Thursday, February 08, 2007

"How Many Books Did You Bring?"

On my way to visit mom for about three days. Both my mother and my sister are in the habit of asking me how many books I brought with me when I visit, and I am in the habit of lying. They don't approve of my proclivities. Here is the truth:

I am bringing a) the two books I am already in the middle of: a mystery by Howard Engel and The Concept of the Buddha: Its Evolution from Early Buddhism to the Trikaya Theory by Guang Xing, which is nearly as unreadable as it sounds; plus b) Kate Atkinson, One Good Turn; a mystery by Theresa Schwegel; an old paperback of Edmund Crispin's last mystery; and Paul Monette's Last Watch of the Night for after I decide that Guang Xing is simply not distracting enough for the circumstances of the visit. Total of six. (Just in case, you understand. Of course I won't read them all.)

Oh. I don't list or count the purse book, of which there is always one but which only ever comes into play if I am unexpectedly stuck someplace like Discount Tire, and is not of great interest by definition; if it were interesting, I'd have read it and replaced it with something else already.

Next week I'll work out how to have some sort of 'what we're reading' in the sidebar.

5 comments:

samcandide said...

You've got to know how intrigued I am by the purse book ...

mb said...

An early Margery Allingham title. I've opened up the shoulder bag twice to check the title and date, and twice already forgotten. Like I said, not interesting.

Karen M said...

Of course you need to take more than one or two books, just as you also need to have a choice of what to wear, depending on the weather...

I had two books in my tote bag today, along with my knitting, and I was only going a few blocks for some brunch and to hang out at the coffee shop with my daughter and some friends.

I didn't read anything while we were out, but I could have if I'd been on my own at any point.

[Eat, Pray, Love, by E. Gilbert and a biography of mystery writer John D. MacDonald]

samcandide said...

I had a customer order two copies of Eat Pray Love to give as Christmas gifts in Dec. She was raving about it..

mb said...

Yes, yes. I can't so much as walk out the door to look at the weather without a book. (What if I got locked out?) And always take one with me into the elevator at work when I'm alone in the building, just in case. :-)