Good morning bookies! Stand by for news and comment.
*** Paranoia seems a vital personality trait for fascist dictators. Mussolini had his own son-in-law executed (just because he was plotting against Il Duce, who had no sense of humor) and now, it seems, Fransisco Franco was terrified that Hitler was going to have him kidnapped. At least, that's the contention by Franco's daughter in a new book, Franco, My Father by Carmen Franco Polo. The 'plot', if there was one, would have been for the Germans to kidnap Franco (one doubts that Hitler himself was going to do the dirty work) and force Spain into World War II. Aside from the fact that Spain was in even worse shape to help the Axis than Italy, and having Italy as an ally was equivalent to walking the streets with a boat anchor tied to your left foot, one can only wonder how many scarce resources Spain would have needed from Germany just to mount anything approaching an effective war effort.
But while I poke fun at this absurd notion, it should be remembered that when Hungary wanted to pull out of the war in 1944 as the Red Army poured over its eastern borders, Hitler did have Admiral Horthy's family kidnapped to blackmail him into not surrendering. Could Franco have possibly been right?
Nah.
Did Franco hide in the closet?
*** Guam. Beautiful island in the Central Pacific, near Tinian. And yes, for the record, if you buy me a vacation there as a gift, I will happily accept.
Guam was an American possession when World War II began, a sleepy but vital backwater that few in the US had ever heard of, but the US Navy knew its important and so did the Japanese. They seized it immediately and spent the next almost 3 years exploiting the population. In a new book, Guam and Japanese, Makoto Yamaguchi details the history of this brutal occupation for the benefit of the nearly 1 million Japanese who visit Guam yearly for vacations.
One Japanese owns up to history
*** The name 'Titanic' inspires emotion even to this day, almost 97 years after the great ship went down. Much worse ship sinkings have happened since but you never hear about those. Titanic, on the other hand, is stamped on the culture.
On December 17th Sotheby's will be auctioning a rare hand-written account of the tragedy. Archie Jewell, the watchman who was the first to be alerted to the danger of ice, wrote to his sister detailing his experiences. Expected to bring upwards of $35,000, I imagine that even in today's economy it will sell for more than that. Historical ephemera is just as good of a long term investment as valuable books, if history is any guide.
Jewell, by the way, was also aboard Titanic's sister ship, Britannic, when she sank. I'm betting they didn't let him anywhere near the last of the three, Olympic.
*** Paradise wasn't so much lost as it was displayed and digitized, and for that we may be grateful. If you're a Milton fan, or if you love really great websites about really cool historical exhibitions, check this out:
A damned amazing library
One library in New York is hosting an exhibition of Paradise Lost and even if you cannot attend in person, viewing it online is still a profound experience.
*** Now come the lists. Timesonline is first with their list of the best History books of 2008. I don't know if they are the best or not, I just know that I would love to read all but one of them.
Timesonline's 10 best history books of 2008
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Thursday, November 27, 2008
A $100,000 kind of day
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news.
Thanksgiving morning dawns bright and clear here in West Tennessee and already the cooking is underway. Is this what you prefer? Is cooking the traditional Thanksgiving meal the way you would choose to spend this time? Or would lasagna be just as good? Personally, I would love a homemade pizza, some of my spinach balls, pasta with meat balls...I think I was a Roman at some point, or Renaissance Italian.
*** $100,000 books are not all that rare. In the auction houses and records you find more than a few of them, but I'm not sure there has ever been a book that cost $100,000 when it was brand new. Not exactly the sort of thing you would find a McB&N, jammed in alongside the bags of Starbucks Christmas blend and the scented bookmarks.
Now, I love the works of Michelangelo as much, if not more, than the next guy, but $100k seems just a bit steep. If you pick one up on your way home, however, you might want to read the next story for the perfect accessory for such a book.
I'll take a dozen
*** $100,000 bookmarks are probably even more rare than $100,000 books, but that's the price one man was asking for an 18 gold carat bookmark that once belonged to...you know it, right...who else could it be?...who do these sorts of weird things always seem to belong to?...
...Adolf Hitler.
Of course.
That's right, a Romanian man was arrested for trying to sell a stolen bookmark that purportedly belonged to Hitler, a gift from his mistress/wife Eva Braun to console him on the loss of the Sixth Army at Stalingrad. (Is that how one forgets the loss of 350,000 of your best soldiers, with a gold bookmark?) The no-doubt shady Romanian was asking $150,000 for the artifact but would settle for $100,000. What a deal.
Stupid Eastern European botches sale of illegal Hitler bookmark
*** Can the shame of the French surrender in World War II ever be fully forgotten or erased? Late night talk show hosts certainly hope not. Where they would be without the French to drag out and bash every time some country meekly surrenders to an enemy, or if one needs a really nasty insult for a politician.
Anyway, during the Nazi occupation a number of Frenchmen (like, 95%) did everything they could to get along with the Nazis without fully cooperating. The grayest of areas and after the war the French have spent decades deciding exactly who crossed the line and who didn't, and mostly making excuses for those who did. Thus we have the new book, The Shameful Peace: How French Artists and Intellectuals Survived the Nazi Occupation written by Frederic Spotts and published by Yale University Press.
So very French of them, and no doubt there will be great interest from the general public in such a cathartic work. Your friendly neighborhood bookseller, however, while reading just about everything he can get his hands on concerning that war, will probably never get around to reading this one. It's probably a great book, just not my cuppa.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2008/1127/1227699545201.html
*** Borders has decided to remain an independent, publicly traded company. Now, long-time readers of this blog will note that BBG is not a big fan of chain bookstores such as McB&N, but he does admit to having a soft spot for Borders. Instead of 100 copies of the latest travesty from James Patterson, they will only carry 80 and then pick up 20 interesting titles from smaller publishers with better authors. This is what bookselling on the enormous level should be about and, while local stores do it better, at least they are trying. Now if we could just work $100,000 into the story somehow.
Thanksgiving morning dawns bright and clear here in West Tennessee and already the cooking is underway. Is this what you prefer? Is cooking the traditional Thanksgiving meal the way you would choose to spend this time? Or would lasagna be just as good? Personally, I would love a homemade pizza, some of my spinach balls, pasta with meat balls...I think I was a Roman at some point, or Renaissance Italian.
*** $100,000 books are not all that rare. In the auction houses and records you find more than a few of them, but I'm not sure there has ever been a book that cost $100,000 when it was brand new. Not exactly the sort of thing you would find a McB&N, jammed in alongside the bags of Starbucks Christmas blend and the scented bookmarks.
Now, I love the works of Michelangelo as much, if not more, than the next guy, but $100k seems just a bit steep. If you pick one up on your way home, however, you might want to read the next story for the perfect accessory for such a book.
