It's Inevitable

I had to visit Brighton centre yesterday. My wife had two wristwatches that required new batteries and I wanted to purchase the Blue-Ray of the film 'Gone Girl'. This took me to Churchill Square for Goldsmiths - to install new watch batteries - and HMV for the Blue-Ray. It also took me close to the location of Waterstones, my favourite emporium....

I am a bibliophile. I cannot walk past a bookshop without slowing my step. I will linger at the window, gazing through the glass at stacks of books I have not yet read. I hover, telling myself I must read the pile on the bedside table before buying another. But I cannot resist the lure. Before long, I open the door, and that's it. I'm in, and I am going to be a while....

And so it was. There I was again, surrounded by thousands of books distributed over four floors. And of course I did. I bought a copy of "The Fish Ladder" by Katharine Norbury. It's her first book. According to Philip Pullman it is "a beautiful, strange, intoxicating and utterly unique story". Sounds good.

Meanwhile I must press on and finish reading "Wolf Hall" by Hilary Mantel - all 674 pages and then I have to read "Bring Up The Bodies", the sequel to Wolf Hall. So, I am not watching the BBC TV adaptation, currently showing, as this would probably get very confusing. I shall buy the series on DVD when it is released on 2nd March.

And then tackle that pile of books on the bedside table, not forgetting "The Fish Ladder"...