When the shelves are bare

Austin Public Library has been very busy clearing its inventory of actual books. I'm glad that I read the novels of Sybille Bedford when they were there; only one copy of one novel remains. Some time ago, I found a sale copy of The Sudden View: a Mexican Journey (1953; republished as A Visit to Don Otavio: a Traveller's Tale from Mexico). My copy is from Counterpoint and bears the republished title; it cost under $7 and was worth every single penny. This is a very funny book. Coincidentally, Bedford stays where we did when she's in Morelia, at the Hotel Virrey de Mendoza. I'd like to track down a book from which a funny quote is drawn: Viva Mexico! by Charles Macomb Flandrau.