Monday, September 21, 2009

Sweet Repeats

I pay attention to the books other people who write blogs say they are reading. So, when Shouting at Streetlights mentioned that he was reading a book by Nevile Shute, and Marian Keyes mentioned in her blog/newsletter that she was reading something by Michael Connelly, that was "brilliant," I went to the library to track down books by these authors.

I knew that I had read something by Nevil Shute once upon a time, but I wasn't sure which one - probably On the Beach -- so I grabbed the first one with his name on it, which was The Breaking Wave.

Then I wondered around the other side of the stacks and found about 2 feet worth of Michael Connelly novels to choose from. I had never read anything by him. So it took a while figuring out which one to pick.

Right below him was a row of books by Catherine Cookson and my eye lit on a little book called Mrs Flannagan's Trumpet.



I admit I frequently choose books by their titles and covers. It looked interesting, so I got that one too.

And when I got home I looked at the back of the book and saw that I had already read The Breaking Wave, sometime in early 2000 (they stopped writing down dates on the checkout cards when they went to computerized system). And it seems I had also read Mrs. Flannagan's Trumpet, which was due back on Aug 19, 1994.

Blimey. Funny thing is, I so frequently pick books again that I have already read once upon a time that I usually always look at the back cover to see if my number is there before I walk out with it. But then I figured since I didn't remember reading it the first time, I might as well read it again.

And Shouting is right. Neville Shute is a great storyteller and I will have to get more of his.

1 comment:

The Weaver of Grass said...

How interesting that your library used to mark when you had read a book - ours has only started doing that since they went computerised. Like you I often fancy a book and then am told at the check out that I have already read it! Some books are worth reading more than once though, aren;t they?