I nominate Post Office by Charles Bukowski

Yes, it is a series. And yes, it is best to read in order. I have read some of the Kate Shugak books and yes, it is a series. To say it's not a series is just plain wrong.

I'll second Post Office.

Please read more carefully, Jon. I said that the Calvin Trillin books were not a series. Certainly the Kate Shugak books are. And yet, each one stands alone and can be read on its own. Certainly, Breakup can be.

The Trillin "Tummy Trilogy" isn't a series. The books are essays that can be read in any order. I think my much reread, tattered paperbacks are lurking here somewhere, but I did pick up the ebook Alice, Let's Eat at some point, too. Seconded. Aside from being hilarious, Trillin comes across as a thoroughly nice guy. If you don't "know" him, he's well worth meeting.

Sorry for getting things incorrect. But one thing I stand on is that the Kate Shugak series is a series and it is a series to be read in order.

Everything I've read about him and by him agrees with that. I lost my much read Tummy Trilogy books in this latest move to Canada somehow, but have since obtained a paperback version that includes all three. But it's a bit awkward for my old hands.

The eBook of Alice is a bit easier to read. ;)

Well, I had a dandy, but the Kindle edition was so obviously a bootleg copy (it's PD in Canada) that I gave up on it.

Well, for those of us who live in Canada, what was the book? (And if it's on Kobo, and legit, we can certainly go with that and folks can convert. Assuming, of course, that it is selected.)

It's England, Their England by A.G. Macdonell. It won the James Tait Black aware (Britain's oldest literary prize) in 1933 and is on the Guardian's list of a thousand must-read novels. Here's the Faded Page link.

The only Kindle edition ($2.99) is obviously a bootleg; similarly, Kobo US has three editions, I think. Any copy at Kobo Canada is obviously legit! But there's no point in paying Kobo Canada for something you can get for free at Faded Page.

I know Amazon bootlegs aren't my problem, but I don't like to see pirates profit from their larceny. We don't have a rule requiring an ebook edition, much less a US ebook edition (and have had a selection that didn't, one of my favorite choices in fact), but I figure it's not in the spirit of the club to nominate something that's legal in my home market only in pbook.

Which doesn't mean a loyal Canadian couldn't nominate it!

ETA: Legal in Life + 70 as well as Life + 50

The FadedPages ePub for England, Their England is not good. There are a number of gaps that are not in the HTML. It's best to start with the HTML and work from there.

Excuse me, Jon, but whose ePub? FadedPages? Or another? And in what way not good. (I should note, I've never yet had a bad version from FadedPage - their volunteers are quite dedicated and their process rigorous.)

I'm off to get myself a copy. I might just nominate it, especially since it's PD in the UK and EU as well as here.

ETA: By looking the book up on the UK site, I was able to identify what appears to be a legitimate Kindle version sold by a UK publisher. It's $6.99, not $2.99, and I would, of course, choose the FadedPage version for my own reading, but if others agree that this is a legal copy, I'll nominate it.

I'll second, if you do. Life + 70 tipped the balance for me and it's easy enough to get from the library.

See my ETA. Do we agree that this appears to be a legal copy?

Absolutely, but I also think any copy (including Faded Page) is legal pretty much all over, except for here. Macdonell died in 1941 which puts him comfortably into Life + 70 as well as Life + 50.