Confessions of a Shopaholic by Kinsella, Sophie - 2001

New York, N.Y.: Dial Press Trade Paperback, 2001. Near Fine. A clean softcover, no markings throughout, NOT an ex-library book: If you've ever paid off one credit card with another, thrown out a bill bef ore opening it, or convinced yourself that buying at a two-for-one sale is like making money, then this silly, appealing novel is for you. In the open ing pages of Confessions of a Shopaholic, recent college graduate Rebecca B loomwood is offered a hefty line of credit by a London bank. Within a few m onths, Sophie Kinsella's heroine has exceeded the limits of this generous o ffer, and begins furtively to scan her credit-card bills at work, certain t hat she couldn't have spent the reported sums. In theory anyway, the world of finance shouldn't be a mystery to Rebecca, since she writes for a magazine called Successful Saving. Struggling with her spendthrift impulses, she tries to heed the advice of an expert and appreciate life's cheaper pleasures: parks, museums, and so forth. Yet her first Saturday at the Victoria and Albert Museum strikes her as a waste. Why? There's not a price tag in sight. It kind of takes the fun out of it, doesn't it? You wander round, just looking at things, and it all gets a bit boring after a while. Whereas if they put price tags on, you'd be far more interested. In fact, I think all museums should put prices on their exhibits. You'd look at a silver chalice or a marble statue or the Mona Lisa or whatever, and admire it for its beauty and historical importance and everything--and then you'd reach for the price tag and gasp, "Hey, look how much this one is!" It would really liven things up. Eventually, Rebecca's uncontrollable shopping and her "imaginative