Speis

Had this sudden desire to read Wuthering Heights over the weekend. Needless to say, after much rooting around in my pile of books, I couldn't find my battered old college copy. So I set out this morning to track down a cheap copy.

Went to my usually reliable second hand book shop off Grafton but came out empty-handed. Forced to face the fact that although I always come out of there with a book, it's never the one I went in looking for. Tried the Hodges Figgis bargain basement but they only had every other book written by the Bronte sisters. Upstairs they had loads of copies of Wuthering Heights, bound variously in leather, fancy paper and what could well have been ancient Egyptian papyrus. So, no affordable copies then.

Same story in Waterstones, except they even had a copy that looked like it was directed at the Mills & Boon readers out there. The cover had a pale-skinned lady with a heaving bosom and a winsome expression. Still too expensive.

Surprisingly, it was Eason's that saved me. Picked up a copy for €2.90. So what if the print is tiny? Who cares if the cheap paper will riddle my hands with papercuts? The Classics should be available to all. Now I can go home and wait for my original copy to turn up.