Sunday 16 August 2015

Books & Charity



It is not that long ago I noticed I had nothing to read.  The books shown above had not taken long to get through others had come and gone and yet only a few days ago I found I had nothing to read.  That is I was plowing my way through one or two rather turgid books, had one or two I had to read and the 'can't put down books' had run out.  
This morning I was given a book for free and indeed could have taken several more if I wished and having just bought two on Friday I placed this one alongside them.  Then I realised the pile of books was getting rather high again!  Where did they all come from?
One day there was nothing and now they are all over the place.  Not a 'Kindle' in sight I may add!  None of that technical stuff, I mean you canny read in the bath with one of those, you might drop it.
This I must say is a good situation.  How we can pass the time without a few books lying around I fail to understand. Occasionally I wander through the charity shops looking at the books and round here they are almost all wimmens fiction or aged 'coffee table' books.  I reckon the girls buy them at one shop and dump them at another.  They appear to be the same books that were on the charity shelves when I first came here 19 years ago.  Mind you they are the same women reading them.  How I miss London charity shops, those in 'regenerated' areas always had decent books on offer, even if a bit pricey.
The only real bookshops these days are 'Waterstones' and 'Oxfam' bookshops.  I understand they need money but it appears to me 'Oxfam' charge too much for old books.  'Amazon' have reduced book prices but killed off bookshops.




3 comments:

Lee said...

Kindle and the like will never replace books in my opinion...when I read a book...I want to read a book...if you know what I mean. I don't have a kindle or any of that "technical stuff"...and I have no intentions of getting one. I don't even have a mobile phone of any description...and have no intention of getting one.

After reading this post, I think I need to pay a visit to the local secondhand book shops here this week...and may be the library, too. 'Tis time!

the fly in the web said...

There's an Oxfam one I go to when visiting mother....someone there certainly knows how to mark up prices, but luckily our tastes differ. I leave room in the suitcase for those i can't leave behind, and the rest go to a friend who then puts them in her local cat charity shop....but not at Oxfam prices, I bet.

I've just finished a book which has kept me occupied for a couple of days and am scratching round for one light enough to take on the bus tomorrow, but long enough to last the round trip...still once Alzheimers sets in I can read all my books again...

Adullamite said...

Lee, There is something about a 'book' that is different from anything else.

Fly, It's very true that re-reading a book that has been lying around for a few years is like reading it anew!