A BOOK'S TRAVELS

I buy a copy of the Big Issue in the centre of Cardiff. As always, I read the book reviews and there's a very good one of a collection of short stories written by a U.S. veteran of Iraq. The stories are based on his experience as a soldier in that conflict. I would like to read it and I look for a copy on the

Redeployment by Phil Klay

Internet, finding a second hand one on Abe books. I can buy it for £3.56 + £2.34 postage. I order it from Motor City Books near Detroit Michigan USA. When the book arrives three weeks later, I find it used to be a library book belonging to the US Air Force at Misawa Airbase in Japan. The information in the book also tells me that it was purchased on 30th March 2014 in USA for the price of $26.95 and then presumably flown to Japan. Some librarian employed by the military obviously thought it would be a good book for Air Force personnel to read. But at the airbase, nobody borrowed the book. There were no military personnel wanting to read this particular veteran’s collection of short stories of his war experiences. So unused it was shipped back to the US and ended up at a second-hand bookseller and through the Internet, it was then shipped to me in UK. A long journey for a book to be read for the first time. It was a good collection of stories - well worth the read.