I'll take a dozen
*** $100,000 bookmarks are probably even more rare than $100,000 books, but that's the price one man was asking for an 18 gold carat bookmark that once belonged to...you know it, right...who else could it be?...who do these sorts of weird things always seem to belong to?...
...Adolf Hitler.
Of course.
That's right, a Romanian man was arrested for trying to sell a stolen bookmark that purportedly belonged to Hitler, a gift from his mistress/wife Eva Braun to console him on the loss of the Sixth Army at Stalingrad. (Is that how one forgets the loss of 350,000 of your best soldiers, with a gold bookmark?) The no-doubt shady Romanian was asking $150,000 for the artifact but would settle for $100,000. What a deal.
Stupid Eastern European botches sale of illegal Hitler bookmark
*** Can the shame of the French surrender in World War II ever be fully forgotten or erased? Late night talk show hosts certainly hope not. Where they would be without the French to drag out and bash every time some country meekly surrenders to an enemy, or if one needs a really nasty insult for a politician.
Anyway, during the Nazi occupation a number of Frenchmen (like, 95%) did everything they could to get along with the Nazis without fully cooperating. The grayest of areas and after the war the French have spent decades deciding exactly who crossed the line and who didn't, and mostly making excuses for those who did. Thus we have the new book, The Shameful Peace: How French Artists and Intellectuals Survived the Nazi Occupation written by Frederic Spotts and published by Yale University Press.
So very French of them, and no doubt there will be great interest from the general public in such a cathartic work. Your friendly neighborhood bookseller, however, while reading just about everything he can get his hands on concerning that war, will probably never get around to reading this one. It's probably a great book, just not my cuppa.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2008/1127/1227699545201.html
*** Borders has decided to remain an independent, publicly traded company. Now, long-time readers of this blog will note that BBG is not a big fan of chain bookstores such as McB&N, but he does admit to having a soft spot for Borders. Instead of 100 copies of the latest travesty from James Patterson, they will only carry 80 and then pick up 20 interesting titles from smaller publishers with better authors. This is what bookselling on the enormous level should be about and, while local stores do it better, at least they are trying. Now if we could just work $100,000 into the story somehow.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Days late and dollars short
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news and comment.
First, my apologies for not having blogged for a few days. These things happen. So please, no more emails threatening to do yourself bodily harm unless I write something, it justs adds to the stress.
*** The unfathomably long series of books chronicling World War II is nowhere near exhausted with new offerings, with today's as a perfect example. Same War, Different Battlefield by Jean Goodwin Messinger tells the story of civilian life during this greatest of conflicts. With war raging around the globe, this generation may have some idea what it was like to have loved ones far from home, not knowing whether or not they are safe or even what is happening to them. Today's world of instant communications is nothing like the world of the 1940's, though, when it was a thrill to receive a letter two months after it was written.
Same War, Different Battlefield
*** Books-A-Million reports sales down 10%, with the only area of strength being their bargain sales. I report this because your friendly neighborhood bookseller finds a certain grim satisfaction in this news. For years BAM had huge stores filled with bargain books, cheap books, the sort of bookstore you could spend hours perusing in hopes of finding a treasure. It was great. I actually planned vacations routes around BAM store locations.
Then they decided to become more of a Barnes & Noble type outfit and cut way back on the bargain stuff. Ho-hum, another retail bookstore crammed with the latest James Patterson or Patricia Cornwell, just on the unlikely chance that you hadn't been able to find one of the 7 million copies of their latest book. Suddenly, there was no reason to seek out a BAM anymore and good ol' BBG here knew this was a huge mistake on their part. And so it was.
Books-A-Million proves BBG was right yet again
*** The US Postal Service is raising rates again in January of '09. Set aside the question of whether or not you're actually getting your money's worth from the post office, one has to wonder just what the hell these people think they are doing. How can they justify? The post office is losing money, but that is largely due to there being fewer people mailing things, mostly merchants. I'm at the post office a lot and there just aren't as many sellers there because the buyers aren't buying right now, except from me, of course, because of my uniquely fabulous books and my low, low prices. It's a pretty simple cause and effect relationship, buyers don't buy, sellers don't ship, post office loses revenue. And when that happens, their answer is to raise rates? Kind of like taxing an economy into prosperity.
But that's your government at work. At least they can't use the excuse that fuel prices are too high right now, not with gas being pumped locally at less than $1.65 per gallon. That won't last forever, true, but if you're going to raise rates when fuel goes up then do you lower them when fuel goes down?
Right. That would mean being responsive to the taxpayer and good luck on that one.
*** Lastly, one of my favorite things, a list. From the Wall Street Journal, one writer's list of their Top Ten Favorite Books on Early America.
Books from a long gone America
First, my apologies for not having blogged for a few days. These things happen. So please, no more emails threatening to do yourself bodily harm unless I write something, it justs adds to the stress.
*** The unfathomably long series of books chronicling World War II is nowhere near exhausted with new offerings, with today's as a perfect example. Same War, Different Battlefield by Jean Goodwin Messinger tells the story of civilian life during this greatest of conflicts. With war raging around the globe, this generation may have some idea what it was like to have loved ones far from home, not knowing whether or not they are safe or even what is happening to them. Today's world of instant communications is nothing like the world of the 1940's, though, when it was a thrill to receive a letter two months after it was written.
Same War, Different Battlefield
*** Books-A-Million reports sales down 10%, with the only area of strength being their bargain sales. I report this because your friendly neighborhood bookseller finds a certain grim satisfaction in this news. For years BAM had huge stores filled with bargain books, cheap books, the sort of bookstore you could spend hours perusing in hopes of finding a treasure. It was great. I actually planned vacations routes around BAM store locations.
Then they decided to become more of a Barnes & Noble type outfit and cut way back on the bargain stuff. Ho-hum, another retail bookstore crammed with the latest James Patterson or Patricia Cornwell, just on the unlikely chance that you hadn't been able to find one of the 7 million copies of their latest book. Suddenly, there was no reason to seek out a BAM anymore and good ol' BBG here knew this was a huge mistake on their part. And so it was.
Books-A-Million proves BBG was right yet again
*** The US Postal Service is raising rates again in January of '09. Set aside the question of whether or not you're actually getting your money's worth from the post office, one has to wonder just what the hell these people think they are doing. How can they justify? The post office is losing money, but that is largely due to there being fewer people mailing things, mostly merchants. I'm at the post office a lot and there just aren't as many sellers there because the buyers aren't buying right now, except from me, of course, because of my uniquely fabulous books and my low, low prices. It's a pretty simple cause and effect relationship, buyers don't buy, sellers don't ship, post office loses revenue. And when that happens, their answer is to raise rates? Kind of like taxing an economy into prosperity.
But that's your government at work. At least they can't use the excuse that fuel prices are too high right now, not with gas being pumped locally at less than $1.65 per gallon. That won't last forever, true, but if you're going to raise rates when fuel goes up then do you lower them when fuel goes down?
