Meanwhile back in August….

Next to last book dept:    I’ve recently bought (and quickly recycled into Tesco’s Book Bank container) Stoner by John Williams. I think I’ve finally learnt my lesson. Don’t buy something just because someone else says it is wonderful. The glowing reviews said this obscure novel was the greatest literature of the C20th. No it isn’t. It’s absolute rubbish. Even I could do better. I struggled through the first 70 pages amazed at the one-dimensional characters and slow plot. I’ve better things to do with my time. Just sitting and stareing into space is a better use of my time than reading this book. Whilst I was in the right mood I went to the CD shelf and picked a dozen titles to throw in the wheely bin. They were all purchased on the strength of reviews in “Mojo” magazine. They were all crap too!

Last book dept:     I said I wouldn’t buy any more books and yet here I am happily reading this year’s Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide. Not that you can place much credence on their prices. 10p each is a far more realistic price for any comic made since 1980 !!  I’ve been buying this annual price guide religiously since the 4th issue. I saw the first three books advertised in comics and magazines in the early 1970s but back then I didn’t have the technology to send money to the States!

Dunno why we’ve still got the X-Men on the cover though. Aren’t they last year’s/last decade’s thing??? Surely the sales of their (pretty well unreadable) comics must be on the skids by now? Aren’t there any hot new modern comics/characters these days and if not why not??

PS: Over the years I’ve bought all sorts of stuff from Amazon. Not just books: car parts, canned unicorn meat and even a new element for the oven the other day. So why don’t they sell the new updated FUGG??? That’s Fogel’s Underground Grading Guide. This is the anti-matter version of Overstreet containing details of numerous “underground” and “adult” comics that Overstreet pretends just don’t exist.