Thursday, January 05, 2006
I'm usually closed on Thursdays
But I was open Thursdays in December, and I'm feeling under the weather - so I can either sit and read at home, and wait until I feel better, or sit here and read, ditto. Either way, I'm surrounded by books, and relative quiet. And the bookshop is three blocks from home, so here I am. Plus, I am eagerly awaiting the mail carrier - I went on an end-of-the-year buying spree online and am sure my books will arrive today. Spoken like a true biblioholic.
Speaking of which, I'm browsing in The Oxford Book of Literary Anecdotes, edited by James Sutherland, 1975. Starts with Caedmon and the Venerable Bede and ends with Dylan Thomas. Has E.J. Trelawny's narrative of the death and cremation of Shelley (Ian, if you're reading this). Has many fine descriptions of books, writing, reading, bookshops, wits, and authors on other authors. Has much humor and much pathos. One of my favorite entries is by James Lackington, Bookseller (1746-1815), pp.116-117, this must be one of the first instances in print of someone using their food money to buy books instead. Lackington says, after his wife berates him for spending the money he was supposed to be buying their Christmas dinner with, "...I began to harangue on the superiority of intellectual pleasures over sensual gratifications..." It's distracting me, but where oh where is that mailman...
Speaking of which, I'm browsing in The Oxford Book of Literary Anecdotes, edited by James Sutherland, 1975. Starts with Caedmon and the Venerable Bede and ends with Dylan Thomas. Has E.J. Trelawny's narrative of the death and cremation of Shelley (Ian, if you're reading this). Has many fine descriptions of books, writing, reading, bookshops, wits, and authors on other authors. Has much humor and much pathos. One of my favorite entries is by James Lackington, Bookseller (1746-1815), pp.116-117, this must be one of the first instances in print of someone using their food money to buy books instead. Lackington says, after his wife berates him for spending the money he was supposed to be buying their Christmas dinner with, "...I began to harangue on the superiority of intellectual pleasures over sensual gratifications..." It's distracting me, but where oh where is that mailman...
