Ben and I were having a little conversation about book buying in the comments of my TBR of Doom post.  I don’t know about you, but right now I need more books like I need a double lobotomy.  Like I told Ben in my comment, when I went to pre-order Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, I just had to pick up Why We Suck by Dr. Denis Leary.  The man is my god, after all.  Might as well have the bible.  But that’s just my little compulsive twitch for book buying at work.

But I did go into Barnes and Noble today.  No, not to buy anything, at least initially.  I wanted to collect information for my teen series post, which I finally did.  Yay!  But what do I see on the bargain racks before I even walk into the store?  A slew of Element Encyclopedias, soft cover versions.

Now, I already own this one, the Encyclopedia of Witch Craft.  I’ve owned it for years.  My mom got it on discount from One Spirit book club and it’s helped me immensely with building Layla from Coney Island Psychic.  So, needless to say, I screamed a little on the inside when I saw all these Element books just sitting there for $9.98 and begging to be bought.  So I picked up Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures, Encyclopedia of Secret Signs and Symbols and Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Hauntings.

OMG I’m in heaven.  I wouldn’t be chagrining so much if I hadn’t depleted most of my paycheck in two days (mostly thanks to my purchase of a Wii and accessories) but these . . . these will not go to waste at all and I would have kicked myself in the ass repeatedly had I not picked these up.  The Element Encyclopedias are some of the best references for the mystical and magical and if you’re even considering writing anything like that, you’ll want these books amongst your reference guides.  I’ll be able to use these with everything that I’m writing and plan to write.

Squee!