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December 31, 2003
Five Pounds - Five books
Oh - whilst I'm in hyper-blogging mode - I just remembered a little mental note I made the other day to blog about. It was just before the Christmas Bank Holiday - a couple of days before in fact - and I had to spend the day in Slough for reasons of work. Well I popped out at lunchtime to grab a bite to eat - there's a shopping mall not to far from the office. Boy was it packed or what! The people of Slough really do like to go shopping! The crowds were far worse than I've seen Brent Cross or Harrow (which are the shopping malls nearer to where I live). I never did end up getting my sandwich - instead I got magnetically drawn to a bookshop that was "closing down" and "every book one pound". I spent what seemed like the best part of an hour in there - trying to be sensible and not trying to take out two carrier-bags full of books. Instead I remembered that I only had £5 in my pocket - and so I duly spent all that time selecting just five books - fiction. Now - I wasn't foolish enough to think that the books on sale for £1 each were going to be bestsellers - so I spent most of the time doing what I know I shouldn't do - which is to go by the newspaper quotes on the back covers. You know - those quotes which go something like "It reads like Catcher in the Rye with high explosives - Daily Telegraph" The idea being that the more familiar and respected the newspaper offering the complimentary quote - the more likely better the read. So these are what I ended up with (the prices shown are the original cover price): |  |  |  |  |
| Killing Paparazzi Robert M. Eversz £9.99 | Slow Reckoning Tom Athanasiou £7.99 | The Dog King Christoph Ransmayr £6.99 | English Weather Neil Ferguson £6.99 | This Side of Brightness Colum McCann £6.99 |
Posted by jag at December 31, 2003 03:26 PM
Comments
Happy new year...
That marketing psychology works everytime everywhere. But I do suppose that books are good books. (you wouldnt know until you read it fully, wont you)
Posted by: sat at January 1, 2004 05:24 AM
Hey Happy New year...Jag paaji! have lotsa fun! :)
Posted by: Shobha at January 1, 2004 07:04 AM
Never heard of any of the books or the authors but the covers look very good.
what's the fifth one? as I can't see it on my screen
Posted by: Annie Mole at January 1, 2004 09:18 AM
PS - London's best kept secret is Fopp a brilliant book, CD and DVD shop in Covent Garden -1 Earlham Street, WC2H 9LL loads and loads of chart CD's for a tenner and loads and loads of other good ones for a fiver or under. Loads of excellent books - Picador, Penguin, Taschen art books etc etc for £3. Loads of top DVD's for ten pounds or less. I did most of my Xmas shopping there, and people thought I had spent a fortune
Even though I work a stone's throw from Tower Records, HMV and Virgin and Waterstones at Piccadilly Circus - Fopp is worth the extra five minute walk to covent garden.
They also have a number of other branches around the country and you can buy online but obviously you'd then have to pay for postage. http://www.fopp.co.uk/
Posted by: Annie Mole at January 1, 2004 09:46 AM
Happy New Year Sat! You're right - I need to get reading!
Shobha-bheinji: Happy New Year to you too!
Annie: The fifth one is "This side of brightness" by Colum McCann. Hey and thanks for the tip re Fopp - I'd never heard about that shop before - BUT having just visited the website that you gave me I saw a picture of the shop - and I now KNOW EXACTLY which shop you mean - the one on the corner of Shaftesbury Ave opposite near where I park my car if I ever come down with family to West End on early weekend mornings - I've been there a few times actually - but never quite registered the name of the shop!
I will certainly visit it again and look more carefully at the prices. Cheers!
Posted by: Jag at January 1, 2004 01:24 PM
Last year some one registered my details with http://www.etsp.co.uk/ and one fine morning, I got a box of 5 books asking me to pay £5 + postage(£4 I think).
I was about to return those but they were quite useful ones and for that price, it was quite a deal.
After paying up for those books, I called up eTSP and opted out of their subscriber's list.
Posted by: Chakra at January 2, 2004 11:07 AM
I'm just catching up with the posts I missed while staying with my folks up North. The new camera looks good (Carl Zeis lens!). I can't wait to see some photos. Happy New Year Jag!
Posted by: Stu at January 2, 2004 03:40 PM
Chakra: That website looks like it's an online subsidiary of the Book Club Association (BCA) - which I have used many times over the years to get useful books cheap - e.g. things like Greater London Atlas - World Atlas - history books etc. Yes - usually you have to opt-in and then opt-out if you don;t want to be burdened with regular buying commitment.
Stu: The Carl Zeiss optics are a real beauty! Looking forward to it myself. Should arrive on Monday hopefully!
Posted by: Jag at January 3, 2004 12:07 PM
What the cotton picking heck is URL?
I ordered three books plus two extra on a special offer deal, paid by cheque. Loooong wait,then a note telling me "Due to over whelming demand etc"
Have received two Club order forms since then but no books from original deal.
What do I do now? Cancel the contract? Sounds attractive!
Posted by: richardson at December 29, 2004 04:24 PM