Yesterday I was away celebrating Bookman’s birthday. He says he turned forty-ten. Sure, why not? We went out to breakfast at our favorite cafe, spent some time in the garden, went for a walk at the lake and went to a bookstore. I also made him a cake so chocolatey that it is a good thing we have been building up our chocolate tolerance for years otherwise we might have overdosed. Also, it is just as well that I don’t cook very often, especially when it comes to things like cake. As I was mixing up all the ingredients I was overcome with horror — how much sugar? How much butter? OMG, MORE sugar?!!! Of course when it came to eating cake I still had a piece, though maybe not as big as I would have had if I had been ignorant to the sugar and fat content. It’s a good thing Bookman has a birthday only once a year!
One of the things Bookman decided he wanted to do was go to a bookstore. So we did. We went to Half Price Books. It has been a really long time since we have been there and we had even vowed to never go back after some bad experiences there, but it is close to our house and we decided to check it out.
They must have had a sale recently because there were large gaping holes on their shelves where I would have expected books. And browsing, it seemed like there just wasn’t much of anything. However, I still managed to bring home three books.
- Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors by Susan Sontag. Leslie Jamison mentions Sontag and this book in Empathy Exams and I have seen it crop up in other places. It seemed like it was about time to get a copy.
- Angel by Elizabeth Taylor, the NYRB edition. I’ve heard good things about Taylor but I rarely see any of her books turn up at the secondhand shop so when I saw NYRB and Taylor together, I couldn’t pass it by.
- Vita Nuova: A Novel by Bohumil Hrabal. I do love Hrabal and his books are hard to find in bookstores either new or secondhand. This one is the second in a trilogy of fictional memoirs but it seems I don’t have to read them in order. At least I don’t think I do. It is written from the perspective of his wife and depicts their life in Prague from the 1950s to 1970s.
Not bad, huh?
We also found Doctor Who salt and pepper shakers that we are attempting to repurpose. We are in the midst of a little setback on that project but hopefully we will be able to figure it out and I can make a happy reveal of it soon. In the mean time you will just have to imagine what one might use salt and pepper shakers for besides salt and pepper. Hmmmm.
Ooh! A book by Elizabeth Taylor! I envy you—let us know
what it’s about.
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booksandbuttons, I have not had the pleasure of reading Taylor yet so I am looking forward to it. Will definitely let you know what I think!
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Happy belated birthday to Bookman! It sounds like you both had a great day. I wonder if you’ll use the shakers for a gardening purpose?
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It sounds like a great day was had by all! The Elizabeth Taylor is very good, I think the main character is loosely based on Marie Corelli and the novel is both sad and funny. The Sontag essay I read ages ago and is a must read. You did well1
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If the main character is based on Marie Corelli then I might just be persuaded to give Taylor another go. I haven’t enjoyed what I’ve read of hers so far, but an association with the woman whose house I study in might just make her work more palatable.
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Ian, good to know I have something to really look forward to with the Taylor! And the Sontag too! Now I just have to find the time to read them.
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Vanessa, Bookman says thanks for the birthday wishes. And of course they went into the garden 🙂
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You are going to make something that will scare the mosquitoes away from the pond? Or, the raccoons from the veggies? Or?
Anyhow, happy birthday Bookman. Forty-ten is a great age to be.
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whisperinggums, if only I could scare the mosquitoes away or the raccoons awa my gardening life would be so much simpler!
Bookman says thanks for the birthday wishes!
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Happy forty-ten to Bookman! I bet that chocolate cake was good.
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Joan, Bookman sends his thanks for the good wishes. Yes, the cake was delicious and nearly deadly it was so rich!
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A very happy forty ten to Bookman..Wishing him the most wonderful Vegan food, most awesome books and loads of laughter for the year ahead!!! What an awesome way to spend the day…My kind of birthday…good food, good books …I am glad you got some presents for yourself…I always get presents on my parent’s birthday as well my sisters and my flatmates..helps that i am youngest in the family!! 😉
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cirtnecce, Bookman sends his thanks for the good wishes. You made me laugh. As the eldest of two sisters, I never got anything extra on anyone’s birthday and always had to put up with the parents being “fair.” So at Christmas when I really wanted a bike and my sister couldn’t care less, I got a bike and she got one too and they both looked exactly the same! My husband is the youngest of three so this I get presents too thing is totally foreign and weird for me!
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Heehheeeee….you sound like my sister…
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Happy Birthday to the Bookman. Sounds like a wonderful day–how could you go wrong with chocolate and books!
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Jenclair, Bookman says thank you for the birthday wishes. You are right, it is hard to go wrong with chocolate and books!
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Happy Birthday to Bookman–sounds like a perfect day–all the better as you had time off from work! It is best not to know how much butter and sugar is in cake–and if you don’t eat it all that often, it makes it even more delicious knowing it is a true indulgence! Yay for a new NYRB–Angel is an excellent book–anything by ET is good. Angel is not especially likable, but it is a great novel and wonderful characterization!
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Danielle, Bookman says thanks! It was very nice to have a bit of time off work. I am pretty sure I know about Elizabeth Taylor because of you, so I am counting on Angel being really good!
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I love Illness as a Metaphor! Read that when I was doing grad studies in medical sociology. So much more interesting than all the boring med soc journal articles I had to read.
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sylvie, so glad to hear Illness as Metaphor is so good. I can easily believe that it is much more interesting than med soc journal articles! 🙂
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Re-purposing Dr Who salt and pepper shakers?? What would the good doctor make of that!
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BookerTalk, LOL, the Doctor would probably be a little nonplussed, but then he might also be really tickled too. He did go through a fez phase after all so he has a good sense of humor!
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Nice way to celebrate! What did Bookman pick up?
I’ve only read one Bohumil Hrabal book, Too Loud a Solitude, and loved it. Those three choices sound excellent, in very different ways.
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Andrew, um, you know, I have no idea what Bookman got! Yes, Too Loud a Solitude is a wonderful little book, isn’t it? It was the first of his I read as well.
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Instead of salt and pepper, maybe chocolate and cinnamon? Basil and oregano? Time and space?
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Isabella, I like the way you think! No, they went into the garden and once we get the pump in Amy Pond working again, they will hopefully be tiny little fountains 🙂
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I am EXCEEDINGLY curious what you will do with salt and pepper shakers besides use them for shaking out salt and pepper. Though it has made me want to buy three salt and pepper shakers instead of two, and put Tony Chachere’s in the third one, and tell everyone the salt and pepper and Tony’s are in a polyamorous relationship.
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Jenny, they will eventually be tiny little fountains in our little Amy Pond in the garden. I think you should follow up on your own salt and pepper shaker idea! 🙂
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Happy Forty-Ten to the Bookman! And everyone should get presents on a birthday – that seems only democratic. I read Angel years ago and thought it was stunning.
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