Low or Victoria Holt's Mistress of Mellyn. It means I cannot hide behind a credit card but must handle MONEY.
The cashier at B&N was clearly shocked as he had never seen money in my Gilded Hand before. It is a bit of a shock to have to go to the ATM. The bus driver watched me struggle with quarters yesterday. I clearly belong in a future world.
The amazing thing is my mother never had a credit card. I would never have had one, either, if I hadn't briefly traveled for a business.
Michelle Moran's Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the Revolution is fascinating. I love wax sculptures and would like to know the story of the museum's origins. Anyway, I like Moran's novels of ancient Egypt. But I have plenty of historical novels at home.
I really, really, really want to read Sofia Tolstoy's Diaries. But not now. I'm reading Antonia Fraser's Must You Go?
So, a few dollars spent on coffee and a snack and I'm ready to go home. Thing to Remember: I delight as much in the browsing as in the buying.
2 comments:
::grin:: I'm glad you've found a way to cope with your "break up". It sounds nearly perfect.
BTW, there's a brief article about Annabel Lyon's process of writing the character of Alexander...not sure how interested you are in writing process, but I know the time-period is of interest to you: it's on CBC, here.
Oh, and I want to read Sofia's diaries too. But it's no weekend fling is it: definitely requires a commitment.
It looks like a fascinating anthology of writers' thoughts on writing. Annabel Lyons' connection of Plutarch's Alexander with contemporary vets' stories would certainly never have occurred to me: a reader, not a writer.
Yes, browsing is almost as good as buying. But how long can I keep this up???
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