Serendipitous Browsing

I made a trip to the bookstore during my lunch break. Abandoning my habit of bringing a book list, I go in without an agenda, just following my nose. A quick A-Z browse of fiction offered no eye candies. The non-fiction reading and buying binge continued. Under cultural studies I spotted yellow paperback with nondescript covered called Against Happiness by Eric G. Wilson. It’s a wicked, wise, and cheerfully misanthropic treatise that reminds me of Dear White America: Letter to a New Minority by Tim Wise. I like books that are gleefully peevish and bitingly humorous. The other one that caught my attention was Paris in Mind, a collection of essays, letters, articles, and book excerpts that captures the long and passionate relationship American (writers) have had with Paris. How can I resist? Amazing how a detour from habit, in this case browsing without a booklist, would yield unexpected result! On the way out the owner smiled and commented on what a quality time I had spent looking around the shop. “Indeed.” I said. This is the best thing about reading a book that is really a book. Browsing is as much fun as reading.

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