Books: Vitamins for the Mind

Someone recommended I pick up a copy of Everyday Life in Traditional Japan by Charles J. Dunn, since I was complaining about not being able to find a good reference book about peasant culture in the Japanese olden days. I ordered it off Amazon, and while I was on Amazon I ordered four paperbacks. Hey, what with the free supersaver shipping and the buy-three-get-one-free-paperback deal, it was practically cheaper to get five books instead of one! Okay, it wasn't.

I ordered the second book in the His Dark Materials trilogy, which I've been meaning to pick up. And I ordered Terry Pratchett's Wintersmith, which I haven't yet read and which I didn't realize was out in paperback. And I ordered the fourth book in Naomi Novik's Temeraire series, which I didn't even know was published yet. And lastly, I ordered Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, because every single human being on the planet has recommended it to me. I have bowed to peer pressure. Besides, it looks good.

The books have been shipped, but I won't have them probably until next week. That's okay. Every time I think about getting BOOKS in the MAIL, it makes me feel all happy inside, like someone just told me s'mores weren't fattening and in fact were really good for me and also cured cancer.

I can always justify buying books, even when I'm so broke I'm down to eating food I bought on impulse and then shoved to the back of the cabinet, like strange canned vegetables (shoe peas? are they good?) and pearled barley. After all, books are vitamins for the mind.

Hey, I like that. I just made it up. "Books are vitamins for the mind." It should be on a poster!