Bookshop porn

Even though I do think downloads and the advent of Kindles and other e-book readers has and will continue to inspire more people to read, I still love a good bookshop. One of my favourites in London (because it is so close to my place of work and my old uni), is Waterstones on Gower Street. I have moments of bookshop porn. Like making love, I will refuse to cum out (ha ha see what I did there?) until I have quite literally satisfied my browsing (foreplay), 3 for 2s (going down and returning the favour), indulging curiousity with a book outside my usual subject area (new position) and finally THE PURCHASE or the HOME RUN, THE ORGASM the thing that MAKES YOUR EYES ROLL TO THE BACK OF YOUR HEAD.

I had a bit of a shitty morning. Nothing wrong intrinsically, still healthy, hair still has a nice gloss to it, bank balance in the black, but one of those uninspired rather blah mornings, which was only further shittified by stupid people engaging their brains before sending emails. One of those mornings. I felt the need to be a bit reckless ... I didn't want to spend a packet in Whistles or Jigsaw or Aubin & Wills. I needed books. The problem with downloading is that you don't quite get ladywood when browsing Amazon or iTunes store for iBooks. It's just not the same. Stick me in a bookshop however, and "HELLO SANTA!"

I went in empty and returned with the following:

Imran Khan: Pakistan, A Personal History
Simon Heffer: Strictly English
Miguel Syjuco: Illustrado
Armistead Maupin: MaryAnn in Autumn (long awaited sequel to Tales of the City!!)
Siddhartha Mukherjee: The Emperor of Maladies (winner of 2011 Pulitzer for non-fiction)
Tom Gjelten: Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba
Lyndall Gordon: Lives Like Loaded Guns: Emily Dickinson and Her Family Feuds
Andrew-Graham Dixon: Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane

If I look a bit flushed the next time you see me you will know why  ; )

Making love to a book is great - no STDs, pregnancy or mind-games. The only thing to establish is "your place or mine?"