I didn't mean to buy a new book. It just sort of happened.

Right where you walk into the bookshop they plant the bargain table. It sucks you in. "Oh, I could get this book on medieval ostrich farming (or what have you) for less than what my lunch cost," you think. Overlooked is the fact you haven't opened your two library books yet and you have a full shelf of other bargains you splurged on and then promptly neglected.

But come on -- 75 percent off? Too good to resist.

And then there were at least three things I spied walking from the entrance to the cash register that need to go on my Christmas list.

Buying books is kind of ridiculous to start with. You can only read so many at a time. And you'll only read them so often. And you only have so much space to put them in. And they're darn heavy when you try to put them in boxes.

And they're highly flammable.