Sunday, November 29, 2009

Senseless Book Shopping for the Infirm

I do this sometimes. I use words and then I wonder if I know said words real meaning. Hence, when I casually plunked down "infirm" in the title of this post, I thought, does infirm really mean what I think it means? As it turns out, infirm has several definitions, more than one (all?) of which apply to me for the purposes of this post. So, in fact, my casual choice turned out to be just the word I wanted...and more. Here we have the definition as copied and pasted from Dictionary.com:

in⋅firm  /ɪnˈfɜrm/
–adjective
1. feeble or weak in body or health, esp. because of age; ailing.
2. unsteadfast, faltering, or irresolute, as persons or the mind; vacillating: infirm of purpose.
3. not firm, solid, or strong: an infirm support.
4. unsound or invalid, as an argument or a property title.


I mean, how perfect. First of all, I'm feeling kinda "feeble in health." I've been trying not to get sick all week, and I thought I had it beaten, but then just on the other side of all the Thanksgiving festivating, I find myself all tired and stuffy-nosed and grumpy. In this state, I happened upon a nice, helpful announcement from Book Closeouts informing me that they're having a nice 50% off sale on fiction books. Not being "firm, solid, or strong" in my commitment to not buy any more books for my overflowing shelves (or do I mean "overflowing house"?), I happened over there and browsed the books to soften the raw deal of being ill on the weekend when I should be starting my Christmas shopping and relishing the anticipation of the upcoming Christmas holiday. Now I find myself with a good few books in my virtual cart and I'm feeling "unsteadfast, faltering, and irresolute" about just what to do about this, which is quickly followed up by some very "unsound or invalid" reasoning as to why I should just go right on ahead and buy those books.

So then, I have a mission for you, should you choose to accept it. Your goal? Talk me out of whipping out my credit card and buying the 9 books (whittled down!) I have in my cart at Book Closeouts which are obscenely cheap because of their (not just) Black Friday fiction sale. Tell me how I have no need of more books, how I should be either saving my money for any of several important causes or spending it on Christmas presents, how there is no space for new books. Tell me that "they're cheap!" and "But I've really wanted them for a long time!" are not valid reasons for buying them, nor is the excuse that "I'm sick and ordering books I have no space for will make me less sick/less bummed out about being sick." In other words, cure me of my bookish infirmity. Until then, I'll be hovering here with my mouse perilously close to the "purchase" button.

Love,

Megan

P.S. Sorry about the word verification. It was getting pretty spammy around here, so I turned it on. :(

8 comments:

  1. I say stimulate the economy and buy them! You deserve a treat!

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  2. I'd love to tell you not to buy them but I'm headed that way to see what's on sale!!! Your title of the post should've been "Hello...I am an enabler" LOL!!!

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  3. *shakes head* I can offer no support my friend...I will surely be heading there myself. For I got the same dreaded email....Why must they do this to us?!?!

    And I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who calls dictionary.com a good friend ;)

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  4. I can tell you why I won't be buying the books I put into my cart, but I'm not sure it will apply to you. All of the books are on my wish list, which I gave to my Secret Santa and husband as possible gift ideas. What if someone else gets me those books? Chances are, no one will (because they rarely if ever do), but there's always that itty bitty chance.

    If it wasn't for that, I'd probably cave in and buy the books.

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  5. Um, Megan, you forgot the most important part. WHICH books are in your cart?! And how much are they?! lol I refuse to form an opinion until I know the details. ;)

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  6. Kathy - Consider the economy stimulated (isn't that the best excuse for any purchases lately?), you enabler, you. ;-)

    Staci - Hehehe...there's lots of a good stuff over there isn't there? I'm just paying forward all the enabling that's been done for me over my time book blogging. LOL!

    Chris - It's bad enough that they sell books for such cheap prices, do they really need to send out those e-mails, too, so we have no chance of missing out on being tempted? Yup, me and dictionary.com are likethis. I'm not sure how I lived without it...

    Wendy - Fine advice, but I only put three books on my Christmas list (madness, no?), because when I try handing off my wish list to my friends and relatives, they weep at the length of it, cry out "this is too complicated!", and then buy me something completely different that I don't really want. With that in mind...I, uh, caved and bought 'em and promised myself I'd get rid of 9 other books before they come. ;-)

    Eva - LOL! Oh, The Ladies of Grace Adieu and The Tenderness of Wolves and Out Stealing Horses and After You'd Gone (from which my header text comes - I *do* need a copy to keep since I loved it so much now, don't I?) among others (all from my wish list). And $30 (which includes the shipping!). I hope you approve because my finger might have slipped on the mouse hovering over the purchase button.... ;-)

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  7. Do it! The prices are great, and you sent me over there!

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  8. I am thankful that I am not able to shop there ;-) But then I guess I can shop on other sites, and I just saw that Amazon.co.uk also has a sale...

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