Right. That would mean being responsive to the taxpayer and good luck on that one.
*** Lastly, one of my favorite things, a list. From the Wall Street Journal, one writer's list of their Top Ten Favorite Books on Early America.
Books from a long gone America
Friday, November 21, 2008
Ebay dying, Auctions, Grafton, Burke & Burma
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news and comment.
>>> Warning, warning. Rant coming. Turn your head if you don't want to read it.
Ebay is dying. If you have read this blog for any length of time then you know how I feel about this. Watching a once-great company commit suicide is both painful and fascinating. But if you need further evidence, yesterday the stock closed at $11.17. Eleven freakin' dollars!! Last July, in my political blog, I was commenting that the stock had been at $34 when they began to tank. Now, I know the stock market as a whole is down 52% on the year, I get that. But Ebay is down about 70%, at least as of opening of business today. And this at a time when every desperate family out there should be looking to sell anything they can to make ends meet, where the old Ebay was the ideal place for this. It should have been a boom year, instead it's a bust.
Here's one very significant quote from the Yahoo Finance Board: "eBay has seen a steady decline in page views throughout 2008, and in October suffered a precipitous drop of over 30% compared to the same period last year, according to data provided by Nielsen Online. "
Page views are down 30%, or, put another way, nobody is shopping on Ebay anymore. Why? Because when Donahoe and the idiots bobble-heading along with his inane 'disruptive innovation' scheme declared war on their own loyal sellers, they forgot that those sellers were also their most loyal buyers. The fools don't even know their own market well enough to realize how it works. So in the name of cleaning up the marketplace they ran off the people who actually make up the marketplace. Think of a large square in a city, a place where vendors come to buy and sell their goods. It's fun, but there's lots of fakes and rip-offs along with the good stuff. Instead of weeding out the bad sellers, you simply clear the place of everybody. Now, sure that wipes out the fraud, but it also wipes out the legitimate commerce.
Ebay pages views plummet because of their own stupidity
Apparently this is beyond the understanding of the airheads running Ebay.
Rant over.
*** I love auctions. I've never actually been to one but they sure do look like fun. Especially those with books and manuscripts and really rare stuff, historical stuff. Like Jay Snider's collection of early Americana, most of it relating to Philadelphia. It went for less than the estimate, a mere $2.3 million, a real shame it didn't all come to me.
Expensive but amazing stuff
*** In answer to all of those queries I've gotten about whether or not they sell books in Burma, the answer is: yes, they do. (I know they call in Myanmar now, I just like the sound of Burma better) And here's an article to prove it. But don't expect rosy tales of people piling their homes full of books. It seems sales there are a bit lackluster these days. But the truth is that people everywhere seem to appreciate the process of learning, which I find highly encouraging.
Books in Burma? Who knew?
*** "Mystery Writers of America says it plans to name the authors James Lee Burke and Sue Grafton as the recipients of its 2009 Grand Master Award. The scribes will be honored at an event to coincide with the bicentennial of Edgar Allan Poe's birth next year. The organization said this is the first time since 1978 that it has presented dual Grand Masters."
Two deserving award recipients
I've met both of these authors and I am certainly glad to see them gain this recognition. Two fine people. Burke has the distinction of selling the same book over and over again, with a different title each time, while Grafton more or less invented the serial-theme for mysteries with the alphabet books. (Did you know that her father was also a mystery writer? Tis true. Your friendly neighborhood bookseller even has a couple of his books for sale, straight from my private library.) If that comment on Burke sounds a bit snarky, sorry, it's true.
Every Robicheaux book has the same plot, and often the same plot elements, too. Evil white guy got rich oppressing poor down-trodden minorities who were forced into a life of crime. Dave drinks too much, beats people to a pulp and sanctimoniously tells everybody else what's wrong with their life. Stuff gets destroyed, occasionally a wife gets murdered, Clete runs amok. From anybody else this would have spelled end-of-career long ago. Burke gets away with it, however, because he really is a supremely talented writer and is one of the nicer guys you're ever going to meet. So, unlike some writers out there who value themselves way too highly, JLB is one of those guys you genuinely want to make good.
As for Grafton, the first time I met her she was due to show up at a signing at 5 pm. By 4 the line was out the door and around the building. But, lo and behold, Ms. Grafton arrived about 4:20 and immediately got to work. Friendly and fast, by 5 pm the line was taken care of, she signed anything and everything. What a great lady.
>>> Warning, warning. Rant coming. Turn your head if you don't want to read it.
Ebay is dying. If you have read this blog for any length of time then you know how I feel about this. Watching a once-great company commit suicide is both painful and fascinating. But if you need further evidence, yesterday the stock closed at $11.17. Eleven freakin' dollars!! Last July, in my political blog, I was commenting that the stock had been at $34 when they began to tank. Now, I know the stock market as a whole is down 52% on the year, I get that. But Ebay is down about 70%, at least as of opening of business today. And this at a time when every desperate family out there should be looking to sell anything they can to make ends meet, where the old Ebay was the ideal place for this. It should have been a boom year, instead it's a bust.
Here's one very significant quote from the Yahoo Finance Board: "eBay has seen a steady decline in page views throughout 2008, and in October suffered a precipitous drop of over 30% compared to the same period last year, according to data provided by Nielsen Online. "
Page views are down 30%, or, put another way, nobody is shopping on Ebay anymore. Why? Because when Donahoe and the idiots bobble-heading along with his inane 'disruptive innovation' scheme declared war on their own loyal sellers, they forgot that those sellers were also their most loyal buyers. The fools don't even know their own market well enough to realize how it works. So in the name of cleaning up the marketplace they ran off the people who actually make up the marketplace. Think of a large square in a city, a place where vendors come to buy and sell their goods. It's fun, but there's lots of fakes and rip-offs along with the good stuff. Instead of weeding out the bad sellers, you simply clear the place of everybody. Now, sure that wipes out the fraud, but it also wipes out the legitimate commerce.
Ebay pages views plummet because of their own stupidity
Apparently this is beyond the understanding of the airheads running Ebay.
Rant over.
*** I love auctions. I've never actually been to one but they sure do look like fun. Especially those with books and manuscripts and really rare stuff, historical stuff. Like Jay Snider's collection of early Americana, most of it relating to Philadelphia. It went for less than the estimate, a mere $2.3 million, a real shame it didn't all come to me.
Expensive but amazing stuff
*** In answer to all of those queries I've gotten about whether or not they sell books in Burma, the answer is: yes, they do. (I know they call in Myanmar now, I just like the sound of Burma better) And here's an article to prove it. But don't expect rosy tales of people piling their homes full of books. It seems sales there are a bit lackluster these days. But the truth is that people everywhere seem to appreciate the process of learning, which I find highly encouraging.
