What a perfect night, as perfect nights go. I worked out, played bingo, and wandered around a bookstore for 2 hours before settling on several solid choices.

And since I know he'll read this and is so good about commenting, I'd like to give a HUGE shout-out to my dear friend who is now also my only Bingo Champion friend, Mr. Tommers!!! If only he had remembered to yell, "BIG BLUE BALL!!" when he won Big Blue Ball with a B-10. It's ok though, since he did jump up and down, do a few herkies, and make his excited face (fists clenched, balled up around his cheeks) as the ENTIRE bingo hall laughed at him. It was amazing. $105! 95% of the credit goes to his lucky bingo shirt Gaby made, which said "I only come for the Big Blue Balls", 4% of the credit is for Tom's perseverence in getting the Big Ball seller to come back to our table for one more round of tickets, and 1% goes to the oragami crane I made out of the losing bingo sheet he had already played.

And just for the record, my bingo shirt from Gaby says, "I sling ink like it's my job" (For you amateurs out there, that refers to the inky dobbers you use to mark the spots on the bingo board).

I adore the bookstore, the calm and quiet of the aisles that belies the hightened activity in my mind as I get drawn to interesting looking covers, intrigueing titles, fall in love with stories and pine for more time to be able to read every smooth cover I touch. I feel no shame in indulging all my senses, burying my nose in the spine and gently pawing the pages. I rationalize why some purchases are worthwhile while other selections should be gotten from amazon. com - 'oh, well I'm willing to pay extra for this one [compare to online] because part of the in-person purchase price is for the enjoyment of getting to rifle through its pages in the store, absorb the fonts and page spacing, and revel in the textures of the plot in front of me, kind of flirt with taking it home or not and tucking it safely under my arm for passage to next section and my next interest'.

It was tough to decide, but this lineup just felt right:
The Mermaid Chair (Sue Monk Kidd) - I loved The Secret Life of Bees and picked this one up to round out the relaxing/romantic/girly category of my selections

Night (Elie Wiesel) - I really enjoy books that chronicle personal stories from the Holocaust and this is a classic in the genre. One of my all time favorite books is My Story: Alicia Appleman Jurman, quite possibly the first time I cried reading a book, and the first book I read 3 times. And every time I borrowed the same copy from the Hallandale library!

A Short History of Nearly Everything (Bill Bryson) - I've wanted to read this for a solid 2 years

My Ishmael (Daniel Quinn) - I read My Name Is Ishmael for Environmental Ethics, and enjoyed it so much that I've been meaning to read this sequel ever since

Marley & Me (John Grogan) - our next Period Club (aka all the girls I know at work - all 7 of us - got together and made a book club. Our first book was to reread Davinci Code and see the movie together after having a sleepover and potluck dinner last weekend - lots of fun) book selection. It should be a cute read.

I was seriously tempted by Jared Diamond's most recent work, Collapse, but feel like I should get through Guns, Germs, and Steel first. Richard Dawkins and I went back and forth a few times, but I decided I really just want to re-read The Selfish Gene again (which I read partially for Tech's version of freshman "English" and kept the book). Similarly, it was agonizing for me to walk away without John Irving's - my absolute favorite author - newest, Until I Find You, but again realized I'm just longing to re-read my abolute favorite book, A Prayer For Owen Meany and likely wouldn't enjoy the new one that much because I'd be thinking about Owen's story.

In addition to the books I bought tonight, I also have several I've accumulated over the past year that I'm in various stages of completion. Having unfinished books lying around stresses me out, so I'd also like to read One Hundred Years of Solitude and Catch 22. I don't have much hope of finishing Reading Lolita in Tehran because as much as I enjoyed parts of it, it's not gripping me enough to slough through the last 70 pages (same goes for A Staggering Work of Mind Blowing Genuis or something like that). PLUS! I want to re-read Life of Pi (my 2nd favorite book ever) and The Alchemist to refresh myself with the stories in each.

Reading is romancing my mind and therefore makes me nervous to start a new book. I typically embark on a new read with such high expectations, and am afraid before I even start that I'll be disappointed! So I have to convince myself I can start before I even begin. Insane, huh?

I just hope I can find the time to read all these great books I now have lying around, and finish one before getting distracted by all the other options - I certainly don't want to be in the middle of several all at once.

Aside from my great book trip, I was also told tonight on the phone that I'm "not as awkward as everyone thought" and am "good with really young and much older people,"
generally either the 5 and under crowd or the Parent group. Awesome. :)

On the way home tonight, I saw the ducks along West Esplanade have returned. I wonder where they were all this time and where they went for the hurricane.