A friend Meghan, here in the park is also a member of the book club. She was due to give a review at our last meeting, but had been rushed to the hospital for an emergency operation. I’m told she was in severe pain. And then before I could even find out in which hospital she was, she was home. Not up and about, but safely home. Her son is looking after her.
Since I can’t get up and down steps, I phoned to see how she was getting along. A bit groggily, she told me. Might she be interested in borrowing one of my books while recuperating? Not quite yet, please. The pain medication was making her too drowsy to read. Give her a few days.
So yesterday I checked with her again. Her son answered the phone. I said who I was, and could Meghan answer the phone? She could and did. Did she now want to read? Oh, yes. In fact she was out on her porch enjoying the sunshine. I’ll be right over. When I arrived, she was even able to come down her front steps. I handed her the book, and we chatted for a while. Then her son came out with the phone. “I think it’s Don Meyer again,” he told his mother. “I don’t think so,” I said, “since I’m right here.”
***
Are you an avid reader? Here’s a tip I just picked up. Alison (some of you know who she is) had loaned me a few books to read, and I noticed on the spine of one book that it was from Thriftbooks.com. Curious, I went into the site and discovered that Thriftbooks carries literally millions of used books -- of all kinds, at very low prices. But the kicker is that within the U.S. there is NO shipping charge! “Shipments out of the U.S. have a low shipping charge. Even more, if you are looking for a particular book, you may list the title on a “wish list”, and when it shows up they will notify you by email. So far I have ordered a half dozen books for a total cost under $25! Try it; you’ll like it!
Humor --
Airline announcements:
Overheard on a Kulula flight into Cape Town , on a particularly windy and bumpy day: During the final approach, the Captain really had to fight it. After an extremely hard landing, the Flight Attendant said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to The Mother City. Please remain in your seats with your seat belts fastened while the Captain taxis what's left of our airplane to the gate!"
---o0o---
Another flight attendant's comment on a less than perfect landing: "We ask you to please remain seated as Captain Kangaroo bounces us to the terminal."
One comment I'd make though is that if you're looking for an unusual book and word gets out... I wanted copies of my dad's "The Fabulous Frauds," stories of art forgeries. (Note: get the Weybright and Talley edition, not the Arlington one, which has two stories cut out for fear of lawsuits.) Anyway, I talked to one of the booksellers over the phone, and he asked if he could read it before he sent it to me? Sure! Cool!
ReplyDeleteBut... copies online went from $10 to $45. Word spread that family was looking for them, and the prices stayed high for about a year after I stopped looking because I by then had one for each of my kids. (Which I got my dad to autograph and inscribe for each, which was really cool.)
Ooh!!! I need to go visit thriftbooks!
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite sites is paperbackswap.com