readers' digest condensed

i fell ill with food poisoning over the xmas weekend. while spooning in my chuk (porridge), i went back to my vast (ha, ha) collection of reader's digest condensed books. i have been fixated on these tomes since i was a teenager. my dad used to get them. these books offer three to five novels, in a condensed form. i still think it's value for money, and today, i can only find these books in secondhand shops in amcorp mall, chowrasta in penang, garage sales, and flea marts overseas.
so, i picked one which i had bought for RM8 at a bookshop at the penang chowrasta market. i whizzed through dick francis who writes on horse racing but i got stuck on a war story, all about fighting. wasn't in the mood for that. and that's the beauty of these condensed books - different stories in one slightly heavy tome.
am better, after the chuck and beehoon soup, and a terrific read.