"When I get a little money, I buy books. When I get a little more money, I buy food." These words were penned by Deseridius* Erasmus several hundred years ago, and lived by me recently. Friday night I had to cut myself off from buying books. I did this not for monetary reasons, but as a realistic consideration of space and the pragmatics of a (hopefully near) future move.
I did make one exception: for weeks I've been looking at a book called Gourmet Vegetarian Slow Cooker, which I'm allowing myself to buy. As Border's is having their going out of business sale, I decided I would buy the book when cookbooks got down to 50% off. Unfortunately, someone else apparently made this decision about 40% off.
Obviously, it is available on Amazon. Everything is**. Further, it costs less than it did with Border's 40% markdown. The downside is that I would have to spend $12 more to get free shipping. Spending $12 extra to get something cheap defeats the purpose.
Yesterday I happened to be walking past Half Price Books. It can't hurt to check. After all, they also have a great selection (less so than Amazon) at great prices (often better than Amazon). I walk in and start looking for the cookbook section. As I wander around, I see several things I want: Immanuel Kant, CS Lewis, Kurt Vonnegut, Billy Collins, Dungeons and Dragons...no, no, NO - focus man. I don't see it. Cookbooks must be upstairs.
I head toward the stairs, a trip that takes me past the dollar paperbacks. Out of the corner of my eye, I see The Magician's Nephew; behind it, Prince Caspian, then The Final Battle. They're all here - all seven Chronicles of Narnia books. Best of all, even though they were on the dollar rack, they were actually only $.50 each.
The cookbook wasn't there, but I spent $3.83 ($3.50 plus 9.5% sales tax) on these seven books. I'm still officially cut off, but they're doing an additional 20% off the first five days of September, and I'm not one to turn down a bargain. I have 1 September off work, so I'll see you there.
*He changed his first name. I don't know what it originally was, but Desedirius is Latin for "the desirable one." Pretentious much?
**Seriously, everything. I recently purchased an orthopedic pillow there. One click shopping for that many different things is dangerous.
"When I get a little money, I buy books. When I get a little more money, I buy food." These words were penned by Deseridius* Erasmus several hundred years ago, and lived by me recently. Friday night I had to cut myself off from buying books. I did this not for monetary reasons, but as a realistic consideration of space and the pragmatics of a (hopefully near) future move.
I did make one exception: for weeks I've been looking at a book called Gourmet Vegetarian Slow Cooker, which I'm allowing myself to buy. As Border's is having their going out of business sale, I decided I would buy the book when cookbooks got down to 50% off. Unfortunately, someone else apparently made this decision about 40% off.
Obviously, it is available on Amazon. Everything is**. Further, it costs less than it did with Border's 40% markdown. The downside is that I would have to spend $12 more to get free shipping. Spending $12 extra to get something cheap defeats the purpose.
Yesterday I happened to be walking past Half Price Books. It can't hurt to check. After all, they also have a great selection (less so than Amazon) at great prices (often better than Amazon). I walk in and start looking for the cookbook section. As I wander around, I see several things I want: Immanuel Kant, CS Lewis, Kurt Vonnegut, Billy Collins, Dungeons and Dragons...no, no, NO - focus man. I don't see it. Cookbooks must be upstairs.
I head toward the stairs, a trip that takes me past the dollar paperbacks. Out of the corner of my eye, I see The Magician's Nephew; behind it, Prince Caspian, then The Final Battle. They're all here - all seven Chronicles of Narnia books. Best of all, even though they were on the dollar rack, they were actually only $.50 each.
The cookbook wasn't there, but I spent $3.83 ($3.50 plus 9.5% sales tax) on these seven books. I'm still officially cut off, but they're doing an additional 20% off the first five days of September, and I'm not one to turn down a bargain. I have 1 September off work, so I'll see you there.
*He changed his first name. I don't know what it originally was, but Desedirius is Latin for "the desirable one." Pretentious much?
**Seriously, everything. I recently purchased an orthopedic pillow there. One click shopping for that many different things is dangerous.
On Not Buying Books
I love finding inexpensive classics! Co sider an ereader sometime. Books are cheap and there is no shipping. I'm loving it, though I miss the feel and smell of paper.
ReplyDelete