The Joy of Book Buying (And Browsing)

It took a morning for me to spend my book vouchers. Over three hours. I didn't think it would take that long (and it certainly didn't feel as though that much time had passed), and although I was armed with a list of a few titles I definitely wanted, once there, in the shop itself, I was far too excited to stick to the plan!

I did buy blueeyedboy by Joanne Harris, and Red Dragon by Thomas Harris, but my list was soon abandoned when I began to really browse the shelves - something I haven't had the chance (and pleasure) of doing in quite some time. 

So much choice, so many colourful covers and brilliant blurbs. I bought 10 books in the end, although four of them were for Alice - even at two years old she loves to lie in bed in the mornings leafing through her picture books (which affords me an extra few moments of writing time first thing!).

The experience reminded me just how wonderful brick and mortar bookshops really are - online shopping is great, convenient, it brings instant gratification, and all of that is marvellous, but nothing beats being able to pick a book from a shelf, feel the pages, read the covers, smell that smell...

Bookshops also give you the opportunity to speak with knowledgeable, interesting people who can guide you when you are a little bit lost amongst the rows and rows of delicious pages... 

Online you're on your own, despite the websites of reviews. They may point you in the right direction, but they'll never match having a proper conversation. Not for me, anyway. 

In the end I bought:

Red Dragon - Thomas Harris

blueeyedboy - Joanne Harris

The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

Ash - James Herbert

Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn

Fragile Things - Neil Gaiman

The Singing Mermaid - Julia Donaldson

The Princess and the Wizard - Julia Donaldson

The Highway Rat - Julia Donaldson

Shhh... Don't Wake The Royal Baby - Martha Mumford

Many happy hours of reading ahead do Alice and me!

Flash Fiction: Supermarket Weep

Just the thought of the supermarket made her shudder. She knew she had to go, but imagining what it would be like as she stepped through the automatic doors, as the swish of too warm air hit her in the face like an over friendly slap, made Lucy want to get back into bed with the duvet pulled up as high as it would go without leaving her feet out in the cold.

She knew exactly how it would be. The lights would be too bright, so she would get a headache immediately, before she even worked her way through the fresh fruit and veg. There would be too many people, all thinking that they were the only ones with the need to buy their weekly shop and getting irritated to the point of exploding when they realised they weren’t. By the time she reached the hot food counter at the back of the supermarket she would have been pushed, glared at and run over by numerous trolleys.

She groaned, contemplated forgetting the whole thing, and then begrudgingly slipped on some comfortable shoes for the ten minute drive. She didn’t bother with a coat. From house to car to shop and back again meant only a couple of minutes in the open air, if that. Less if she managed to park near to the entrance.

All hopes of that were dashed once she drove round the corner, past the petrol station, and ended up at the back of a queue for parking spaces. She could already feel her temperature and blood pressure rising. Breathe, she said to herself, repeating it over and over until she felt calmer. She realised everyone was trying to get into the main car park. Idiots. Didn’t they know there was an overflow? She smiled to herself, glad to get one up on the savage hordes, and turned left as soon as she could. All right, so the walk to the shop would be a bit longer, and she might wish she’d worn her coat after all, but at least she’d get parked with no problems.

Well, almost. There were a number of spaces left, but the fact that the selfish people who had parked their before her had assumed they had the right to take up two spaces when one would happily do, or leave trolleys abandoned in the middle of another space meant that easy parking was not to be. But she did finally manage it, squeezed between a massive truck like thing and a van. She just hoped they were both gone by the time she escaped the place. They probably would be – this was not a quick in and out sort of chore.

By the time she reached those dreaded double doors, Lucy’s hands had turned a funny shade of blue, and she was almost glad of the over friendly slap. Almost. It was still bloody uncomfortable and really unnecessary. One day she might even mention it to someone, but it always seemed like such an effort, and she never wanted to spend any more time here than she had to.

Before she could take another step, the shop’s internal speakers started shouting in a nasally voice that sounded incredibly bored; “Could a manager go to customer services, customer waiting.”

No please. No thank you. Lucy looked around. No one else seemed bothered. She sighed and pressed through the masses to the customer service desk. She saw the woman waiting, her face ready to argue, clutching a tattered receipt and a banana.

“Madam? How may I help you?” Lucy asked.

©Lisamarie Lamb 2011