I was left rather crestfallen by the news that the Bodleian Library's book depository is not going to be built next to the Oxford Mail offices in Osney Mead. It would have been nice to have an eight million volume bookstack next door, but local planners felt it was not a good idea and a planning inspector announced earlier this week that he agreed. It will be interesting to see if the Bodleian can find a suitable alternative site inside the ring road and I wish them luck, as curators have some exciting plans to refurbish the Bod in Broad Street, to allow greater public access. After battling through the buses in Queen Street, which desperately needs to be pedestrianised, I nipped up the steps in the central library to peruse the second-hand section. For 20p each, I bought a copy of Robert Harris's futuristic Fatherland, and a Corgi paperback from 1976 of Frederick Forsyth's novella The Shepherd. It contains nice black and white illustrations by Lou Feck and I look forward to devouring this in one sitting. After picking up a copy of the Fleet Foxes album, I headed back along Park End Street, where I was mesmerised by the new carousel in the window of Oxbow Books, which specialises in classics and archaeology. I was woken from my trance-like state by former colleague Chris Buratta, who won acclaim for his exclusive story about killer foam, a rare algae polluting the Thames and its tributaries. I've got a long reading list at the moment, which includes Doors Open by Ian Rankin, but I'm hooked on le Carré's The Perfect Spy. In a recent interview, the author said the novel featured autobiographical elements and this should be the perfect warm-up for his new title, A Wanted Man.