Rainy Day Find

Both girls’ soccer games were rained out today.  Which was good, as Little One is still fighting some weird congestion and we were all dead tired anyway.  The wife had to go to work for an event, so I went downstairs and did my usual (pre-soccer season, that is) routine: paid bills, got the dry cleaning ready, made an errand list, grabbed the little ones and headed out into the drizzle.

Our second-to-last stop was a local library.  The girls went in with instructions to get a DVD and one book each.  I lingered in the foyer, where they have a couple of shelves of used books, stacked roughly by subject, for a minimal donation fee.

Guess what I found?

This:

  

The Second World War, sixth volume (the concluding volume, from D-Day to Germany’s capitulation), by Sir Winston Churchill.

For the incredulous price of $1.00!  Four quarters!  Ya know how much Barnes & Noble would sell this, in the quality condition that it’s in?  Probably $20 bucks.  Minimum.

Now, I have four hefty tomes to complete my study of the World War II European theater (which has been on hiatus since mid-May … and probably won’t resume again until next summer, as I’m beginning a physics phase currently).  The other three are –

The Second World War, by Antony Beevor

The Guns at Last Light, by Rick Atkinson

Crusade in Europe, by Dwight D. Eisenhower

I’m really curious to see the comparisons and contrasts between the literary styles of Eisenhower and Churchill. 

But what a steal, no?