Everyone out there who recognized the title to this post as a takeoff on “Food, Wonderful Food” from the musical Oliver! get a gold star out of petty cash and plant it on your forehead. It is my considered opinion that books are a particularly delectable form of food for the mind and the spirit and, in the case of one of my Grade 2 classmates with a bizarre predilection for eating paper, for the body too, although I don’t recommend that last one. I love books, adore books, and, not surprisingly I guess, I’ve embarked on a career of writing books. Since childhood, reading has been my passion. If you want to make me happy, give me a gift card for Chapters and turn me loose for an hour or so.
This is precisely what my dear sister Chris did – sent me a gift card for my birthday and then another one for Christmas. I didn’t get a chance to use the first one before the second came my way because the nearest Chapters is 20 miles away and Pa ‘n me don’t git to the big city much since the horse up ‘n died and Pa said he ain’t about to pull the buggy no more ’til I’m shed of a few pounds. Nevertheless, yesterday we put everything on hold and headed into Windsor to do some serious book shopping. Pa dropped me at Chapters and then left to ogle power tools and whatnot, and I told him not to come back until the street lights came on.
Ah dear reader, imagine the insane sense of buying power that comes with the possession of not one, but TWO gift cards! I floated around the store inspecting every bin and shelf and even wasted some time in the candles and yoga mats aisle. (Yoga mats? Why would a bookstore carry yoga mats?) At last I settled on four beautiful volumes: The Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger (winner of the GG), The Bishop’s Man by Linden Macintyre (winner of the Giller), Invincible Spirits: A Thousand Years of Women’s Spiritual Writings compiled by Felicity Leng. This last one I thought would be a good resource to help me put the final touches on holy cards, volume 2. Also, it was on for $4.99 down from $18.95 and when it comes to bargains, well, mama didn’t raise no fool. Lastly, I picked up a self-help book because dear reader, this is one self that needs all the help it can get – Deepak Chopra’s Perfect Health: The Complete Mind Body Guide. And there you have it – enough reading material to keep my lips moving for weeks!
Heaven…I’m in heaven…
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