Books in Burma? Who knew?
*** "Mystery Writers of America says it plans to name the authors James Lee Burke and Sue Grafton as the recipients of its 2009 Grand Master Award. The scribes will be honored at an event to coincide with the bicentennial of Edgar Allan Poe's birth next year. The organization said this is the first time since 1978 that it has presented dual Grand Masters."
Two deserving award recipients
I've met both of these authors and I am certainly glad to see them gain this recognition. Two fine people. Burke has the distinction of selling the same book over and over again, with a different title each time, while Grafton more or less invented the serial-theme for mysteries with the alphabet books. (Did you know that her father was also a mystery writer? Tis true. Your friendly neighborhood bookseller even has a couple of his books for sale, straight from my private library.) If that comment on Burke sounds a bit snarky, sorry, it's true.
Every Robicheaux book has the same plot, and often the same plot elements, too. Evil white guy got rich oppressing poor down-trodden minorities who were forced into a life of crime. Dave drinks too much, beats people to a pulp and sanctimoniously tells everybody else what's wrong with their life. Stuff gets destroyed, occasionally a wife gets murdered, Clete runs amok. From anybody else this would have spelled end-of-career long ago. Burke gets away with it, however, because he really is a supremely talented writer and is one of the nicer guys you're ever going to meet. So, unlike some writers out there who value themselves way too highly, JLB is one of those guys you genuinely want to make good.
As for Grafton, the first time I met her she was due to show up at a signing at 5 pm. By 4 the line was out the door and around the building. But, lo and behold, Ms. Grafton arrived about 4:20 and immediately got to work. Friendly and fast, by 5 pm the line was taken care of, she signed anything and everything. What a great lady.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Heroes, a great thinker and a whiner
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news and comment.
*** The idea that the Sun, not the Earth, was the center of the Solar System, was not just new in the 16th century, it was radical, perhaps even heretical. What was next? The Earth isn't flat? But Copernicus developed a theory that proved the Earth circled the Sun and not vice versa, and so thus did he become a Rock Star of Astronomy. Now it is believed that his remains have been identified through matching DNA found in a a strand of hair lifted from one of his books to that of an unidentified skeleton. Let's hope the guy gets a decent burial out of all this. (okay, so how is this even remotely book related? Well, there's the not-so tenuous fact that Copernicus wrote books, and also the hair was found in one of his books, apparently one that he actually handled.)
Copernicus found
*** The Vatican has opened a new bookstore. Having been there I must believe that it will be very clean, very well run and a welcome oasis from the Chaos of Rome. In all of Italy the largest, cleanest rest rooms are in Vatican City, so if they can get this difficult assignment right then a bookstore is a piece of cake.
New Vatican Bookstore
*** Being a soldier would be tough enough, but being a medic? You must be kidding me. People are shooting at you and all you've got is a medical bag? These guys are the toughest of the tough and all too few have written memoirs. Here's a review from one such WWII vet, a welcome addition to the canon of that war. If you've seen 'Band of Brothers' then you know the medic was one of the most respected guys in the unit.
World War Two Medic tells his story
*** London fog? More like London smog, at least for the last 20 centuries or so. After reading this book on the medical history of London, what it has actually been like to live in a city known for its plagues and illnesses, you begin to wonder who anyone survived.
Darwin at work
*** Erica Heller, daughter of Joseph Heller (Catch-22) has appointed herself the ultimate censor of what should and should not be printed. In a screed that is notable more for its egotism than its merit, she lambasts Joe the Plumber and Sarah Palin for signing book deals. Frankly, she comes off as a moderately talented nobody who is angry that she can't land a similar book deal. Poor baby! She should look at the bright side: before she blasted these two people, I (and assuredly most of America) had never heard of her.
Erica Heller whines in public
*** The idea that the Sun, not the Earth, was the center of the Solar System, was not just new in the 16th century, it was radical, perhaps even heretical. What was next? The Earth isn't flat? But Copernicus developed a theory that proved the Earth circled the Sun and not vice versa, and so thus did he become a Rock Star of Astronomy. Now it is believed that his remains have been identified through matching DNA found in a a strand of hair lifted from one of his books to that of an unidentified skeleton. Let's hope the guy gets a decent burial out of all this. (okay, so how is this even remotely book related? Well, there's the not-so tenuous fact that Copernicus wrote books, and also the hair was found in one of his books, apparently one that he actually handled.)
Copernicus found
*** The Vatican has opened a new bookstore. Having been there I must believe that it will be very clean, very well run and a welcome oasis from the Chaos of Rome. In all of Italy the largest, cleanest rest rooms are in Vatican City, so if they can get this difficult assignment right then a bookstore is a piece of cake.
New Vatican Bookstore
*** Being a soldier would be tough enough, but being a medic? You must be kidding me. People are shooting at you and all you've got is a medical bag? These guys are the toughest of the tough and all too few have written memoirs. Here's a review from one such WWII vet, a welcome addition to the canon of that war. If you've seen 'Band of Brothers' then you know the medic was one of the most respected guys in the unit.
World War Two Medic tells his story
*** London fog? More like London smog, at least for the last 20 centuries or so. After reading this book on the medical history of London, what it has actually been like to live in a city known for its plagues and illnesses, you begin to wonder who anyone survived.
Darwin at work
*** Erica Heller, daughter of Joseph Heller (Catch-22) has appointed herself the ultimate censor of what should and should not be printed. In a screed that is notable more for its egotism than its merit, she lambasts Joe the Plumber and Sarah Palin for signing book deals. Frankly, she comes off as a moderately talented nobody who is angry that she can't land a similar book deal. Poor baby! She should look at the bright side: before she blasted these two people, I (and assuredly most of America) had never heard of her.
Erica Heller whines in public
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Dirt, sugar and Commies
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news and comment.
*** Selling books in the USSR must have been a surreal experience, but to actually survive a period when anything, absolutely anything, could get you hauled off to Lubyanka for torture and death, that is a remarkable achievement. And to do this while selling the most dangerous thing on Earth, ideas, well, let's just say that the linked article is the story of a bookies' bookie. It's the tale of a Moscow bookstore that is celebrating its 50th anniversary. That's right, 50 years. It began operations a mere 5 years after Stalin died and when the Cold War was really beginning to heat up. I can only imagine the restrictions and surveillance that must have been in place...wow. Plus, it gets really cold in Moscow.
Surviving 50 years of Russian History while selling books
*** The printed word comes in many forms, of course, with religious texts being the oldest known subjects. In southeastern Turkey, archaeologists have discovered an intact 8th Century BC steele that states the earliest known belief that the human soul exists separately from the body. A steele, of course, is more or less a book in another form. The engraving associated with this steele is extraordinarily beautiful.
