Books - Sneaky Little Devils

When I have a little money, 

I buy books; 

and if I have any left, 

I buy food and clothes. 

~Erasmus

I almost purchased this one, but too weird. Still Connemara - one of my favorite places. So tempting (I know. It's a sickness.).

Amazon delivered the wrong book today. I have no idea how they confused the folksy storytelling of Bailey White* with what appears to be something for fundamentalist Christians who want to argue about arguing.** I am not fundamentalist. I do not want to argue about spiritual matters.

Bummer.

I believe this book is going in the trash. I spent a bit of time scanning a few pages and then trying to review the reviews of it and gave up...gobbledy-gook. No need to pass it along.

That being said, I find that there is something about the danger of books coming into the house - first there is a trickle, then a flood. I received the latest David Sedaris (short stories about his family and life - I see a theme - folksy short stories by southern writers) over the weekend. I had gotten tickets for a reading at one of our favorite independent bookstores in Austin, BookPeople. Then I received an invitation for a graduation in California for the same weekend. So others used my tickets and brought me my book (thanks, OC!).

Mr. Dedaris drew a little picture when he signed my copy.

Then came the ersatz Bailey White.

And then I went to the dollar store for frogs and found a few volumes*** that looked like they were more than worth the $1 price tag.

As I drove home with my prizes -- 3 books, 1 plastic alligator, 1 plastic fly (as big as my palm), 1 plastic grasshopper (as big as my hand!), a bag of rubber frogs, 6 hard plastic hopping frogs, 18 plastic combs (to make frog calls - trust me),**** and note cards (I need to write a few "thank yous") -- I realized that suddenly our library was growing again.

<SIGH>

Seriously - we are trying to downsize. We have given over a thousand volumes away to a library used book shop and have thousands to go. There are 6 or 7 boxes of books in my hall at this very moment. And I am ordering books on-line? I am purchasing books at the dollar store?!

<SIGH>

I resolved to buy the Bailey White for Kindle and get the 6 or 7 boxes in the hall OUT OF THE HOUSE within the week.

I can do it. Really. Watch me.

[I will let you know if my $3 gamble was worth it.]

NOTES:

* One of my favorites is "Dead On The Road." It's about roadkill. I believe the first line is something like "My mama eats things she finds dead on the road." If you know me, you understand why I find Ms. White hilarious.

** Whenever someone starts talking about "apostates" I find it time to move on to something else. I do not find this "hilarious."

*** Okay. There IS a lot of junk on the shelf at the dollar store, but I chose carefully : Dear Amy, Please Help Me by Helen Callaghan (Hello! - Dear AMY - How could I resist?), Lucky Alan and Other Stories by Jonathan Lethem (STORIES - See that, just gotta read one to know whether to proceed.), and Shakespeare's Restless World, A Portrait of an Era in Twenty Objects by Neil MacGregor (sounds perfect for a "collector").

****I am teaching wildlife classes in a few weeks and like to have some activities for the kids.