Quote Originally Posted by Pablo Honey View Post
I hardly ever buy from bigger shops; like I said, I'd say at least 85% of all the literature I own was bought in a charity shop. I have no bones at all about buying a bashed up book for 50p a go; in fact, I'd say I prefer it, just because of some of the things I've found in them. In the back of my copy of Life of Pi I found a series of letters from a man in India to, I assume, the previous owner of the book. They were lovely letters, and one even had an ace recipe for Indian cider in it which I am determined to road test when I have the time. The things people use as bookmarks, really...in The Blind Assassin I found a letter in an envelope about halfway through the book. I still remember it. 'Come and talk to me soon. You know what I'm going to say so there's no point in writing it down just now. J x. How ace?!
I try to avoid the big stores as well. Our little town of five thousand used to have a bookstore, but closed down because it just didn't have the buying power of the larger bookstores. Instead of going to the store and asking them to order in the book they wanted, people would order online from A&R or Dymocks instead. So I wont go to bigger stores on principle. Unless I absolutely have to, or I am in Perth for a holiday. That little bookstore was great. It also sold second hand books, and I bought the entire Chronicles of Narnia for $5, and a whole host of Enid Blyton books for $20. The Narnia books came with a little Christmas card for a young boy telling him to enjoy the wonders of Narnia, and the Blyton books had child scribble on blank pages.

I love Blyton. I grew up on her books. I still love reading her as a teenager. The Magic Faraway Tree would have to be my favourite series, with Jo, Bessie and Fanny. I refuse to call them by their politically correct names. Dame Slap is NOT Dame Snap!!! And thinking of changing George's character in the Famous Five! What is the world coming to? These books were written in a different era, so of course the language is going to be different! If we change the stories we will never be able to appreciate the styles of times gone by. Do they change Shakespeare because Tybalt and his aunt are having an affair? No! Yet a tomboy is way too offensive! Stupid PC Brigade...