$10 paperbacks. I'm not buying them.

I saw Northern Light on the rack at Publix today, and grabbed it up without a thought to add to my basket. Humming a happy tune at the thought of how I would spend my day, I went down the next isle ... my eye returns to the book... my happiness deflates. I see it's the new sized book, and the price on the spine is $9.99.

I'm mad at the publishers, so angry I have to take deep breaths as I go back to the shelf to return the book to it's spot. I came here in the first place to buy cold medicine for the husband, milk for the kids. An $8 book would have been a splurge, but I usually can justify that - one less bottle of Pinot in the cart this week. It's a balance of where my leisure money is going to go. At $9.99, they've pushed me to far.

This makes me angry, not for myself so much but for the authors. I will eventually read the book - I'll put myself on the wait list at the library, and I'll browse second hand books until I find a good quality copy. Neither of these methods are going to make the author money. Nor will they make the publisher any money.

No matter how much I love an author - and Nora, you are top of my list - I can *not* justify to myself $10 for a paperback book. The authors are the ones who will suffer, and the booksellers along with them. I'm not such a trendsetter as to think I'm going to change the world by refusing to buy a book, but I wonder, how many other readers have felt this pinch and decided they just can't afford to buy new books either?

I'm angry, and I'm sad, and I'm feeling more than a little guilty at not supporting an author I love to read, and one who has given so much to readers. Today I'll hit up the library and the used bookstore, and then I'll find something else to fill my afternoon with. But it won't be Northern Lights.