The best charity bookshops in London are Oxfam bookshops. The books are well shelved, sorted according to subject area and alphabetically and priced slightly more highly.
And the best book section in an Oxfam bookshop, I don't mind sharing this with you, is run by "the book lady" in Twickenham. Her name is Felicity. Felicity must be in her late 80s. She is thin and smiles and wears pince nez. Her diction is slow, and her vowels and consonants are grooved into the the clarity and timbre of the 1940s.
She says she is so pleased when she can "match a person with a book."
She thinks that "well, most literature is either Dionysian or Apollonian, isn't it." - she says this with another cheering smile.
Recently, I bought from her, for 2 pounds, a 150 year old red leather bound volume of Sir. Walter Scott's poetry (Why on Earth did I do that?), A book including two of Thomas Paine's pieces, and three other books: Fraser, The Golden Bough, the Faber Book of Reportage, some essays by Richard Feynman George Orwell's Collected Essays and an old very heavy encyclopedia from the turn of the last century showing our heroic men, and one heroic sharpshooting woman, fighting the Boer.
I must stop buying the Book Lady's wares because my shelves are filling up and the books are slowly moving onto other surfaces, appearing under beds, sitting on top of medicine cabinets and filling up rucksacks.
So if you really need a book that suits you and you need a literary matchmaker, I suggest you go to Oxfam in Twickenham and ask for the book lady, who is so aptly named, Felicity.
And the best book section in an Oxfam bookshop, I don't mind sharing this with you, is run by "the book lady" in Twickenham. Her name is Felicity. Felicity must be in her late 80s. She is thin and smiles and wears pince nez. Her diction is slow, and her vowels and consonants are grooved into the the clarity and timbre of the 1940s.
She says she is so pleased when she can "match a person with a book."
She thinks that "well, most literature is either Dionysian or Apollonian, isn't it." - she says this with another cheering smile.
Recently, I bought from her, for 2 pounds, a 150 year old red leather bound volume of Sir. Walter Scott's poetry (Why on Earth did I do that?), A book including two of Thomas Paine's pieces, and three other books: Fraser, The Golden Bough, the Faber Book of Reportage, some essays by Richard Feynman George Orwell's Collected Essays and an old very heavy encyclopedia from the turn of the last century showing our heroic men, and one heroic sharpshooting woman, fighting the Boer.
I must stop buying the Book Lady's wares because my shelves are filling up and the books are slowly moving onto other surfaces, appearing under beds, sitting on top of medicine cabinets and filling up rucksacks.
So if you really need a book that suits you and you need a literary matchmaker, I suggest you go to Oxfam in Twickenham and ask for the book lady, who is so aptly named, Felicity.
Nick, how is Eve?
ReplyDeleteMum's had an amazing little turn around, Linda. Her cancer count went down from 280 to 80 with the last chemo, so we all have our fingers crossed. It means she'll have more time.
ReplyDeleteShe said the doctors and nurses were all a little stunned. She's their model patient, but they didn't expect any kind of turnaround.
Thanks for asking, Linda.
Phil Hall
Fantastic news. You have my email address I think so keep me posted.
ReplyDelete(sorry, don't know where Nick came from!)