We Buy Books, Not Food.

I had never before bought a book. I have spent more time than anyone I know in bookstores and libraries. Half the dates Ben and I have gone on have been spent in Barnes and Noble. One of my hobbies is searching out little used bookstores and libraries in little towns. I look and look at books, browsing and reading and drooling over them. But I've never bought one. Until last week.

For date night last Friday, Ben and I decided to visit Barnes and Noble. Just to look. We'd done it so many times before, it didn't even cross my mind that it would turn into more than that.

There were so many books and every single one, one of would say, "That book looks so good, I want to read that ..." or "Oh man, I love this book. This is one we're going to buy someday for our library." So we pulled out Ben's iPod and started making a wishlist of books.

I was about getting to the going-home point when Ben looked at me, his smile telling me he was about to suggest something that I might say no to, but would probably say yes to. "What if we splurge and each buy one book?" I smiled at his suggestion and we did. It was my first taste of buying a book and I liked it. We made a new tradition of buying one book each every paycheck.

The next day, I talked him into going with me to a used bookstore that was having a good sale--up to 70% off everything.

"Charly," Ben told me, "if we go there, we will end up buying more books, and we can't for another two weeks."

"We won't buy anything," I assured him. "I just want to see what deals they have."  And if they have good ones, then maybe we'll get it, I thought to myself.

"Charly." Ben didn't look convinced. "We can't walk into a bookstore and walk out without buying books."

"Sure we can," I argued back. "We used to do it all the time when we were dating."

"That's because we didn't have money when we were dating."

"We still don't have money," I pointed out.

And with that, we went to the bookstore. At first, there were no books that we were even slightly interested in. We split up and then I found the classics section.

By the time Ben found me, I had a pile of books--Jane Eyre, Charles Dickens, The Count of Monte Cristo ... and I wasn't half way through the section. Ben found a couch and took a nap until I was finished going through the books. He helped me carry my pile up to the register.

Before we bought the books, Ben and I went through my pile three or four times, weeding out the ones that I wasn't absolutely dying to buy. We ended up with fifteen books, and the guy at the register threw in an older book that I was pining over. Sixteen books total. We got some good deals, especially on The Mistborn Series, in brand new condition for only sixteen dollars.

"One book a paycheck?" Ben said in the car.

"Oops," I said, smiling one of my most innocent smiles. "We'll stick to that from now on."

Ben raised his eyebrows. "How about, we can buy another book after you finish reading all of those."

"Okay," I agreed quickly. I knew it wouldn't take me long.