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Online

As has been well established in these pages, I do like a good charity-shop rummage but, having been a little bit busy over the last couple of weeks, my opportunities to venture out have been a little bit limited. So, I was delighted to discover that Oxfam have a rather marvellous online alternative to their physical stores. Going through their catalogue was almost as much fun as the real thing and, in some ways, possibly even a little bit better given the easy search function. The only downside is, of course, not being able to touch and feel your potential purchase before taking the plunge.

However, all for a good cause and all that, so I thought I'd take my chances and order a few, OK a little over 20, books. And I was very glad I did. Delivery was extremely prompt over the course of the last week, albeit it did frustrate N a little as there were many separate parcels as they came from lots of different locations and book quality was generally excellent.

As far as I am concerned, I scored some excellent finds, as follows (L to R in photo):

  • Monogram Murders - signed first edition of Sophie Hannah's first Poirot book to go with books two to four that I already have.
  • Two of Clive James' later books - one about what he enjoyed reading and one about what he enjoyed watching on the telly!
  • A fascinating little book by James Fleming (Ian's nephew) called 'Bond behind the Iron Curtain' looking at the (adverse) reaction to Bond in the East and attempts to discredit and kill him off.
  • Another QI facts book for the collection as I gradually gather them all up.
  • Two more of the Coronet Bonds from the 1990s for the collection.
  • Three more Elly Griffith books (all Ruth Galloway ones) meaning I only have one 'Ruth' book to go (The Outcast Dead) and only two others, both Brighton Mysteries (Smoke and Mirrors and The Vanishing Box) to get, apart from her new one not out in paperback until September and her children's books.
  • Five Ian McEwan Picador paperbacks, all 1982 prints making them, in order, 10th reprint, 5th reprint, 2nd reprint, first paperback edition and first paperback edition. Makes you think that someone discovered a liking for McEwan 43 years ago and bought his first five books all at the same time. Admittedly, I already had four of the five, it was just the plays (The Imitation Game) I was missing, but I bought all five for £7 and they are delightful copies, so what could I do!
  • Oliver Sacks - Migraine - his first book - published 55 years ago - amazing!
  • Shoot to Kill - purchased with two other Cole Bond books but this was the one that I wanted as I needed to complete the Red Fox paperback set.
  • Marlow Murder Club - had been looking for this for a while so that we can start at the beginning as we like Thorogood's TV and, if his writing is about the same, we can take it on holiday to enjoy and it can tide us over until Thursday Murder 5 comes out!
  • The Prisoner of Heaven - book three of five so now the set is complete (albeit mixed between paperback and hardback).
  • Goldfinger in the Gillette cover. These are hard to find, at least at reasonable prices, so this set is creeping along. Up to five now.
  • Kathy Reichs Virals. Grabbed four other the other books in the series a while back so at least I have the first one now.
  • Cultural Amnesia - seems like Clive James either knew, or knew about, pretty much everyone.


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