So my mother-in-law’s visit went reasonably well, I suppose. I was enjoined, like Margaret in the movie version of Sense and Sensibility, to confine my conversation to pleasantries (weather, the state of the roads), which I dutifully did. It was my mother-in-law who brought up Religion by giving us two pamphlets of devotions for St. Anthony, and then raised Politics by asking if there was a Barnes & Noble nearby where she could get Bill O’Reilly’s latest book.

The funny thing is, Husband and I had just been talking about this very topic. Two weeks ago, we got a babysitter, and we were killing some time before dinner by puttering around the local bookstore. (No Barnes & Noble–all the local shops are independent.) We were enjoying the novel sensation of browsing without children in tow. Husband noticed the prominent placement of Bob Woodward’s new book, and asked why liberal pundits seemed to write more political books than their conservative counterparts.

I think I asked if he was high, and had he never heard of Coulter, O’Reilly, and their ilk? He pointed to the shelves, where, indeed, they were underrepresented.

So I had to tell my mother-in-law that yes, there was a book store within a few blocks, but it might not sell the O’Reilly book because the market for it in this liberal Massachusetts town would be small. She got a chuckle out of it, and dispatched Sister-in-Law #1 to investigate.

For the record, our local store does carry O’Reilly’s book, but Sister-in-Law #1 reported that two clerks pointedly averted their eyes while ringing her up and then failed to thank her for her purchase.