Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus had a bit of a funny name but he had the right spending habit which I share with him when he said - in Dutch, of course: "When I get a little money, I buy books; if any is left, I buy food and clothes."
We're doing no walking today as Padma has driven into town to help a friend with some sort of charity fundraiser in the Bridge Plaza which allows me to catch up on my reading - right now I'm re-reading "The Sense of an Ending" in memory of my friend Chris Mellen - and to order some more books from my favourite bookshop, bookdepository.com.
This last lot is a bit of an eclectic mix: something on tax, or rather, tax havens; some "off-the-map" travelling; ten books that screwed up the world which I read except for "The Manifesto of the Communist Party" and "Mein Kampf" to stop me from being totally screwed up; and a guide into the minds of our greatest writers - try to imagine "War and Peace" written by someone other than Tolstoy: "Everyone is sad. It snows."
Of course, I could've read "Treasure Islands" and "Falling Off The Map" and "10 Books That Screwed Up The World" and "How To Write Like Tolstoy" on archive.org, but that wouldn't be the same, would it?
Firstly, it would deprive the authors of their royalties and, secondly, a book to me is something to have and to hold and to ultimately add to my evergrowing library. Archive.org is there simply to whet my appetite.
