In the High Peaks
















Tuesday, July 26, 2011

A Wonderful Library Sale Find

One of the perks of working day in and day out on our library's book sale, is the opportunity to obtain and pay for a few books in advance of the sale.


When I unloaded the pristine first edition, first printing copy of Tony Judt's Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945, published by Penguin in 2005, I was close to hyperventilating, so anxious was I to obtain it. This is the widely acknowledged, quintessential book on the subject, and as many applauding reviewers have claimed, it's unlikely that this title will be surpassed in the near future. It was named one of the New York Times Ten Best Books of the Year for 2005. It is an 847-page tour de force, with nary a negative review to its name. Judt was educated at King's College, Cambridge, but he has made his name teaching and writing at New York University, at the Erich Marie Remarque Center of European History.

In other news, after the booksale work in the mornings, I've come home to read The Return of Captain John Emmett by Elizabeth Speller. I've enjoyed it immensely, but at 435 pages, it has not been a quick read by any means, particularly because there are many details to keep track of in this very well-researched and well-written post-World War I mystery set in England. I should be finishing this book tomorrow. I give it a very high rating.

1 comment:

  1. Don't you just love these moments? I once found a first edition Richard Ellmann Joyce bio and had much the same reaction. How did this lovely find its way to the bottom of a box somewhere?

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