Just finished reading Charles Dickens' "Nicholas Nickleby" a few days ago. That was immediately after reading "Barnaby Rudge". Looks like I'm on a Dickens kick that may last for a long, long time. Oh, I'd read several of his books over the years, but these days my attention level and comprehension appears to be a lot better than it was back then...no doubt some of that comes with quitting marijuana, but some I'd just read so long ago that I'd forgotten most of the details. That's the way it was with "Nickleby", which I hadn't read in over 20 years and even then I was so doped up on psychotropic medication that it's a wonder I could even understand the book, let alone retain anything about it through the years.
That turned out to be the case, as I found that I remembered practically nothing about it. But I'm glad I want back to the book, because I enjoyed it tremendously. I'm currently reading a biography of Dickens which is proving to be interesting, and after that I plan on tackling "A Tale of Two Cities". From then I it will be a Dickens book about after every seventh book that I read. He is my favorite author.
There is a little story that goes with the purchase of my copy of "Nicholas Nickleby":
As I told you I had a copy of the book a little over 20 years. As was my habit back then, I wrote my name on the front page of every book I read as soon as I completed it. Then I'd either put it in my "library" or sell/trade it at a book store called "The Book Rack" in Shawnee. For whatever reason, my "Nickelby" wound up getting traded for credit at the store. It was a nice paperback edition from Penguin books that I thought was pretty cool.
So, anyway, after reading and enjoying "Barnaby Rudge" I thought about that time so long ago when I'd attempted to wade through "Nickleby" and about how I could recall none of it. I made it my goal to get a copy as soon as I could.
It wasn't too long till I'd scraped up a little money and decided to go to Shawnee and try and find it. I didn't have high hopes of obtaining a copy, because it's just not a title you find unless you go to one of the bigger bookstores and the closest one of those was 60 miles away in Oklahoma City (I'd planned to go to OKC if I couldn't find it in Shawnee, but it would have to be another day).
I went to the mall's Waldenbooks first. All they had was "Great Expectations" and "A Tale of Two Cities". I figured then and there that I probably would not find the one I was coming for, so I bought a copy of "A Tale of Two Cities" (since the only other Dickens' book they stocked was "Great Expectations", and I'd already read that). I would read "Tale" if my goal of tracking down a "Nickleby" was thwarted.
Then I decided I'd go to the used bookstores, but I didn't have high hopes of finding it.
The first was the Book Barn, which usually has a nice selection. They only had "Great Expectations", but they had at least EIGHT copies of it!!!! That struck me kinda funny.
Then I went to the good old Book Rack, as I remembered that they had a fairly deep selection of the classics. But, alas, they did not have "Nickleby". The proprietor didn't even have to look for it to know it wasn't on the shelves.
Those two stores were the only used book stores I remembered. The lady at the Book Rack offered to call another store to see if they had a copy. I thought she was calling one of their branches in OKC or Stillater, Tulsa maybe. When she put down the phone she said they had one a Bibliotheque. Wow! That was a store not too far down the road, one that I'd completely forgotten about! For some reason I just don't do a lot of business there. Don't know why, as they always have a good selection. Maybe it's because I'm never in that part of the city (the old downtown area).
My hopes were renewed and, brimming with more excitement than anyone should have about buying a copy of "Nicholas Nickleby", I set off for Bibliotheque. I got to thinking on the way there that it sure would be cool if they had the same Penguin paperback edition that I'd traded so long ago,
I got there and told the lady behind the counter that I was the one who'd called about "Nicholas Nickleby". She said, "Oh, yes" and walked over to the classics section while I waited at the desk. When she pulled it out of the shelf I saw that, indeed, it WAS the Penguin edition that I wanted (but thought I'd never find)! I was pretty happy about that.
She took it up to the counter as I told her it was just like the copy I'd traded about 21 years ago. She said she'd bought it at a book sale some time ago.
Then she opened the book to look for the price, which they write on the front page.
That was when I saw, right next to the $3.00 price tag MY OWN NAME!!!
It was the exact same copy that I'd gotten rid of in 1986!!!
Wow! That copy had floated around for all those years and somehow made it right back to me!
I thought that was incredible.
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