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This passage is spoken by the protagonist in Muriel Spark's 1981 novel Loitering with Intent:
I found the book on the library shelves and while I was there in that section, I lit upon another book I hadn't seen for years. It was the /Autobiography/ of Benvenuto Cellini. It was like meeting an old friend. I borrowed both books and went on my way rejoicing.
I don't know anything about Cellini or his autobiography, but I know this feeling well. Stumbling onto an unexpected book at the library gives me almost unreasonable joy.
Loitering with Intent is my second Spark novel, after Finishing School. I gave Spark a try on recommendation of her work by Henry Oliver at The Common Reader. Oliver also reignited my interest in the novels of Penelope Fitzgerald, whose The Bookshop I first read years ago... after stumbling across a copy on the shelf of my local library. Fancy that.