Technically, communism outlawed religion (opiate of the masses, and all that), but Ceaușescu happened to love religious music, particularly
religious choral music.
So I bought three books, going over my gift certificate amount, partly because they were playing
choral religious music, like a dirge or a requiem or something at St. Marks Bookshop and it heightened my feeling of sadness that the store seemed so much smaller than their original location and I felt guilty for not buying more stuff from them over the years.