In which I go shopping for thread.

Who slipped away to Galeria Krakowska this afternoon because she needed more thread for her crochet project?

Who bought two balls of green thread, some guinea pig food, and a bottle of cooking oil, and then slipped into the bookstore? (Just to look around, of course.)

Who bought three brand-spanking-new books today?

That would be me.

I seem to be sabotaging my planned reading every time I turn around, but I'm not really sure when I'll get to read these two.

The first is Lost in Translation by Eva Hoffman. This is the autobiography of a girl who grew up here in Krakow. Born after WWII, she lived here during some very tough years, before her family emigrated to Canada. I was happy to find that she uses the occasional Polish word, and the Polish appellations "Pani" (Mrs.) and "Ciocia" (aunt). I will have to grit my teeth over the spelling of Krakow--she spells it Cracow--throughout the entire book. I can understand why she changed the spelling of her name from Ewa to Eva--I did that myself with the nickname "Krakovianka," which is spelled "Krakowianka" in Polish. But you don't have to spell Krakow as "Cracow" to pronounce it correctly.

Language quibbles aside, this promises to be a fascinating book. I love biographies, and I am particularly delighted to read a book which will give me a little glimpse into the history of this city, which I love so very much.

The second book is The Diary of a Nobody by George & Weeden Grossmith. I'm not sure I've ever heard of this book. I know know nothing about it. But it's an inexpensive Wordsworth Classic, so I'm willing to take a chance when the back cover says: The roar of laughter which greeted the first serialised publication of The Diary of a Nobody in the magazine Punch in the late 1880s has continued and scarcely diminished ever since.

I generally enjoy Victorian literature, and I could use something funny. I'm looking forward to this one, and may read it slowly as it was serialized in the first place.

The third book...well, I can't tell you about that. I bought that one for my husband and I'm saving it for a present...but he reads this blog. You can imagine that I've stacked the books up, and although you can see the titles of the top two, you can't quite make out the bottom one. Maybe I'll mention it another time.

And I did buy thread.