I've Had a Relapse

It's been a while since I've been on a binge. No, not a food binge (although I'm proud to say I haven't had one of those in a while either). I'm talking about an all-out book buying binge. Yes, I did it again.

It always starts so innocently. I get an email coupon for a deal I can't resist--this time When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris for $12.99--and I go to Barnes & Noble for this one item. But I come out with so much more. I grabbed the Sedaris book, and should have just left with the one. I had another coupon for an additional 15% off a single item, though, and how could I let that go to waste? I started looking around the clearance section and found The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson. It looked interesting, and I've heard really good things about her other books. It was only $4.98 and I figured it would look good sitting on my TBR shelf next to gods in Alabama and Between, Georgia, waiting to be read. (It just occurred to me that I purchased gods in Alabama for $5.98 during my last book spree. More than a year ago. And I still. Haven't. Read it. Ugh!)

Did I stop there? Take my deals and run with them? No. Of course not. I wandered around, looking for anything that seemed a must-have or that had been hanging out on my wish list for a while. That's when I spotted the Buy-2-Get-1-Free table. Piles of trade paperbacks just begging to be purchased. And there was Mercy by Jodi Picoult! I've been meaning to read more of her older novels so I picked it up and looked for a second and third to go with it. Oh! Songs of the Humpback Whale, too! Now I was really searching; the next one would be free, after all. They had My Sister's Keeper and Second Glance, but I've already read those. No more Jodi Picoult on the table, and nothing else was piquing my attention, so I laid down my two choices and started to walk away.

As I turned to head to the register, I noticed She's Come Undone, by Wally Lamb. While I've read it before, it was about eight years ago and I've been meaning to read it again. I quickly picked it up, stacking it on top of the two Picoults and the two books already in my arms, and mentally calculating the deal I was getting. Three paperbacks for $30 and two hardcovers for $17, minus my 10% member discount and an additional 15% off one of the paperbacks. A gift card that I've been holding onto for several months came in handy, and I managed to get out of there having spend only $20. At least this binge didn't put a huge hole in my budget.

Now I'm going to have to cut back on blog reading (and maybe posting), email checking, and television watching and start reading more books. If only I didn't have to go to work.