WSBGD = What should Bookish Girl Do?

I attended my monthly bookclub meeting last night at our local big-box bookstore. Which, incidentally, is not all that bad. This is not to say that I am not still a staunch supporter of locally owed establishments and will ALWAYS seek them out first. However, the empty local bookstore niche created by this big-box bookstore has, in some cases, been adequately filled by its very existence. Which, I suppose is the point but not always the case.

In any case. I picked up a book that guides you through suggested books to read for specific topics. I enjoyed the topics; I thought the titles were well balanced. I noticed a typo in the table of contents. I bought it anyway. I am a sucker for these types of collections. What to read… What you should read… The X,XXX best books for blah blah… I find them stimulating and fun and they get my reading juices flowing.

The typo I forgave. Copy editing is hard. Things fall through the cracks. Too many hands in a pot etc, etc. Otherwise - shit happens. Typos get through to final published books. No one knows this better than a knitter.

I brought the book home and spent the rest of my evening going through the 1,001 titles checking off those that I had read with a pencil. There were brief descriptions under each title summarize the plot, salient points, and / or the merit of the book. Most of these I skimmed through. I had read the books and in most cases loved the books. I did not feel compelled, for the most part, to read what someone else had to say about them.

Toward the end of the book I came across an entry for The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. I listened to this memoir via ipod during my commute while still living in Boston. I believe it is a book better listened to than read. The author narrates the audio book and she does it more justice than the voices in my head could ever do. (This is the case for most anything - my voices are a bit loco). It is a lovely story, one that I was deeply touched by and often recommend. In a fit of nostalgia I read the summary under the title. This one mentioned the basic premise of the book. Not in so many words it said - ‘After returning from the hospital room of their now dead daughter the author’s husband dies.’

I almost cried. This was wrong. wrong. wrong. The daughter was not dead - she was ill, very ill. This fact establishes a main plot line through this memoir. A very important poignant fact was blatantly wrong. The author of this fun new book of mine clearly did not read A Year of Magical Thinking nor did she (or anyone) fact check. The summary then went to on to say what a wonderful book it was.

I was really pissed. I hate being lied to. I hate paying for something that wasn’t properly researched. It is not hard to do good work…so why wouldn’t you?!! (This is totally not a James Frey type issue, this is a different beast. This isn’t someone’s recollection of reality.)

Now the question.

I have marked this book with pencil. I am mad about supporting this book financially and REALLY want to vote with my pocket book. Which, in this case, would involve returning the book. But - I marked it up?! Can I return it?

Now I realize that my purchase and return of the book is not a strong message to anyone. But I feel as though the universe receives all of these actions and balances them appropriately. So this is an important action in my view.

What would you do?

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{day 12 - The Bookish Girl Should… take a deep breath and untwist her panties.}