I have a small habit that I only noticed recently. Whenever I finish something (a project, a teaching semester, a long revision, a manuscript submission) I often end up buying a book. Not every time, and never as a rule. I do not have a checklist that says, “Submit paper, buy book.” It is much less deliberate than that. But it keeps happening. Something ends, and a few days later I find myself looking through a bookstore, adding a title to my cart, or finally buying a book I have been thinking about for months. I suppose it has become my quiet way of marking completion.
