Scared the poor clerk at the UBS today, when I let out a sound she calls a scream, I call a squeal, but the source of it was seeing the end of a (I kid you not) twelve-year search for a particular book. It was the first thing my eyes gravitated toward as soon as I stepped in. Ragtime Dawn by Maureen Bronson, for those interested in that sort of thing.

I'd first seen it in another store when it was new, but didn't get it, figuring I could get it later, and then...poof. It vanished off the face of the earth. Trying several bookstores in different states did no good. Putting the request out on the web did no good. Asking book loving/trading friends did no good. I was beginning to think I'd imagined it (after all, a turn of the century songwriting heroine who breaks into Ragtime fame isn't exactly a common plot or setting) but there it was, today. Much happiness.

Also got the first book in Karen Ranney's Scottish Lord series. I loved her Tapestry and the two medievals I read not too long ago, so this was a good find, too. Should be lovely. Ditto Jennifer Roberson's Lady of the Glen historical romance set around the massacre at Glencoe. I still rank her fantasy series about Tiger and Del, beginning with Sword Dancer as one of the best romance series ever, ever, ever. (Same couple through six books; why can't we see more of that?) Also got the first book in her Ceysuli fantasy series, though not sure if I'll go farther than that. I'm not a fantasy reader per se, and the whole shapeshifter thing isn't me, but will give it a try.

Pillaged three different craft stores including one of the stamping stores. Will need to investigate an Asian market so I can see if they have mah-jongg tiles; stamp store wanted two dollars for two tiles. Umm, little high there, folks.

All in all, good day. Want to write after dinner, but will probably fall asleep next to a good book, as the husband puts it.