July 2019
Brown Books, the second hand bookstore in Springwood where we live, closes its doors tomorrow. The shop has been trading since long before we moved into the area over twenty-five years ago. Before they close, they're having a sale. Fiction is being sold for 90% off. All of us purchased some books over the last few days. Below is a picture of the stack I bought:
| Things Fall Apart | Chinua Achebe | 0.85 | |
| How Far Can You Go? | David Lodge | 0.30 | |
| The Corrections | Jonathan Franzen | 2.00 | |
| The Porcupine | Julian Barnes | 1.50 | |
| The Innocent | Ian McEwan | 2.50 | |
| Titmuss Regained | John Mortimer | 3.00 | |
| Paradise Postponed | John Mortimer | 1.20 | |
| The Ballad of Desmond Kale | Roger McDonald | 5.00 | Signed First Edition |
| The Chosen | David Ireland | 1.50 | |
| The Famished Road | Ben Okri | 1.50 | |
| The Fortunes of Richard Mahony | Henry Handel Richardson | 0.85 | |
| The Orchard Thieves | Elizabeth Jolley | 1.00 | |
| Cleopatra's Sister | Penelope Lively | 2.00 | First Edition |
| The God of Small Things | Arundhati Roy | 1.50 | |
| Summertime | J.M.Coetzee | 2.00 | |
| Yellow Dog | Martin Amis | 1.00 | First Edition |
| Ravelstein | Saul Bellow | 0.85 | |
| Love etc. | Julian Barnes | 2.00 | |
| Tourmaline | Randolph Stow | 1.50 | |
| The Castle in the Forest | Norman Mailer | 2.50 |
All that cost me AUD$34.55. Given that an average trade paperback cost AUD$30 in Australia (yes, books are expensive here), that was a pretty good bargain. Unfortunately, after tomorrow, Brown Books is gone forever.
I was out for a walk this morning and gave Victoria a ring to see how her latest review was coming along. It turned out she was in Brown Books so I walked into town and joined her there. She bought several books. I also walked out the shop with a last purchase, A Son of the Circus by John Irving, a favourite author from years ago. Brown Books closes today but we were told by the owners that they will be continuing their business online. I offered to put a little advertisement on our website, gratis. For now, their website can be viewed by clicking here. When I get time, I’ll design a little ad for the bottom of our page.
