The celebrated painter Gainsborough got as much pleasure from seeing violins as from hearing them. -Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

It’s wonderful to buy a handful of books–one that you wanted and two you didn’t know you wanted–put them in a bag and leave the shop. In this case I was carrying around an assortment and could have spent more time browsing and considering but as ever I had a plane to catch and still had to navigate the London tube to the airport so I forced myself to edit. I dumped one and decided in favor of three, more because of uncertainty than due to any disdain of extravagance, though that too. The quick winnowing doubled the pleasure because when I got on the plane I couldn’t quite remember which three I’d taken and which I’d left behind.

“I hope I left the memoir behind,” I said, and I had. I was pleased  as if I’d won some contest. As I was leaving the shop the sales clerk complimented me on my choices, making it an all-around affirmative spree.  

Isn’t it nice to take new books out of the bag and look at them, the shape of them, the colors, the covers and spines. Of course you primarily enjoy the anticipation of reading something new, but just seeing three promising, unread paperbacks piled up is crazy delightful too.