How to celebrate a birthday

Writing in Oh Reader magazine, Mary Ellen Collins says she wanted to do something special to celebrate her 50th birthday, something in addition to the trip to Africa she was planning with her husband. Her decision was to purchase 50 books, all at the same time.

And so the two of them headed to a Barnes and Noble with her list of desired books. She found all if them, she reports: Running with Scissors, Blue Shoe, The Art of Happiness and all the others. They stacked books on the checkout counter while they went back to search for others, drawing admiring fans as they went. They left with several shopping bags full of new books.

I have walked out of Barnes and Noble with a single shopping bag full of books, and I know how exciting just the heft of the bag can be, knowing what's inside. Imagine having four such bags at once.

If I walked into Barnes and Noble with a list of 50 books I desired, I doubt they would have even half of them in stock. Even a large store rarely has on its shelves the books I most desperately seek. So I am not sure I could pull off what Collins does, even if I had the funds for it. I would have to search a number of independent book stores, used book stores and, as a last resort, Amazon to find what I want. That would at least stretch out the pleasure. But that is pretty much what I do anyway, without the birthday excuse.

I already have more than 80 books waiting their turn to be read. Even so, my 80th birthday appoaches, and a man can dream.