MY JANUARY UK BOOK-BUYING SPREE

   In January I spent a three week holiday in South Yorkshire. -Well, it was really a test to see if me and Jo would function together. But that's beside the point here.
   During those three weeks I had the joy of discovering charity shops that had books I actually wanted. (There is a completely different culture in Norway when it comes to charity, and we have few charity shops.) And I disovered The Works. For those that are unfamiliar with The Works (, as I was when I got here in January), it's basically a remainder shop. They sell new stuff at a ridiculously high discount. Paperbacks from £1, hardcovers from £1.99, and coffe table books from about £4.99.
   Both of these are of course somewhat of a book-lover's dream. I do however feel a bit bad about getting books for the prices I have, since I believe that authors (, and by extension publishers,) should get paid decently for what they give me as a reader. However I don't really feel too bad, for two reasons. The first one is that I still buy books at regular prices in Waterstones and WH Smith, the second one is I have been buying books in Norway for the last 30+ years.
   In Norway books are much more expensive than in the UK. You might be lucky and get some books at sale prices, but usually you have to pay quite a bit for your reading. US/UK hardcovers very rarely cost beow £25*, and you are lucky if you can get a trade paperback for below £12.99*, the cheapest I've seen mass market paperbacks is £6.99*. Norwegian books are even more expensive. So I can say that although I buy books at low prices now, I have contributed quite a lot to the overall revenue going into the book business over the years.

*Because I am lazy, I have used £1=10 NOK (Norwegian Kroner) when posting these prices.

   Anyway, here are pictures of the books I got in my first, three week, book-buying spree.

 These are from a charity shop.

Also from a charity shop.

More charity shop books.

From The Works.

More from The Works.

Even more from The Works.

Top two from The Works, bottom two from charity shop.

These came from Waterstones.

The Works. The "Design your own cover" one is Aesop's Fables.

More The Works books.

Even more from The Works.

And finally a couple more from Waterstones.

   Not pictured is the LEGO Star Wars Yoda Trilogy I bought for my nephew at the airport when I went back to Norway.

   By total coincidence, that adds up to 42 books bought  in my January UK book-buying spree.