The books arrived

My Folio Society books, that I ordered a few weeks back, came yesterday. (Or actually: they came Tuesday but the box was too big - and insured for too much - for my letter carrier to leave it on my porch).

This time all the books I ordered were already "out" - sometimes there are things "for December publication" or "for March [of next year] publication"

I ordered these online....first time for that. I had to make an online "profile" with Folio in order to be able to do that. And one of the things that made me smile: in the drop-down menu for the title/honorific, two of the choices were "Sir" or "Lady." (I think I noted that before). You know you're part of a pretty special club when they allow for that.

I chose "Miss" even though they also had "Ms." and of course I would be well within my rights to claim "Dr."

But I admit - and I realize you're free to disagree with me on this - I kind of like "Miss" as my title for this thing. I'm not bugged, as some women apparently are, by revealing my marital status to the world. Perhaps I would be more so if I hadn't done much else with my life. Or if I hadn't kind of mentally shrugged and accepted the state as probably what I was meant to be.

Part of it is for another reason, though (I mean, that I did not choose "Dr."): I'm "Dr." in so much of my professional life. And I get kind of tired of that buttoned-up feeling. (That may also be why I've more recently taken to things like wearing bright colors, or pink toenail polish, or pendants featuring Pusheen or Nemu the pup). I doubt at this point that anyone will accuse me of being too un-serious because of any of those things. (If anything, given the to-do lists and such that I have, I suffer from being TOO serious).

Perhaps also some of it may be what I read and what I choose as entertainment. Lots of the books I've read down through the years feature the village schoolteacher, a spinster, but loved and respected in her community. And there's always Miss Marple. And Beatrix Potter was "Miss Potter" until she was well into her 40s - older, in fact, than I am at the current moment*. And I think of the generations of Sunday-school teachers, mainly in the South, who were "Miss Martha" or "Miss Emily" to their young charges. (True, some of those women were actually widowed - or were even married while they were called "Miss" by their students, and I'm not sure how that works. Unless I'm mishearing it and it was actually something more like our modern "Ms." only pronounced more like "Miz").

I'd rather read about Miss Marple solving crimes than about someone like Bridget Jones worrying about how many cigarettes she's smoked and how much food she's eaten and whether that will prevent her from ever marrying. (And yes, I know, it's a play on an Austen plot. But still. Most novels set in modern times leave me kind of cold. For my entertainment, I want to go on a mental vacation to another time or place, perhaps even one that doesn't exist.)

(*And who knows? Maybe there's still time for me to meet my "Mr. Heelis.")

(Another reason I don't choose "Dr." in social situations? I'm not that kind of doctor. People tend to assume, at least here in the U.S., that "Dr." is a medical doctor, and it would be embarrassing to be brought to the scene of a medical emergency and only be able to go, "Uh....I know first aid.")

Anyway. I flipped through the books a bit. I think "At the Back of the North Wind" will be my next novel-type read (once I finish Bleak House). Yes, I know it was originally a children's book, but the language seems fairly complex for a 21st century reader.

I also read a few of the "Medieval Comic Tales" (these tend to be very short). Completely Pointless and Arbitrary Alert: there's one called something like "The Priest who had his Bacon Stolen."

I also skimmed a bit of the free Bronowksi book that came with the order ("The Ascent of Man") and it looks interesting too.