The Lure of Books

Every year or so we visit the rural city of Bendigo. My wife loves to visit the bargain room of Bendigo Woollen Mills. For me, an essential part of each visit is a trip to my favourite second-hand bookstore, Book Now (1 Farmers Lane, Bendigo).

Here are my latest acquisitions:

I generally head straight for the History section, which is where I picked up three of these books. Then the Science section (not as large as I would have liked) and then general browsing.

• Winter King by Thomas Penn: about Henry VII and the beginnings of the Tudor Dynasty.
• Unknown Shore by Robert Ruby: the story of the doomed attempt to find the North-West Passage and to found a colony in the Arctic in the time of Elizabeth I.
• Nelson’s Purse by Martyn Downer: about the discovery of a priceless trove of artefacts related to Horatio Nelson.
• Harry Harrison, Harry Harrison by Harry Harrison: an autobiography by, you guessed it, Harry Harrison.
• Billy’s Halo by Ruth McKernan, which looks like an interesting personal account of the author’s father, his illness and death.

Only one problem now… where do I find room on my bookshelves?