Bookshopping Laura

With today being the day I start back into night shifts (after a two week break) and also my only day off this week, I decided it would be the day to do all of the things. I was up bright and early to do my messages, like some old woman sans the nifty wheely bag. There was food to be bought and bills to be paid and I had persuaded my boyfriend to finish work early so we could go to Kilkenny for the afternoon. I remember the good old days ( a few months back) when we would get to Kilkenny all the time but the opportunity for a day away doesn't crop up often enough. 

I wasn't really up in Kilkenny to shop. In that I didn't really have the money for it. I just wanted a nice afternoon out so when I am wandering around my apartment in a zombie like state for the next two days, I can remember that I had a nice day out on Friday. Despite my intentions to not really do any shopping I was feeling pretty excited about visiting one of Kilkenny's many book shops and treating myself to a brand new book. This might not sound like that big of a deal but its been a long time since I have done it.

Quick recap for those of you who have not been following me since the beginning. I used to work in a Bookshop but now I work in social care. That's why I'm called bookshoplaura. The perks of that job were the discount and the staff borrowing policy. I stopped buying books when I was away because I could just borrow them from work and return them once read. This was awesome in that it saved me an absolute fortune but it did rob me of some the joy I used to experience upon entering a bookshop and today I was eager to reclaim it.


I didn't want to rush into the bookshop first thing so we meandered through the town while I picked up herbal tea and food and other essentials. I had my sights set on Dubray books in the Market cross shopping centre because the last time I had been in there, just after Christmas (back when I still worked in a bookshop) I had come away with many photos of book covers so I could find the titles as soon as they arrived into the shop I worked in. I was fully convinced that the hard part would not be picking a book but limiting myself to just one. The thing is when the books are free I'll take a chance on anything but once money has to change hands then I become much more choosey. Stephen does not share my love of reading so I can't say he enjoyed our prolonged bookshop experience. At one stage he sat and read his phone, then he moved to shadowing me around the store ( always helpful to the indecisive shopper) and finally picking books based on the covers and suggesting I might like them. I even had a sales girl making recommendations but I can't say the books she suggested held much appeal for me. Eventually much to Stephen's relief I did pick up Rainbow Rowells book attachments. Not likely to be a runner for the Pulitzer prize but I have enjoyed her previous books and I like her writing style. I put back two other books I had been thinking about and with an audible sigh from Stephen we made it to the till.

Now you can only imagine his delight when I mentioned en route to Mcdonagh Junction that I was just going to pop my head into a bookshop down the street for a very quick look. I came out moments later with My heart and other black holes. I think it might be a young adult title but I read something about it that intrigued and I was glad to reclaim the simple pleasure of buying books again and building a stack on my bookshelf of books to be read.

We finished up in Kilkenny a short while later. I was clutching food, books and tea while Stephen had found his favourite wine and bought a t-shirt. 
I will say it was a good day out and chances are my wardrobe is about to get somewhat neglected. I have been bitten by the bug and there so many books to be bought.