Halloween

Good morning bookies! Stand by for news.

Ah, Boston in November. The surf, the sun, the palm trees...oops, wrong mental image. Let's start over.

Ah, Boston in November. Cold winds off the harbor, brittle leaves leaves sweeping down historic streets, books waiting to be bought by eager bookies. Next month the 32nd Annual Boston Book Fair will be held at the Hynes Convention Center for any of you bookies who figure rare books are a better investment that stocks right now. A huge book fair, what's not to love?

http://www.news-antique.com/?id=785393&keys=antiquarian-books-boston-literary

*** Yesterday we here at BBG headquarters brought you the news of the oldest Hebrew text ever discovered. (Hundreds of you wrote in wondering what that has to do with books. Well, written text is written text, where it's five lines or five hundred pages) This was and will remain major news and today's link has some really nice photos from AOL.

http://news.aol.com/article/israeli-archaeologists-find-ancient-text/233027?icid=100214839x1212506023x1200749390

*** Anne Rice is furthering her efforts to promote Christianity with a new memoir. For those who closely read her vampire novels her background in Christian beliefs is obvious, even if she has back-burnered it for a while. I strongly suspect this will be a very interesting read.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081030/ap_en_ot/books_anne_rice

*** Dutton has just signed crime writer Harlan Coben to a three book deal, no doubt for enough money to retire the national debt. (And that's great, by the way. Authors are almost always underpaid) Now, for those who don't know the story, I no longer read this author. For one thing, I'm just not into reading the same book over and over again, although if that's the sort of thing you like Coben does it as well as it can be done. But there is another reason I will not read this writer and my friends on AOL know the story. I won't go into that here except to give some advice: never, ever tell this writer that you don't like one of his books. Or even write that on a message board, where a snitch is waiting to tattle. It doesn't matter if you love every other book he has written (and of the dozen or so I did read, I loved 11 of them), you are not allowed to dislike even one. So beware, lest the wrath fall upon you.

*** Reuters reports that Sandra Brown has just finished her 71st novel. While not up to Robert J. Randisi type numbers, that's still awfully prolific.

*** Obituary: The New York Times reports that William Wharton, author of the critically acclaimed Birdy, has died at age 82, in Encenitas, CA.

As October comes to an end, it reminds me that I forgot to re-read one of my all-time favorite novels, A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny. If you haven't read this one, dig up a copy and do so. The protagonist is Jack the Ripper's dog and it's Zelazny at his finest. Sure, I love his classics as much (or more) than anyone, Amber, of course, Lord of Light, et al. But for sheer fun none of that compares to October. Do yourself a favor and read it. Or re-read it.