Concurrently....

These books I've happened upon by surprise. I usually am very meticulous when it comes to buying books, my habit being first reading them through the library, then letting books brew through a waiting period of about 3 months and if by the end I still can't keep a certain tome out of my mind, I feel confident enough to purchase the exact published copy of the one I read from the library. All three of these made me break my own buying rules.

1. I was stuck at the Cancun airport for an hour and was missing Brando really badly. The author is a Barnard professor and promises an in-depth understanding of the physiology and psychology of man's best friend. I'm a sucker for research written for the layman and had a sharp pain of nostalgia for college days in the Barnard library.

2. The movie version of Atonement has always struck me as quiveringly beautiful in its details and I've had the best intentions to start some McEvan since 5 years ago. I'm still on the first few chapters, but it's already more quivering and beautiful than the movie, if that's even possible. I also happened upon a very well-kept hard copy for $1 at a local antique shop that's about to close for business next to my favorite local cafe on the first sunny day of Spring. Just couldn't resist the whimsical.

3. Ah...Alice Munro. This is one of her older 90s collections and the cover art is so homey 90s Munroesque that I had to get it on the spot for $1 again. Quiet, contained, chaotically fierce lives in all its glory. The best case scenario for my old age is to be wrapped up in a rocking chair reading Munro near an open fire.