This Time Next Week

This Time Next Week (1964) by Leslie Thomas is the sort of paperback that looks like it’s seen things… and would absolutely tell you about them over a lukewarm cup of instant coffee. Published by Pan Books in that glorious era before everyone got obsessed with ISBNs, this copy bravely goes without one – a true free spirit of the pre-barcode age.

Our edition, offered by Crappy Old Books, is proudly Used – not “pre-loved”, not “vintage”, just honestly, unapologetically used. The cover may be a little scuffed, the pages may have gone the shade of a chain-smoker’s dreams, and the spine might creak like a bedsit floorboard at 2am, but that’s all part of the charm. If you wanted perfection, you’d be in a different shop.

Inside, you’ll find Leslie Thomas doing what he does best: poking at the small dramas, private disasters and quiet absurdities of ordinary lives, all with a raised eyebrow and a grin that suggests he knows a lot more than he’s saying. It’s the 1960s in paperback form: slightly scruffy, a bit cheeky, and convinced that life will definitely be better… well… this time next week.

This is a book for you if:

• You think “ISBN: none” is less a problem and more a personality trait.

• You like your paperbacks with a faint smell of nostalgia and a hint of “who owned this before me and what were they avoiding doing when they read it?”

• You believe stories about everyday people being quietly ridiculous are far more interesting than yet another billionaire saving the world with an app.

• You want something small enough to fit in a coat pocket and just disreputable enough to look interesting on a train.

Expect:

• A cover design from that bold era when fonts shouted, colours clashed, and nobody worried about “brand guidelines”.

• Pages that turn easily, because they’ve been turned before – possibly by someone in a bedsit with an electric fire and a questionable sandwich.

• The comforting sense that you’re holding a little slice of mid-20th-century paperback history, surviving purely on charm, paper, and the refusal to die.

Condition: Used means this book has done its time on nightstands, bus seats, and probably the top of a loo cistern. It may feature:

• Light creasing to the spine (proof it’s been read, not just displayed).

• Tanning to pages (the dignified ageing of a proper paperback, not a defect).

• Minor scuffs, dings, or mysterious tiny marks that we politely refer to as “character”.

ISBN: None. This book predates spreadsheets, metadata obsession, and people asking “Can you just scan the barcode?” If that bothers you, this is probably not your moment. If it delights you, welcome home.

In short:
This Time Next Week is not just a Leslie Thomas novel; it’s a small, portable time machine to 1964, wrapped in aging Pan paper and sold to you by a shop brazen enough to call itself Crappy Old Books. It’s imperfect, slightly battered, quietly brilliant company.

Buy it now, and by this time next week you might even have finished it. Or at least started it. Or at the very least, put it somewhere that makes you look interesting.

Keep browsing: See more Fiction books Other books by Leslie Thomas