You can't read the same book twice

You can't read the same book twice, because you are not the same person and it's not the same errr.... book..... hmmm.

I am re-reading a number of books I have not read for 15 years. Why haven't I re-read them before? (apologies to people who think re-reading books is a waste of time). I am re-reading them because I went to the storage facility (in Basingstoke) and got them out of storage, where they had been languishing and going gently yellow since 1993. The cumulative cost of storing my belongings in the excitingly urban Basingstoke (described in one guidebook as "The Venice of the North") runs into the thousands of pounds.

So, exactly what was in storage? It was like a Blue Peter time capsule except not nearly as fun. There were 30,000,000 books, 1 rotary saw bench and a number of articles of clothing, which I have to say, in the cold light of 2007, looked ghastly. And let's not forget the device to measure the hight of trees and suchlike, complete with nice leather case. And the kilt, the kukri, my collection of movies on VHS ( ah yes...), the half empty bottle of tequila and so on and so forth.

Anyway, I removed a sample of the books and have been re-reading them ever since. Some of them are really not very good now and I am quite shocked to see how my taste has changed over the intervening years.

For everyone who is even vaguely interested (and my dear friend H who is not interested and so charitably referred to me as a liver biopsy, and not in a post-modern way, I might add), here is the top 3 books which have stood the test of time well.

1) The Big Show - Pierre Clostermann
http://www.amazon.com/Big-Show-Greatest-Pilots-Story/dp/0297846191/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205759567&sr=8-1

2) Journey To The Centre Of The Earth - Richard and Nicholas Crane
http://www.amazon.com/Journey-Centre-Earth-Richard-Crane/dp/0552132128/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205759762&sr=1-1

3) Radix - A.A. Attanasio
http://www.amazon.com/Radix-Attanasio/dp/0553254065/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205759859&sr=1-1

I couldn't find any of my Bruce Chatwin books and that's a great shame. He wrote beautifully and I am confident I would enjoy his books today.

Enough of this literary stuff. Anyone want to buy a rotary saw bench?