A few months ago in a post about the books in my nightstand I wrote about how I had 19 of the 20 volumes in Penguin’s English Journey series. The one that was missing was AE Housman’s A Shropshire Lad which was out of stock at The Book Despository. At the time I blamed Cornflower because her book club had just read the book so what else could I conclude? Months later the book is still out of stock and the Penguin website won’t sell these to the US. I was beginning to get worried that I would never be able to complete the set. So I thought I would appeal to Cornflower to see if anyone in her book club had a clean copy they were willing to part with. Within no time, Jill from Victoria, Australia came to my rescue and offered to send me her copy.
In exchange I offered to buy the book of her choice that would cover the cost of the book and shipping. Jill’s choice was Henrietta’s War. Since she had done me a kind turn, and because the price of Henrietta’s War didn’t seem enough to make up for the effort and expenditure on Jill’s end, I decided that I would send her a few of my favorites in addition to Henrietta. Since Jill lives in Australia, I decided I would send her something by American authors so I chose The Inn at Lake Devine by Elinor Lipman and The Professor’s House by Willa Cather. Two of my favorites for very different reasons. I hope she likes them.
Yesterday I got this cute package in the mail from Jill. She not only sent me the Housman I needed to complete my set but she also sent me a copy of A Fortunate Life by A.B. Facey-an “Australian Classic”
Born in 1894, Facey lived the rough frontier life of a sheep farmer, survived the gore of Gallipoli, raised a family through the Depression and spent sixty years with his beloved wife…
The long awaited volume…Now that the set is complete I am toying with the idea of reading all 20 of them over the course of a month. None of them are very long so I don’t think it would be too difficult to do.
Here are the rest of them just waiting for A Shropshire Lad.
hogglestock 
So pretty! You are a hardcore Anglophile! Have you ever read any Russell Hoban? He is a transplanted Yank who writes about England and language in a completely different way. You might enjoy him. Very thoughtful and evocative. Riddley Walker is pretty intense.
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A Shropshire Lad was just waiting in a my collection for a short while until it could be reunited with its stablemates from English Journeys. It was my pleasure Thomas.Enjoy.
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I'm so glad you were able to complete your set, Thomas!
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Aren't book bloggers so very kind! And how lovely to ahve that beautiful set, complete.
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Mlle: I have never even heard of Russell Hoban. Sounds interesting.
Jill: Thanks again Jill.
Cornflower: Me too, thanks.
Verity: Since I am not much of a poetry reader this title would not normally be on my wish list. But the fact that it was a whole in this series was too much to bear. And now that I have it I am looking forward to reading it.
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Oh this is what I love about the book blogging community everyone is so kind!
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Simon: I know, isn't it great?
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I have such jealousy. If there's anything I like more than a stack of good books, it's a stack of MATCHING good books.
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Rose City Reader: I totally agree. Especially if it is a series.
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Love the way Jill wrapped the books! And that was so sweet of her. Book bloggers are the best!! And that is just fab that you now have a complete set = yay!
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You have the prettiest collections. Are you planning on picking up the whole Bloomsbury set as well (that's what the journeys are balanced on right?)
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Nadia: I know, I didn't want to open the package. It felt like it came directly from Martha Stewart.
Jodie: The EJ series is finite, the Bloomsbury books could go on forever, which would make it a dangerous thing to begin collecting. So far I am sticking with just the two I have.
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