Life must be filled up

White Books by Noel Streatfeild. Like The White Album, maybe.

A couple of months ago I spotted my all-time favourite listing. The enticing, grab your buyers header was: 'book'.

The answer could be on eBay if you have the dosh. Look at the number of hits!

In other news, what is LJ playing at now? Apart from all the usual being intolerably slow, preview not working, comments hard to make and so on? Writing this post was really difficult because the font size has gone minuscule. I am so thinking of moving elsewhere.

huskyteer has alerted me to Molesworth: the early years. This is the pre-Young Elizabethan incarnation of Molesworth in Punch and well worth looking at.

The Booker longlist was announced yesterday: yawn, yawn yawn. Those of you who do enjoy the Bookerthon, have fun if you possibly can. A hot tip for this year is David Mitchell’s The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. I had a look at this in a bookshop and decided it was definitely not for me, but I’m one of many readers who couldn’t get through Cloud Atlas.

Daft eBay listings. These are not happy days for people trying to sell books on eBay, so why make it harder for yourself? Whoever, looking for a book, does a search for ‘good book’, ‘rare’ or, mysteriously, ‘3-D view’? Then you might try to get the title right. One seller repeatedly put up a book called Patricia, Perfect. The book is called Patricia, Prefect. You’d think the seller would notice on the nth time of listing? Another relisted book is called, allegedly, La Vaste Monde. That ‘La’ irritates me every time I see it.

Our town changes! I posted here about plans to build a new Waitrose on the site of our cricket ground. After much controversy, public meetings and votes for those living nearby, Waitrose got permission to build and began a charm campaign. Yesterday, ramblingfancy and I went for a scout round. There are several surprising things about this development. First, it was scheduled to open next Christmas and actually opened, complete with underground car-park, earlier this month. Secondly, it looks very like the original architect’s plans. Thirdly, the argument that local people would have greater access to what had previously been a privately owned site turns out to be true. Looking through huge windows, the view is of trees and grass all around. It was very odd to see the view reversed, as it were. The stock is what you would expect, the staff are new, keen and helpful and shopping there could not be a more different experience from trying to shop in the depressing Somerfield/Co-op we’ve had to put up with until now. Let’s see if the famous ‘Waitrose effect’ does revitalize the town as is hoped.

There’s a book meme ‘everyone’ is doing, which I’ve decided is too much like hard work as it’s called The Thirty Day Book Meme. I am very interested in other people’s efforts, though, as they all seem to write about books I’ve never heard of! The full list of questions is under the cut.
( questions )

Seen on eBay today: Enid Blytons (sic) Tails of Brave Adventure.

Today on eBay

William and the Brians Trust
The Golden Cumpas Trilogy
plus the usual Mallory Towers

I should make this a regular feature; there's plenty of material.

Am I the only person who hates hates hates the new selling form, which will soon be mandatory? I've already filled in their questionnaire saying I find it extremely difficult to use.
I have just been trying to list a couple of items which I only want to post to the UK. The old 'Post to UK only' option has disappeared. So I deleted all countries but kept getting red messages about filling in correct details. Tried help: useless. In the end I gave up, almost in tears. When I feel better I shall list them using the old form while I still can.

I had another promotional card from Bloms Bulbs this morning. I suppose they save money by not sending a catalogue unless you ask for one. I found I had quite a collection of the cards as I can't bear to throw them away. Look at this gorgeous one from two years ago. I love the weirdness of arums, arisaemas and related plants but the only one I've been able to grow is Dracunculus vulgaris, the Stink Lily. Believe me, it smells just as bad as its name suggests.

Also in the post was a parcel of Puffin books from eBay which contained as a sleeper Jam Tomorrow by Monica Redlich. I've been wanting to read this for ages, so goody!

on the head of the person who keeps listing c**p jewellery in the eBay category 'Books, Antiquarian, Children's'.
Is there any way to complain about this? And would it do any good?

I have spent ages writing up listings for eBay. As these items are going in my shop, I had to bear in mind that they will probably sell after Royal Mail's new charges come in on August 21st. Working out the prices, I was shocked to find what a difference this will make to posting a standard-sized paperback. When you add to that eBay's new 10% Final Value Fee on shop items it makes you wonder how anyone outside the big companies is supposed to make any money. Private Eye got it right as usual:

Can anyone remember which comedy programme included the joke,
'Roald Dahl admits: my father couldn't spell Ronald'?
Might have been Not the Nine o'clock News. To my great joy, I have just seen offered on eBay Charlie and the Choclate Factory by 'Ronald Dahl'.