An amazing discovery in the Turkish dirt
*** I need to write mopey romances. I really do. This blog is fun and all, but the real money is in chick-lit that people buy to make into movies. Thus, Nicholas Sparks is my hero. His newest book, The Lucky One, just sold for the movies. Sigh...be still my heart. And before any of you bookies write me nasty emails claiming that I'm jealous, well, of course I'm jealous! Jeez.
Sparks sells sugary novel and gets richer
*** Selling books in the USSR must have been a surreal experience, but to actually survive a period when anything, absolutely anything, could get you hauled off to Lubyanka for torture and death, that is a remarkable achievement. And to do this while selling the most dangerous thing on Earth, ideas, well, let's just say that the linked article is the story of a bookies' bookie. It's the tale of a Moscow bookstore that is celebrating its 50th anniversary. That's right, 50 years. It began operations a mere 5 years after Stalin died and when the Cold War was really beginning to heat up. I can only imagine the restrictions and surveillance that must have been in place...wow. Plus, it gets really cold in Moscow.
Surviving 50 years of Russian History while selling books
*** The printed word comes in many forms, of course, with religious texts being the oldest known subjects. In southeastern Turkey, archaeologists have discovered an intact 8th Century BC steele that states the earliest known belief that the human soul exists separately from the body. A steele, of course, is more or less a book in another form. The engraving associated with this steele is extraordinarily beautiful.
An amazing discovery in the Turkish dirt
*** I need to write mopey romances. I really do. This blog is fun and all, but the real money is in chick-lit that people buy to make into movies. Thus, Nicholas Sparks is my hero. His newest book, The Lucky One, just sold for the movies. Sigh...be still my heart. And before any of you bookies write me nasty emails claiming that I'm jealous, well, of course I'm jealous! Jeez.
Sparks sells sugary novel and gets richer
Monday, November 17, 2008
Transfer of Power by Vince Flynn
Flynn's first novel is likely to escalate in value after the new administration has been in power for a while and those who disagree with leftism look for escapist fare. Already a fairly pricey book, it should appreciate in the next ten years.
Construction is pretty straightforward and care must be taken that the book ages well. The paper isn't of the highest grade, the covers are average paper, there's nothing particularly well made about the book, ex
cept perhaps the jacket, which has good stock. Flynn's early signature also seems a bit more elaborate than later ones.
A Monday in November
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news and comment.
*** AOL has, presumptuously, posted a list of 10 books you should read before you die. They don't bother to give criteria for having arrived at such a momentous list, they just post it.
1. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. If #1 is more than merely which one they listed first, this is nonsense. Otherwise I've got no problems with it.
2. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Assuming they also want you to read The Hobbit I have no qualms with putting the finest novel written in English in the 20th century on this list, since I've read it 27 times.
3. Harry Potter, all 7 books. Fine, whatever. Not my thing but I like the movies.
4. The Stand by Stephen King. You're kidding, right? I've never gotten the whole S. King thing, the two or three I've tried to read I didn't like, but maybe that's just me.
5. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. This is proof that lemmings can use keyboards. I don't hate this book because it is relentlessly anti-Catholic (to the point of being defamatory), I don't hate it because the research is laughably poor and the conclusions absurd, no, I hate it because it is the 2nd worst written book I have read. Absolutely dreadful work here. It's almost as if the author wanted to use every known cliche in one book.
6. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. No arguments here.
7. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. So, not content with showing how incredibly inept their critical sense is, whoever compiled this list for AOL had to reinforce the point by putting the prequel to the second worst novel ever written on this list too? Good grief, what a chump.
8. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Again, how can you miss the mark so completely with the Dan Brown nonsense and then nail it with this one? Should be required reading in all government schools.
9. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. Obligatory.
10. The Holy Bible. Christian or not, the Bible has had more influence on Western Culture than any other book and should be read to understand our civilization.
*** Joe the plumber has signed a book deal. In the blurb leading to this story, one writer wrote this about the upcoming book: "I know America is breathless for this information about an unemployed Ohio plumber who doesn’t pay his taxes. But, hey, this is America and here’s the big news—the book will be called Joe the Plumber—Fighting for the American Dream, and it will be released by a group called PearlGate Publishing. By the way, Joe, you’re way over on your 15 minutes of fame. And here’s a way to jumpstart your American dream—get a job!"
Oooohhh, not a little jealous, are we? Think this writer has papered his/her walls with rejection slips for the great American novel? Then someone comes along and gets a book deal just for asking a question and our rejected would-be Salinger gets all huffy. I have no desire to read whatever JOe has to say, but as an oft-rejected novelist I'm thrilled for the guy.
*** Journalist, adventurer and novelist Edward Sheehan has died, aged 78. I have never read any of his work, but as an expert on Third World conditions and politics, Sheehan appears to have been of that breed who fearlessly tread the world looking for truth. I think I will miss him.
*** Peter J. Levinson has also died at age 74. Biographer of Harry James, Nelson Riddle and others, Levinson knew and wrote about American jazz with a familiarity and insight rarely seen. Diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease two years ago, he continued working right until the end using a talking computer. A real trooper.
*** Being a Fascist in the 1940's wasn't the greatest career choice, as Ezra Pound discovered when the Allies won World War II. But he knew people who knew people and more or less escaped punishment for supporting Il Duce. If someone wanted to punish him, I would think just having faith in a stooge like Mussolini should have been evidence enough that he was a bit deluded. I mean, who thought that tearing down whole sections of historic Rome was a good idea?
A huge collection of his papers has been donated to the Ransom Center in Los Angeles. Let's hope it doesn't burn up in the wildfires.
Papers, photos and chess sets
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2008/11/ezra-pound-pape.html
*** I find this next story quite interesting on a personal level. As most bookies know, a year ago I had one of the largest, if not THE largest, collection of autographed mystery/thriller material in this area. It was so large, in fact, that it was too much. So I have begun selling off these rarities, being quite ruthless about what I keep (probably no more than 15%) and what I sell. Indeed, for just a brief glimpse into what the office of someone who is doing this looks like...
So the chaos and angst that goes along with selling off what can only be described as old friends is well known to your friendly neighborhood bookseller.
Parting with old friends
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08321/927711-58.stm
*** AOL has, presumptuously, posted a list of 10 books you should read before you die. They don't bother to give criteria for having arrived at such a momentous list, they just post it.
1. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. If #1 is more than merely which one they listed first, this is nonsense. Otherwise I've got no problems with it.
2. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Assuming they also want you to read The Hobbit I have no qualms with putting the finest novel written in English in the 20th century on this list, since I've read it 27 times.
3. Harry Potter, all 7 books. Fine, whatever. Not my thing but I like the movies.
4. The Stand by Stephen King. You're kidding, right? I've never gotten the whole S. King thing, the two or three I've tried to read I didn't like, but maybe that's just me.
5. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. This is proof that lemmings can use keyboards. I don't hate this book because it is relentlessly anti-Catholic (to the point of being defamatory), I don't hate it because the research is laughably poor and the conclusions absurd, no, I hate it because it is the 2nd worst written book I have read. Absolutely dreadful work here. It's almost as if the author wanted to use every known cliche in one book.
6. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. No arguments here.
7. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. So, not content with showing how incredibly inept their critical sense is, whoever compiled this list for AOL had to reinforce the point by putting the prequel to the second worst novel ever written on this list too? Good grief, what a chump.
8. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Again, how can you miss the mark so completely with the Dan Brown nonsense and then nail it with this one? Should be required reading in all government schools.
9. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. Obligatory.
10. The Holy Bible. Christian or not, the Bible has had more influence on Western Culture than any other book and should be read to understand our civilization.
*** Joe the plumber has signed a book deal. In the blurb leading to this story, one writer wrote this about the upcoming book: "I know America is breathless for this information about an unemployed Ohio plumber who doesn’t pay his taxes. But, hey, this is America and here’s the big news—the book will be called Joe the Plumber—Fighting for the American Dream, and it will be released by a group called PearlGate Publishing. By the way, Joe, you’re way over on your 15 minutes of fame. And here’s a way to jumpstart your American dream—get a job!"
Oooohhh, not a little jealous, are we? Think this writer has papered his/her walls with rejection slips for the great American novel? Then someone comes along and gets a book deal just for asking a question and our rejected would-be Salinger gets all huffy. I have no desire to read whatever JOe has to say, but as an oft-rejected novelist I'm thrilled for the guy.
*** Journalist, adventurer and novelist Edward Sheehan has died, aged 78. I have never read any of his work, but as an expert on Third World conditions and politics, Sheehan appears to have been of that breed who fearlessly tread the world looking for truth. I think I will miss him.
*** Peter J. Levinson has also died at age 74. Biographer of Harry James, Nelson Riddle and others, Levinson knew and wrote about American jazz with a familiarity and insight rarely seen. Diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease two years ago, he continued working right until the end using a talking computer. A real trooper.
*** Being a Fascist in the 1940's wasn't the greatest career choice, as Ezra Pound discovered when the Allies won World War II. But he knew people who knew people and more or less escaped punishment for supporting Il Duce. If someone wanted to punish him, I would think just having faith in a stooge like Mussolini should have been evidence enough that he was a bit deluded. I mean, who thought that tearing down whole sections of historic Rome was a good idea?
A huge collection of his papers has been donated to the Ransom Center in Los Angeles. Let's hope it doesn't burn up in the wildfires.
Papers, photos and chess sets
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2008/11/ezra-pound-pape.html
*** I find this next story quite interesting on a personal level. As most bookies know, a year ago I had one of the largest, if not THE largest, collection of autographed mystery/thriller material in this area. It was so large, in fact, that it was too much. So I have begun selling off these rarities, being quite ruthless about what I keep (probably no more than 15%) and what I sell. Indeed, for just a brief glimpse into what the office of someone who is doing this looks like...
So the chaos and angst that goes along with selling off what can only be described as old friends is well known to your friendly neighborhood bookseller.
Parting with old friends
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08321/927711-58.stm
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Saturday
Good day bookies! Stand by for news.
*** Australian children's writer Ivan Southall has died at age 87, from cancer. Southall won a number of book awards and was best known for his novels Hills End, Ash Road and To The Wild Sky.
*** With the election of a new president there are sure to be a flood of new books both for and against the incoming regime. Here's one that warns against the dangers posed by the left, not so much specifically the new administration, just the left in general. The author was a former Hitler Youth who saw Germany sucked into totalitarianism before they knew what was happening and believes the same thing could happen here.
Could it happen here?
*** Tomorrow wraps up another Miami Book Fair that I did not attend. Some day, maybe, but in the meantime at least I can read about other people having fun and meeting authors. Sigh...
Where I wasn't
*** Australian children's writer Ivan Southall has died at age 87, from cancer. Southall won a number of book awards and was best known for his novels Hills End, Ash Road and To The Wild Sky.
*** With the election of a new president there are sure to be a flood of new books both for and against the incoming regime. Here's one that warns against the dangers posed by the left, not so much specifically the new administration, just the left in general. The author was a former Hitler Youth who saw Germany sucked into totalitarianism before they knew what was happening and believes the same thing could happen here.
Could it happen here?
*** Tomorrow wraps up another Miami Book Fair that I did not attend. Some day, maybe, but in the meantime at least I can read about other people having fun and meeting authors. Sigh...
Where I wasn't
Friday, November 14, 2008
An SFF kind of day
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news.
*** For as long as I can remember now, Tor Books has been churning out great SFF, unmatched in the minds of most who are paid to consider such things. To me, only Baen has put out a product that matches Tor in consistent quality. Certainly Locus magazine agrees with me, since they have voted Tor as best publisher for the last century or so.
With the triumph of the lefter (is that a word?) side in the recent US elections, it would seem that readers loyal to a publishing house that has traditionally maintained a Libertarian bent would become even more loyal, while those who like the new government would look elsewhere. The long-term effects on the genre will be interesting.
Tor Books- SFF with a Libertarian streak
*** Continuing with the days SFF theme, the question is being raised whether SFF is dying. Okay, to be technical, my particular acronym of SFF doesn't apply, since the second 'F' stands for Fantasy and that seems to be flourishing. So, then, let's re-state our question to ask is SF dying? Could be. But I doubt it. The idea that using future fiction and science to tell a story could end, after it's been a literary device for centuries, seems unlikely at best. It may change radically, perhaps into something that we barely recognize, but end? I don't think so. But here's the article that inspired the question. I've left the original link up because linking to the article doesn't seem to work. You can dig it up this way, though.
Is Science Fiction dying?
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026821.500-scifi-special-is-science-fiction-dying.html
*** 88 years old, hobbled, but still getting into all sorts of new things, that's Ray Bradbury for you. I've had the pleasure of meeting him twice and corresponding with him, a gentleman's gentlemen, and not in a Jeeves sort of way. Quite an extraordinary human being. He's this month's Turner Classic Movies guest host. So what did he pick? Something he worked on? Nah.
"The Phantom of the Opera", the silent 1925 version
"The Hunchback of Notre Dame"
"Rebecca"
"Citizen Kane"
*** Mario Puzo has been dead for some while now, but that doesn't stop him from publishing new books. Six Graves to Munich will be published next year. Written a year before The Godfather, it features Nazis torturing people, always a good sell.
