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Investment

Following in J's footsteps, I downloaded a new investment app at the start of the week and deposited some funds. Disappointingly, I am already down £10.

So, I thought I'd try a form of investment offering more immediate and more gratifying returns today, which resulted in ten books for £8.50. That's more like it.

Admittedly half of the books are paperbacks of books that I already own hardbacks of, but that's still winning as far as I'm concerned:
  • Carte Blanche - obviously I have the first edition, but with lots of the more recent Bond books I made the error of not buying the paperbacks as they came out.
  • The Word is Murder - I seem to be stuck between getting paperbacks and hardbacks of the Hawthorne series. I have Word in hardback (and now paperback), Sentence in paperback, Line, Twist and Close in hardback (two signed). Maybe it would be easier if I tracked down Sentence in hardback to complete that set, although I will probably end up getting them all in both formats eventually.
  • The Children of Hurin - not really possible to have too many editions of Tolkien's works.
  • Weirdo - a good reading copy to avoid messing up the signed first.
  • Amsterdam - continuing to do a good job of tracking down Vintage McEwan paperbacks. Not very many to go to complete a set.
As for properly new additions to the library:
  • Lucia in Wartime - a bit of a find as I think this is Tom Holt's first book. Nothing to do with the comic fantasy that he is more well known for but a nice one to add to the collection. Particularly fond memories of reading 'Expecting Someone Taller' on holiday in the late 80s, and meeting him at signings in the early 90s.
  • End to End - simply purchased because it looked interesting - stories of people who have done the cycle from Lands End to John o' Groats. If it is as enjoyable as Mark Beaumont then I'll be happy.
  • Strangers on a Train - looks interesting and is a nice edition to match the copy of The Talented Mr Ripley that I found recently.
  • The Suspect - Rob Rinder seems to be doing a good job of establishing himself as a bit of a national treasure, and so I thought that his books may be worth I try (see also Richard Coles!). Having picked up book two, I am, of course, going to have to keep an eye out for book one, The Trial.
  • The Mystery of the Three Quarters - gradually getting stuck into Christie, and these add-on Poirot books by Sophie Hannah look interesting. This one is book three, and it means I now have three of the five so far.


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