• Edward Gorey’s Amphigorey. Actually this was last week’s acquisition, the first of the three, courtesy of Ralph (thanks again!). Except that it’s misbound, with half of two stories repeated instead of half of two others, so I’m going to have to send it back. A shame, because apart from that I think it’s the loveliest of the three.

  • Janet and Allan Ahlberg: Funnybones and Cops and Robbers. I saw the second first, but had read the earlier before (sorry, couldn’t resist) as a kid in New Zealand. It’s “The toe bone’s connected to the — foot bone!” and so on, you probably know it. I squealed with delight when I saw it, and they turned out to be in the “free” bin, heading for the fleamarket. > “Let’s have a ride on the elephant skeleton,” the little skeleton said. “Let’s have a word with the > parrot skeleton.” The big skeleton scratched his skull. “Let’s… keep out of the way of the crocodile > skeleton,” he said. (Funnybones) > > This dreadful, snatching, pilfering bunch

    Would rob a baby of his lunch

    This sneaking, creeping, fingering lot

    Would burgle a burglar, like as not. (Cops and Robbers)

  • Two by JG Ballard: The Unlimited Dream Company and The Crystal World. I don’t recall either of these (although the blurb to Crystal World sounds strangely familiar, it’s possible that I read it in Dunedin) but I’m a definite fan of the lush surreal Ballard (the Ballard of Empire of the Sun is outstanding also, but deeply depressing) so I expect to enjoy these.

  • Robertson Davies, The Deptford Trilogy. I read this in a terrible hurry over a long weekend somewhere in New Zealand — it’s 825 pages, and belonged to the owner of the place I was staying so I couldn’t take it with me. I honestly don’t remember if it’s any good, but it’s one of those irritating cases where I immediately forgot both title and author and hence haven’t managed to discover it anywhere since so I could find out. I came upon it today and bought it so it can’t escape me again. There’s always BookCrossing if it turns out to be not my cup of tea after all.

All of these except Amphigorey are the result of an impulse trip into the Book Exchange, an English-language 2nd-hand-bookstore on the road between the office and home. I usually try to avoid it (for obvious reasons!) but this time the happy coincidence of bikelessness and an early knockoff led me astray.