I am one of those people that try to keep their books looking good as long as possible. My parents taught me that books are your friends and to treat them with respect. Breaking the spine of a book was tantamount to murder in my parents house! I also like to re-read books so I have quite a library.

I was lucky growing up in that my father was the general manager - marketing at Golden Press for some years and we got lots of books at a substantial discount. Hey, maybe that's what I should do, find a publisher to work for! It would certainly save me money.

Oh I forgot to say that we are so used to the book prices in Australia that second hand book stores don't do any better than in other countries.