*** George R.R. Martin's seminal fantasy novel A Game of Thrones will be coming soon to HBO. Such a sprawling book seems like a hard task for a network to produce, but if they do it right it could be quite spectacular. Your friendly neighborhood bookseller just sold a copy of this and the price is still quite affordable on nice copies. If you're a collector, however, you might want to think about moving on a copy before prices go too high. Keep watching this blog to see if I let go of my personal copy.
A Game of Thrones to HBO
And, lastly, a bookselling note: Last month I finally outgrew my current digs and made the very hard decision to start selling off my personal collection of rare and autographed mysteries. I'm being pretty ruthless about it and the prices are below market, because once I make a decision that's it, I've decided. I'm keeping a few favorite series but am selling some stuff you might not think that I would. Since billthebookguy.com is not yet operational, check out my stuff (and get a discount not available elsewhere) at:
Billthebookguy at Biblio.com
*** For as long as I can remember now, Tor Books has been churning out great SFF, unmatched in the minds of most who are paid to consider such things. To me, only Baen has put out a product that matches Tor in consistent quality. Certainly Locus magazine agrees with me, since they have voted Tor as best publisher for the last century or so.
With the triumph of the lefter (is that a word?) side in the recent US elections, it would seem that readers loyal to a publishing house that has traditionally maintained a Libertarian bent would become even more loyal, while those who like the new government would look elsewhere. The long-term effects on the genre will be interesting.
Tor Books- SFF with a Libertarian streak
*** Continuing with the days SFF theme, the question is being raised whether SFF is dying. Okay, to be technical, my particular acronym of SFF doesn't apply, since the second 'F' stands for Fantasy and that seems to be flourishing. So, then, let's re-state our question to ask is SF dying? Could be. But I doubt it. The idea that using future fiction and science to tell a story could end, after it's been a literary device for centuries, seems unlikely at best. It may change radically, perhaps into something that we barely recognize, but end? I don't think so. But here's the article that inspired the question. I've left the original link up because linking to the article doesn't seem to work. You can dig it up this way, though.
Is Science Fiction dying?
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026821.500-scifi-special-is-science-fiction-dying.html
*** 88 years old, hobbled, but still getting into all sorts of new things, that's Ray Bradbury for you. I've had the pleasure of meeting him twice and corresponding with him, a gentleman's gentlemen, and not in a Jeeves sort of way. Quite an extraordinary human being. He's this month's Turner Classic Movies guest host. So what did he pick? Something he worked on? Nah.
"The Phantom of the Opera", the silent 1925 version
"The Hunchback of Notre Dame"
"Rebecca"
"Citizen Kane"
*** Mario Puzo has been dead for some while now, but that doesn't stop him from publishing new books. Six Graves to Munich will be published next year. Written a year before The Godfather, it features Nazis torturing people, always a good sell.
*** George R.R. Martin's seminal fantasy novel A Game of Thrones will be coming soon to HBO. Such a sprawling book seems like a hard task for a network to produce, but if they do it right it could be quite spectacular. Your friendly neighborhood bookseller just sold a copy of this and the price is still quite affordable on nice copies. If you're a collector, however, you might want to think about moving on a copy before prices go too high. Keep watching this blog to see if I let go of my personal copy.
A Game of Thrones to HBO
And, lastly, a bookselling note: Last month I finally outgrew my current digs and made the very hard decision to start selling off my personal collection of rare and autographed mysteries. I'm being pretty ruthless about it and the prices are below market, because once I make a decision that's it, I've decided. I'm keeping a few favorite series but am selling some stuff you might not think that I would. Since billthebookguy.com is not yet operational, check out my stuff (and get a discount not available elsewhere) at:
Billthebookguy at Biblio.com
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news.
*** The Spanish Civil War has often been called the preliminary for World War II. Fascists on one side, Socialist/Communists on the other. What would become the Axis backing one side, what would become the Allies backing the other. It was bloody as only a civil war can be and there have been countless books written about it. That doesn't mean another one isn't welcome, although the latest isn't so much about the war itself, it's about the journalists who wrote about the war. A writer writing about those who wrote. Verisimilitude, anyone? Franco meets the Matrix?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/11/12/bopres112.xml
*** Recently, the Washington Post has revealed details of what information the FBI had gathered on Norman Mailer. There seems to be genuine surprise that the FBI kept a file on Mailer, and that surprises me. Seriously. Name something Mailer was not against at one time or another. That's sure to draw interest, especially for an agency run by J. Edgar Hoover. It's interesting in retrospect, history, but not at all surprising.
*** The L.A. Times reports that Joe Byams has died. Byams, who wrote on a number of different topics, was probably known best for his biographies of Humphrey Bogart and James Dean. He was 85.
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-hyams12-2008nov12,0,6624967.story
*** The Spanish Civil War has often been called the preliminary for World War II. Fascists on one side, Socialist/Communists on the other. What would become the Axis backing one side, what would become the Allies backing the other. It was bloody as only a civil war can be and there have been countless books written about it. That doesn't mean another one isn't welcome, although the latest isn't so much about the war itself, it's about the journalists who wrote about the war. A writer writing about those who wrote. Verisimilitude, anyone? Franco meets the Matrix?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/11/12/bopres112.xml
*** Recently, the Washington Post has revealed details of what information the FBI had gathered on Norman Mailer. There seems to be genuine surprise that the FBI kept a file on Mailer, and that surprises me. Seriously. Name something Mailer was not against at one time or another. That's sure to draw interest, especially for an agency run by J. Edgar Hoover. It's interesting in retrospect, history, but not at all surprising.
*** The L.A. Times reports that Joe Byams has died. Byams, who wrote on a number of different topics, was probably known best for his biographies of Humphrey Bogart and James Dean. He was 85.
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-hyams12-2008nov12,0,6624967.story
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Two World Wars on Veteran's Day
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news.
By all accounts Harold Brown was just an average guy fighting for his country during World War II. As a member of the 202nd Field Artillery Battalion he saw more than 300 days of combat. His story seems quite extraordinary, and it was, but it also wasn't. There were a lot of Harold Brown's and I doubt we ever heard their stories, that generation just didn't like to talk much about the war.
A new book, Howitzers, Grasshoppers and the Holy Right Hand by John Niesel recount Brown's wartime exploits. The Right Hand referred to is the right hand of St. Stephen, one of the holy relics of Hungary, saved from the communists and returned to its rightful place in Budapest after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Fascinating stuff, although if you read it in a novel you might be tempted to shrug it off as too fantastic.
http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20081109/NEWS01/811090341/1002/CUSTOMERSERVICE02
*** And since today is Veteran's Day, but was originally Armistice Day created to celebrate the end of World War I, it seems only fitting to link to a Times Online review of the multitude of new books coming out from that War to End All Wars. Most are from the British point of view, but that seems fair since it's a British website.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article5106365.ece
*** Reports from Washington say that Laura Bush is a hot commodity on the book market right now, with publishers lining up to pay her big bucks. Whatever she does and whatever she writes, we will always have Laura Bush to thank for starting the National Book Fair in Washington.
