A couple of weeks ago we went into a local second-hand bookstore. We were looking for a particular book to make up a set, but they didn't have it. Anyway while we were there we spotted, high up on a dusty shelf, another book we had been looking for - Twentieth Century Children's Writers. This is a weighty tome, but useful for bookdealers like us as it has a wealth of information. We asked how much it was, and the owners said they didn't know, got it down for us and found it was marked at £75. We laughed. The owners then said that the book had been there since they bought the shop and the price had been that of the previous owners so they would check and see what the price would really be. So we waited a while and the girl came back and said it would be £35. Then she justified this by saying that we wouldn't be able to get one cheaper anywhere else (untrue). And look, she was giving us £40 off. Now we had already determined that we wanted to pay £20 for the book, but we'd have been prepared to haggle if she'd been the slightest bit amenable. But she seemed to think she was doing us a favour by offering us this book which had been sat on her shelves unwanted for at least 6 years, and which she didn't even know she had, and offering us discount off a vastly inflated value that she hadn't set in the first place. Needless to say we didn't buy the book. I expect it's still there although she said, now that she knew she had this book, she was going to put it on the internet.
Well, I just want to say Yah-Boo-Sucks to her because I got my copy of the book in the post yesterday morning, all the way from Canada, and it cost me just £18 including the shipping, plus it's a newer edition. And by buying the book from the dealer I used I am supporting literacy. I am feeling very smug but am resisting the urge to go and dance about outside the shop waving my book and sticking my tongue out.
Knitting news -
I have finished the Opal Dreamcatcher socks, and not a moment too soon. Much as I love the colours I was bored to death with these socks by the time I was finished.
So now I've cast on....another pair of socks! These are for Pete, as he has now officially killed the first dog-walking socks and is wearing down the next pair. These are proper sock wool so in theory they should be a bit harder-wearing than the others which were pure wool.
Book News -
I have finished March by Geraldine Brooks, which I enjoyed very much, although I do have a confession to make. I have never read Little Women. I'm sorry. I intend to rectify this ommission this year (it's on my list of 501 must-read books), but in my defense, I have seen at least 2 different films of it!
1 comment:
Really love those socks, I always find it hard to read a book once I've seen the film or vice versa.
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