I’ve been reading my copy of The Yiddish Policeman’s Union. I’ve turned down the corners of pages that contain words I don’t know. Words I don’t know, you shkotzes you. And I apologize if “shkotz” means something bad, but I’m leaving all the Yiddish words until I get to a good stopping point. It’s all Yiddish and words like “ratiocination.” Hands up if you know that word. At any rate, I’ve been turning down corners. The book is starting to look like my Mom’s copy of Candy Kane after I discovered the WWII book was made of some very tasty pulp, and you could turn down the corners and they became little bite-sized book hors d’oeuvres.
I’ve been making such progress that I started to think what my next book will be, and it struck me I had ordered a book off a blog link. Problem was, all I could remember about the book was that it had stripes. I remembered waking up in the middle of the night, coming to the computer, reading blogs, clicking a link, thinking “THAT book sounds really good” about the Stripe Book, and then going back to bed.
“Oh,” I thought, “I bet it was a dream.” Then it occured to me that I have mobile dreams sometimes, and I might have bought anything on the Internet, and I should be thankful it was a dream.
But, last night the Stripe Book arrived on my porch! It’s Stuff White People Like. Strangely, I thought it was a more significant book. Well, and I thought it had three stripes. So there’s a chance another book might show up.
And maybe a pony.
10 responses to “Sleepshopping”
Hand up.I’m not allowed on Amazon or eBay after midnight.
I spent 3 months straight on Ambien and never bought anything or killed anyone in my sleep. I’m kind of disappointed.
I recently bought a book reviewed in the NY Times because of the setting. I read at night, in bed. This book was so unexpectedly suspenseful that I had what must be an anxiety attack and lost a nights sleep. A series of books I’ve read over and over, in order, are Isaac Bashevis Singer’s “The Manor”, “The Estate” and “The Family Moskat”. They create such a rich world.
On very rare occasions, I’ve woken to find my undergarments cast off in the hallway between bedroom and bathroom. I can only think I woke up with a very urgent need to get to the bathroom. Anything else is too disturbing to consider.
~Silk – Oh, now I have to go look it up.Candy – Man. That does suck. Did you try the spy camera, though? Mayve you did.JO – This book keeps popping up with little alternative realities. Tonight he mentioned “when the US dropped the atomic bomb on Berlin.”Becs – You wear undergarments to bed? Under your pajamas? Hmm.
You need this bookhttp://www.amazon.com/Yiddish-Dick-Jane-Ellis-Weiner/dp/0316159727/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215181409&sr=8-1Seriously — Yiddish with Dick and Jane will help you with all your Yiddish needs.
My teenage daughters (both currently still asleep in bed although it’s after midday and I’ve been up for HOURS) are revolted at the mere suggestion that underwear not be worn under pjs – even when much younger and more malleable, they resisted so vociferously that I was left feeling vaguely sluttish about my own nightwear choices, where I seize the chance to be free of elastic for a few hours.
Sherri – Oh, that book is cute. What is cute in Yiddish?Big Dot – Well, yeah! I remember I was not allowed to wear undies with pajamas when I was a child because it supposedly led to bladder infections.
you need a copy of leo rosten’s “the joys of yiddish”.
Magpie – I imagine Leo Rosten must be better than Babelfish. It doesn’t even acknowledge Yiddish.