But I look forward to this, really and truly. And it also requires another one of my favorite things: buying a new planner. I'm not sure why this is still an exciting event, since for the past two years I have owned this red Moleskine weekly planner, with the "week's appointments on the left and a ruled page for notes and ideas on the right".
(Excuse the bummer image stolen from Moleskine's website.)
And for I think,for three to four years before that, I had the exact same thing, but in black.
Obviously, this is a product I do not like to get versatile with.
But, nevertheless, Planner Buying Day is a time for excitement, and today was to be the day. Made even better because I usually celebrate this annual event by going to Brookline Booksmith to purchase it, which in and of itself, is a cause for great excitement. At one time, Brookline Booksmith was a weekly stopping place for me. When I lived in Brighton and Allston, getting to Coolidge Corner was usually a matter of a long walk or a short T ride, and no matter the day I was having, this book store (coupled with a Nutella latte from the Creperie or an iced tea from Peets, depending on the season) could make everything better.
Not that there is anything crazily spectacular for me to say about this place. Its a fairly standard independent book store with the benefit of some frequently excellent bargain book selections and a whole lower level worth of remarkably well- curated used books. Its the sort of place every neighborhood should have, but doesn't. Its the book store we are desperately lacking in Jamaica Plain, but will probably never have. Books don't make anyone any money. Which is very sad indeed.
So, back to the point, Brookline Booksmith is a special treat for me these days. And I was looking forward to a new planner. But! Brookline Booksmith did not have my planner. To be sure, they had every other Moleskine planner available. All styles, colors, sizes. And, they had clearly had mine available at one time. There was even a sample copy of mine, not for sale, taunting me. I was totally bummed. I considered every other planner. Perhaps I could go bigger, smaller. Perhaps I didn't need the notebook feature. Perhaps I could buy a small planner and a small notebook to use in tandem. But all this was foolish. Once you have found something that works, it is important to stick with it. This is an important tip to living well. Don't settle for less than you are looking for. You won't be happy and will be wasting money. Planner Buying Day would have to be postponed.
To console myself, obviously I had to go downstairs and look at the used books. As someone who has mostly inhaled books since I was a kid, I've been feeling particularly literature deprived since the school year started, and that needed to be fixed. While I'm a major proponent of the library, something about buying a book makes me even more eager to read it. A lot of people will talk about how silly it is to own a bunch of books, what a waste of space, and so forth. Some people will even tell you that a Kindle or some sort of nonsense is a good replacement for having a library worth of books in your home. You can imagine what I think about those sort of people. The mark of a good person is full bookshelves in their home, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
I meant to buy just one book, walked around for about twenty minutes with four, then settled on two.
I had to buy both these books because, just look at them! They are delightful to behold.
They put all the other books to shame. The things you see pass for cover design these days, geez. Apparently, these were part of some limited release of Faber firsts in 2009 to celebrate Faber's eightieth birthday. But don't they just look like how books should be? I'm already regretting not buying the copy of the Bell Jar they had from this series as well.
So, not a totally unsuccessful trip, after all.
