As mentioned in this post, I have particularly happy memories of reading Expecting Someone Taller on a summer holiday (to Jersey) in the late 80s. Sadly, many years later, I made the terrible mistake of lending my copy out, and never getting it back. Tragedy. Ebay has come riding to the rescue and a (signed) replacement has arrived to sit proudly alongside some of the many others of his on the shelves. Will be looking forward to a first reread in 35+ years sometime soon.
During our visit to Boston last week, I picked up a copy of Ian Fleming's Thrilling Cities at the Harvard Bookstore in the recently published William Morrow imprint. Given that it was written more than a lifetime (in Fleming's case) ago, it is remarkable that it is still in print, particularly given some of the views espoused within it, combined with the 'incidental intelligence' telling readers where to find five-star hotel rooms around the world for around £15 per night. Still, when there is a new run of the 14 Bond books, it seems like publishers know that if they tag on copies of this and the Diamond Smugglers, there will be enough nutjob Fleming completists (like me) to make it worth their while. The only challenge for the bookstores is to know where to shelve it to attract sales. Should they deliberately misfile it at put it with the Bond books, or do they take a chance of it languishing in what can be fairly haphazard travel sections. Thankfully the Harvard store...
