DavidMcCann

A decade with no replies and most arranging by colour or size! With 48 yards of shelving I need order, so everything is classified, from Fosl & Bagini's The Philosopher's Toolkit at the start to Morton's Middle East at the end.

I try to avoid Amazon. I usually look at Just Books to see who has a good deal.

Last year I bought 27. I can't remember what I paid for the dearest (Adam's Roman Building), but the cheapest copy on-line is currently £90. That sort of thing does reduce the number bought!

I used to be a member but a lot of what I bought I sold on — poor editions or bad illustrations. I love my complete set of Jane Austen with Joan Hassell's illustrations, though.

I always thought that Milady got a raw deal and I'd have quite liked Becky. Now "Vanity Fair" in Dornford Yates's She fell among Thieves is a real monster. Her final scene in that is one of DY's greatest dramatic set pieces.

My recent reads were David Cooper. Existentialism. This saved me the bother of reading Heidegger or Sartre, but did not persuade me to reject Iris Murdoch's verdict that it was a mixture of Byronic romanticism and intellectual snobbery! Ronald Hutton. Queens of the Wild. He examines the tales of Mother Earth, the Fairy Queen, the Mistress of the Night, and the Cailleach — fascinating figures but not "pagan survivals" as so many claim. Linda Farrar. Ancient Roman Gardens. The Oxford Book of Classical Verse in Translation. Benjamin Lipscomb. The Women are up to Something. A collective biography of Elisabeth Anscombe, Mary Midgley, Iris Murdoch, and Philippa Foot. Next will be Scott's Bride of Lammermoor — it will be interesting to see how close the opera is to the original.

I'd nominate Adrian Ross. The Hole of the Pit. Difficult to find, but a very effective story of evil magic in the 17th century by a man who gave up an academic career to write operetta librettos! H. P. Lovecraft. The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Probably his best story. Susan Bill. The Woman in Black. Classic ghost story. Galen Beckett. The Magicians and Mrs Quent + The House on Durrow Street + The Master of Heathcrest Hall. Set in an imaginary world and like Jane Austen crossed with Bram Stoker. Susanna Clarke. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Tanith Lee. Tamastara.