Reflections on an Odd Life

Books

Anyone who has ever been to my apartment knows how much I love books. I spent much too much of this weekend digging around in used bookstores across LA and its environs and had several great finds that I’m now trying to stuff back into my suitcase—including a copy of Barry Goldwater’s 1962 foreign policy book, a real rarity, and a copy of one of Graham Greene’s only ventures into nonfiction.

My favorite find: A boxed set of the complete short stories of W. Somerset Maugham. It was only $12 because the clerk at the store couldn’t figure out whether the $12 marked inside both volumes meant that the set was that much or each book was that much. It would have been a bargain still at literally twice the price.