One of my New Year's resolutions was to try & live a simpler, greener life and to this end I've taken to haunting secondhand book stalls to indulge one of my great pleasures in life.....READING....Actually who am I kidding...I've always been drawn to any trestle table loaded with books....I came across this lot at the Country Craft Market which takes place every alternate Saturday in Somerset West. The Lions club run the book stall and it is a veritable treasure trove...Evelyn Waugh (never read anything of his before that I can recall), Joy Packer (an old South African author rediscovered) as well as Nevil Shute(an Australian author best known for his book 'A Town like Alice').
I've spent many happy hours reading all of them - the only one left is Margaret Mitchell's 'Gone with the Wind' - I never realised it was such a thick book.....One thing that has struck me is how relevant the stories still are today given that the average publishing date of the lot above is circa 1950's. And another thing....there is just nothing like the smell of old books....don't get me wrong, new ones have an irresistible allure all of their own but nothing like the rich aroma (& the odd stowaway fish moth) of the old stuff!
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