Book-Tastic

We have this totally excellent second-hand book shop in Aarau that always has the books you're looking for. Obviously most of the stuff they sell is in german, but they also have a not-inconsiderable english section, the contents of which seem to change with surprising regularity. Today I went there not really intending to buy anything (although that never happens) and I found a copy of Claudius, The God (which I had been thinking of reading, but then I found that the local library has I, Claudius on DVD so I abandoned the book plan and borrowed the DVD and I am now forcing Reto to watch and enjoy it, all 658 minutes) as well as some Nevil Shute stuff that goes nicely with my A Town Like Alice theme lately, as well as assorted other things that I couldn't really resist (including something that might make an excellent present for one of my friends, but as it's someone who reads this blog I guess I can't say what it was). On other occasions I have gone there looking for John Irving (and come away with A Widow For One Year), Evelyn Waugh (and found A Handful Of Dust), and anything immensely trashy (I found Marian Keyes, and then abandoned her as soon as I could, feeling slightly dirty and used).

Of course the secret is probably to go there as infrequently as possible so as not to prove to myself that in fact they have an abysmal range. Or to learn german, perhaps. At 1.50 a book, though, I guess I may as well read my way through the entire english section first.