I keep in touch with my friend and mentor Allen Sutterfield. For the past 6 years Allen is fulfilling his destiny as English teacher at the University of Sichuan, in the city of Chengdu, China. Recently Allen sent me a List of 104 books he would like to have. 22 of those books I would read myself so I took the List to several (old and new) book stores here in Brisbane. As Allen had predicted the List provoked interest and a certain amount of excitement among booksellers eager to fulfill Allen’s desire. Many of those titles were not easily available, for example: No.15 on the list: MAN WITHOUT QUALITIES by R. Musil, was accessible at the price of $AU95 ( too expensive )… On the other hand No. 104, T. Tasso’s JERUSALEM DELIVERED can be perused on various medieval literature internet sites...
I purchased 4 books: James Mitchener’s THE SOURCE, E. R. Eddison’s THE WORM OUROBOROS, Sinclair Lewis’s ELMER GANTRY and Neville Shute’s THE CHEQUER BOARD. A hard-cover copy of Thor Heyerdhal’s AKU AKU I bypassed due to increasing weight and volume for my luggage, as I prepare to deliver the books personally to Allen in Chengdu. So March 1st, China-Adventure, here I come.
If any reader would like to comment on the List or… send Allen a book… the List can be viewed at http://hitchhickers-omnibus.blogspot.com/
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