Went on a romantic outing to Bangor, one that involved peculiar car trouble, a walk in the woods, 200 feet of garden hose, and Indian food, but also resulted in a particularly fine haul from the Goodwill and Lippincott's, a lovely used bookstore. The prices are better at the Goodwill, of course, but Lippincott's has a cat.

The Hawk in the Rain, Ted Hughes's first collection, in an early edition, which I'm giving to my mother for Mother's Day. It has a very mod dust cover.

Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance, by Richard Powers, whom I've never read but whom the NY Review of Books adores. I frequently disagree with its fiction reviewers, however, so I may hate this book. But it cost $1.99.

Night Light, by Donald Justice, first published in 1967, although this is a revised edition from 1981. I've only read Justice's work in anthologies and look forward to his own arrangement. Will you be surprised to learn that 99 cents is all that the Goodwill felt these poems were worth?

The Siege of Krishnapur, by J. G. Farrell. It won the Booker in 1973, and I read it in a borrowed copy about 10 years ago and have never forgotten it. It didn't have a happy ending.

Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art, by James Hall. Now I will understand all the secrets of art.

The Life of Ivy Compton-Burnett, by Hilary Spurling. Ivy was one of the weirdest novelists ever. I can't wait to find out why.

The Book and the Brotherhood, by Iris Murdoch. I read every Murdoch novel I can find.