In Which An Old Idea Regarding Penguins Is Brought Back To Life And I Go to The Library

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

A while back I started a blog about my collection of vintage Penguin and Pelican paperbacks. When I say vintage, it's not just those ones which were numbered 1,2,3 etc but also those with the standard coloured spines (eg orange,green or black). The blog had three separate tags to it. Firstly I would chat about reading, where I read etc. Secondly I'd chat about what I'd thought of the book and Thirdly I would give myself a budget of just £1 a week.

Eventually though I stopped the blog. Basically because I could feel myself being repetitive. Well now I'm bringing the idea back. Partly because it seemed a fun thing to do but also as this blog is more than just books it would be part of it and not it's whole so it wouldn't be boring to you the reader.

The rules are simple:

1) The books must be of the type I mentioned earlier.

2) The budget is just £1 a week which can be rollovered.

3) I cannot go to any event (like a boot sale) because they might sell books. It has to be because I've gone to a specific place for completely different reason.

(Like today)

And that's it.

Today I had to go to Porthcawl as I needed to change my library books. Let's deal with that visit first for I was running late. I'd got into the bath at nine am and didn't get out of it until sometime before eleven. So just one football book was chosen and quickly. It was this.

Carlo Ancelotti - Quiet Leadership

As far as I can tell this book is about his management style which is fair enough. His Champions League successes shows that he has earned writing a book like this.

After that I went to the Porthcawl Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) to pick on the Penguins/Pelicans du jour. I was fortunate enough to buy four which were:

Robert Graves - I Claudius

This orange spined version is the original of the Claudius series of books. I'd read Claudius The God and liked it so have high hopes 

Roger McGough - Blazing Fruit

This is a selection of his poetry. As I've explained in a previous post won't deny that I'm no regular reader or listener to poetry. Still will give it a go.

1877 - George Orwell - A Clergyman's Daughter

You know you wait a long while to buy Orwell books and then three come within four days. Odd cover for a book written in the nineteen thirties. The only vintage Penguin amongst the four.

Sir Walter Scott - Ivanhoe

You know I remember picking an abridged schools printing of Ivanhoe when I was nine/ten and thinking. "This is rubbish" and soon putting it down again. Now that I'm (much) older though not necessarily wiser I'll give this black spined version another go when it's turn amongst the great unread arises.

All of this cost me just 90p. Meaning that unless I can unexpectedly buy a book for 10p From next Monday the budget rolls to £1.10.

We'll see how this revival of an old idea goes.

Until the next time.