Charity Shop Treats

There is absolutely nothing more enjoyable than wiling away an afternoon waltzing in and out of charity shops and plunging your hands into the huge lucky dip that book shopping in those kind of establishments can be..... My ordinary Saturday afternoon spent archiving at John Rylands Library in Manchester City Centre was promptly abandoned this weekend when, in preparation for guests coming around that very evening I realised, in utter disgust with myself, that the flat was an absolute filthy pigsty and had to be blitzed immediately; a task that took a good couple of hours and meant that, rather than traipse into the centre of town for closing time, my time was much better spent mooching (I love that word) in and out of my local butchers/grocers and of course, charity shops.

  As book shopping goes, I suppose this wasn't as enthralling or fruitful as other trips have been in the past, but I thoroughly enjoyed looking at everything on offer (even if I had no intention of purchasing  any of it) all the same. I finally procured myself a copy of Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks, which has been lurking around on my wish list for some time now, and also bought two thirds of the Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman which I read long ago and have now decided enough time has passed to own copies of my very own. I adored these books the first time around and as someone who discovered the story years before the film was made am still not overjoyed about everyone else jumping on board with video games, posters and who knows what else...I've found it nearly impossible to find a copy without Nicole Kidman plastered all over the front - not to mention Daniel Craig, who, although exceedingly scrumptious and easy on the eye, also pops up on the cover of my current read (see right) - a beautiful copy of which I, rather irritatingly, saw in Oxfam today, minus the 'now a major motion picture' bit....gah.

Another quick sweep of Oxfam today saw a copy of Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières fall into my hand, a tad obvious perhaps and, probably again due to the whole 'books made into major Hollywood blockbuster' problem, a book I've never been particularly drawn to, despite rave reviews from my entire family.  However, after reading and loving De Bernières marvellous War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts whilst camping in Scotland last summer, it is time I feel to read his most famous work and see what all the fuss is about. This particular problematic crossover with films and the books that originally gave birth to them could become a common theme over the next couple of posts as I review Sense and Sensibility, a classic that has for too long escaped my attention, but whose reception, most understandably I feel, has been substantially affected by the well-known filmic adaptation...

'Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds. Or bends with the remover to remove. Oh no! It is an ever fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken. Willoughby. Willoughby. Willoughby.....'