Las Vegas is not an obvious vacation choice for me. Don’t gamble. Don’t adore adult contemporary music. Certainly don’t relish baking in the desert sun. Yet, I had agreed to spend 4 days on the Vegas strip with my friends Marilee and Tim. What was I thinking? As it turns out, there are things to do in Vegas besides feeding dollars into slot machines. Not that I didn’t end up gambling. How could I not? Slot machines greeted me at the airport and in every hotel lobby. It’s a wonder they weren’t in the bathrooms! Besides parting with a few dollars at the casinos, I browsed in a lot of shopping malls. You name it. I could buy it on Las Vegas Boulevard. Reproduction furniture from the Victorian era. Crystal goblets. Diamond bracelets. Clothes for any occasion. The only things that I didn’t find were book and cookware shops, which are, of course, my favorite kinds of stores. On my third day in Vegas Tim, who now lives there, provided some respite from the rampant consumerism with …