Book dumb?

I have a problem, it is called book-buyingitis. That is the inflammation of my book buying arm. It acts up whenever I see used books for sale.

Today I went to a sale put on by the Winnipeg Public Library. I rode my bike. Brilliance! Really, was this me trying to keep the book-buyingitis at bay? Because when you ride your bike 7km to a book sale with a small backpack on, just how many books do you think you'll be carting home with you?

It didn't work. I gathered an armload and a half of the old, the dog-eared, the hard cover and paperback. A kind woman offered to take the stack for me and put them in a box at the cash desk so I could continue shopping, which I did.

Upon coming to terms with the situation of too many books, too little carrying power, I texted my sister, who lives nearby the school where the sale was being held. She and I were supposed to be going to my aunt's house today for a visit so I asked her if she had left yet, thinking that if she had not, perhaps she could come by and take the books off my arms. She had not, but lucky me, her fiance was out and about and could come by to help me out.

My box of books came to a meager $16.50. Everything was on sale for half-price, since today was the last day of the sale. You can hardly buy ONE book for that price, so I felt pretty happy with the finds.

Earlier in the fall Chapters Indigo came out with this flyer that featured the covers of 50 Books That Will Change Your Life. Oh yeah? Let's see about that. Since many of the books on the list are classic and/or massively popular, I've been having a great deal of luck finding the titles at these used book sales. I haven't exactly been limiting myself to only the books on the list though...

My latest picks (from my last two sales)

I realized tonight when I was setting this photo up that I have twice purchased Moby Dick and it isn't even on the list (which of those mistakes is the bigger crime? You tell me.)

Right now I'm reading The Great Gatsby. It's been a bit of a slow start, maybe not the best book to read before shutting the brain down for the night. Last week I got to the top of page 29 and I stumbled.

The living-room was crowded to the doors with a set of tapes-
tried furniture entirely too large for it...

I sat there and wondered, what is tapes-tried furniture? Well actually, first I mistook the hyphen for an em-dash and pictured a crowded room with a set of tapes and "tried furniture" (I don't know, furniture that someone placed with an honest attempt to make sense in the room, but obviously missed the mark?)

 

Finally, my sleepy eyes did see the furniture for what it was: tapestried. (It still looks funny to me.) I laughed and wondered what my interior decorating instructor would think if I were to ask her next week what 1920s tapes-tried furniture looks like.

A Fat Free Food (before you add them to your fat-laden whatever)

Okay, so I like browsing used books, but I truly love collecting cookbooks. I cannot stop myself from purchasing them, new or old. I have a preference for the ones with pictures, second priority is for nutritional information. Today I wanted to make Rice Crispie cake with some mint chocolate marshmallows I picked up the last time I was in the USA. I vaguely remembered that the recipe called for 1/4 cup of margarine/butter, 6 cups of Rice Crispies and the bag of marshmallows, but I wanted to verify the amounts for the margarine and cereal. I pulled out my go-to cookbook for all things basic and important--no recipe for Crispie cake. I pulled out an issue of Cooking with Kraft, which seems to feature some seasonal variation of the marshmallowy stuff in every issue--not this time. Argh! I didn't have the recipe on the back of the cereal box either because I had purchased the No Name brand box. I gave in, turned on Mac and Googled. Recipe found in 1.21745 seconds. Whatever, I still love my cookbook collection.

Sooo, the recipe was also not featured on the back of the marshmallow package, as it often is. Instead they offered some other rather no-brainer suggestions like, adding to a mug of hot chocolate, or melting over a pan of brownies. Yawn.

Add some tasty delight with Chocolate Mint Marshmallows!

Turns out, they might've been on to something. Do you know what melted brown and green striped marshmallows look like when mixed with Rice Crispies?

I was going to take this stuff in to work tomorrow as a Halloween treat, but my "fancy pants" Rice Crispie cake (made with faux Rice Crispies) looks more like Caca Cake. I decided to sample it tonight. You can hardly taste chocolate, but can get a bit of the aroma of the cool mint, so mostly it's like eating regular crispie cake after you've brushed your teeth. Caca cake indeed.

Also, don't buy the No Name brand crispy rice cereal. It doesn't look or taste like regular Rice Crispies. Splurge the extra 75 cents and buy the name brand stuff that also comes with the recipe right on the box, and probably fun, seasonal modification options that don't involve minty-fresh marshmallows.