30/10/15: Shiny & stylish adult bunny set (Age UK)

Age UK, Swanage. If you weren’t tempted by the “beatnik wig”, maybe this “shiny & stylish adult bunny set” is more your kind of thing.

30/10/15: Beatnik wig (Age UK)

Age UK, Swanage. Formerly £9.99, now £3.99, this wig is both "unisex" and "beatnik".

10/10/15: Wanderlust (Barnardo's)

Barnardo's, Whetstone. Always worth a look at the DVD shelf. Was tempted by The Rutles and Scott Walker 30 Century Man, although not tempted enough to spend £1.99 in either case. Of the others shown here, I have previously enjoyed watching GoodFellas, Prometheus, Skyfall and Almost Famous. The least tempting disc by some distance was Wanderlust, whose oxymoronic description as "a comedy starring Jennifer Aniston" is enough to send a shudder right through me.

04/10/15: The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (North London Hospice)

North London Hospice, Whetstone. This 2013 Booker Prize winner was in (nearly) mint condition and only £1 – cheaper than many of the mangled paperbacks on offer. Should I take his as a warning that it's an unreadable disaster? It has 74 one-star reviews on Amazon, of which this one is typical: "A dreadful mess. A dreadfully long mess. A complex plot, delivered in a confusing way. Twelve sections of ever-decreasing length, with ever-shortening chapters with ever-lengthening preambles. Twelve characters representing (I assume) different signs of the zodiac, but all devoid of emotion. I failed to identify with any of them, and indeed most of them seemed indistinguishable except by name and profession. Their personalities lacked depth and I got no sense that the writer had any sensitivity or understanding of them – certainly if she did, she failed to convey it. How this got shortlisted for the Man-Booker prize is beyond me. It is simply not a good read. Brevity in writing is a virtue. 832 pages is a chore."