*** Everybody knows a veteran. On this Veteran's Day, find one and shake their hand or give them a hug, let them know how much you appreciate their service to our country.
By all accounts Harold Brown was just an average guy fighting for his country during World War II. As a member of the 202nd Field Artillery Battalion he saw more than 300 days of combat. His story seems quite extraordinary, and it was, but it also wasn't. There were a lot of Harold Brown's and I doubt we ever heard their stories, that generation just didn't like to talk much about the war.
A new book, Howitzers, Grasshoppers and the Holy Right Hand by John Niesel recount Brown's wartime exploits. The Right Hand referred to is the right hand of St. Stephen, one of the holy relics of Hungary, saved from the communists and returned to its rightful place in Budapest after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Fascinating stuff, although if you read it in a novel you might be tempted to shrug it off as too fantastic.
http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20081109/NEWS01/811090341/1002/CUSTOMERSERVICE02
*** And since today is Veteran's Day, but was originally Armistice Day created to celebrate the end of World War I, it seems only fitting to link to a Times Online review of the multitude of new books coming out from that War to End All Wars. Most are from the British point of view, but that seems fair since it's a British website.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article5106365.ece
*** Reports from Washington say that Laura Bush is a hot commodity on the book market right now, with publishers lining up to pay her big bucks. Whatever she does and whatever she writes, we will always have Laura Bush to thank for starting the National Book Fair in Washington.
*** Everybody knows a veteran. On this Veteran's Day, find one and shake their hand or give them a hug, let them know how much you appreciate their service to our country.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Happy Birthday to the Marine Corps!
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news.
*** Today is the 233rd birthday of the United States Marine Corps. As they say, Semper Fi, Mac.
*** Generosity, ignorance or something more sinister? It seems that UK charity Oxfam found something quite unusual in its deposit bin, a set of 18th century books on the English Civil War, bound in leather and tooled in gold. Who put them there and why? You would think a charity would not look a gift horse in the mouth. But Oxfam, it would seem, has some cheek about them. It seems there are only 4 books and the set should have six. They want the rest.
That's right, they are looking for the original owner so they can possibly get the missing volumes and get more money for the set. This seems a bit risky, if you ask me. What if the owner has giver's remorse, claims they were stolen and wants them back? Or perhaps someone who was angry with them donated them without permission. Maybe the owner died and his heirs donated them not knowing they had value. We here a Billthebookguy.com will follow this story closely and report any updates.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/tayside_and_central/7689339.stm
*** Some people would be sad to see a school sell of its treasures to fund repairs to its infrastructure. It seems that New Zealand's Nelson College is selling off part of a massive collection of rare works on New Zealand and the area to fund upkeep. That's too bad, of course, it really is. At the same time, it does seem sort of Circle-of-Life, doesn't it?
*** Quite by accident I popped onto Ebay yesterday, having clicked the wrong bookmark. What a surprise! The site looks awful, junked up with harsh colors hurting my eyes. I left quickly, so glad I no longer do business there. What a mess.
*** The purpose of this blog is not to promote movies or TV shows. However, since I'm the blogger, I can if I want to. And this promo for an upcoming BBC documentary even has a book to follow, so I can justify it even on those grounds.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/11/10/nosplit/bvtvlaurence-rees-1011.xml
Adolf Hitler, the Nazis and the Holocaust have long been considered the most evil regime of the 20th Century. One reason, frankly, is because they are such an easy target. Not only were they truly evil, but they were also quite memorable. The uniforms, the pageantry, the figures themselves. Who doesn't know the names of Himmler or Goebbels? And the numbers of deaths they are responsible for are staggering.
But by any measure you can think of, either numbers or just sheer wasteful brutality, Stalin and the Soviets are equally as bad and quite possibly even worse. Which is why the above linked article is so welcome to this friendly neighborhood bookseller. Despite the postwar hype about Hitler's plans for the West, the fact is that he never really had any concrete concepts about destroying the USA; his understanding of America was really quite poor. Stalin, on the other hand, knew America much better and was a far greater threat. And during the war FDR knew it, as did Churchill. But while Churchill viewed Stalin as an evil necessity, FDR cozied up to him and gave away half of Europe at Yalta, based strictly on the idea that he alone could control Stalin.
History, it seems, is finally beginning to deal with the truth.
How many people did Stalin murder before the war even began? http://www.projo.com/news/content/ukraine_award_11-09-08_3QC75DP_v14.2c2579c.html
*** It should come as no surprise that, despite the countless books already written on Churchill, major historians such as Carlo D'Este are still writing new biographies on the English Lion. Focusing on Churchill the soldier, the book looks fascinating, and I can think of at least one person for whom it would make an ideal Christmas gift.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/books/review/Kagan-t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
*** Father Andrew Greeley is in critical condition at a Chicago hospital after falling and fracturing his skull. Author of more than fifty books, I'm betting a lot of people weren't even aware that he was a Catholic priest.
*** Today is the 233rd birthday of the United States Marine Corps. As they say, Semper Fi, Mac.
*** Generosity, ignorance or something more sinister? It seems that UK charity Oxfam found something quite unusual in its deposit bin, a set of 18th century books on the English Civil War, bound in leather and tooled in gold. Who put them there and why? You would think a charity would not look a gift horse in the mouth. But Oxfam, it would seem, has some cheek about them. It seems there are only 4 books and the set should have six. They want the rest.
That's right, they are looking for the original owner so they can possibly get the missing volumes and get more money for the set. This seems a bit risky, if you ask me. What if the owner has giver's remorse, claims they were stolen and wants them back? Or perhaps someone who was angry with them donated them without permission. Maybe the owner died and his heirs donated them not knowing they had value. We here a Billthebookguy.com will follow this story closely and report any updates.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/tayside_and_central/7689339.stm
*** Some people would be sad to see a school sell of its treasures to fund repairs to its infrastructure. It seems that New Zealand's Nelson College is selling off part of a massive collection of rare works on New Zealand and the area to fund upkeep. That's too bad, of course, it really is. At the same time, it does seem sort of Circle-of-Life, doesn't it?
*** Quite by accident I popped onto Ebay yesterday, having clicked the wrong bookmark. What a surprise! The site looks awful, junked up with harsh colors hurting my eyes. I left quickly, so glad I no longer do business there. What a mess.
*** The purpose of this blog is not to promote movies or TV shows. However, since I'm the blogger, I can if I want to. And this promo for an upcoming BBC documentary even has a book to follow, so I can justify it even on those grounds.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/11/10/nosplit/bvtvlaurence-rees-1011.xml
Adolf Hitler, the Nazis and the Holocaust have long been considered the most evil regime of the 20th Century. One reason, frankly, is because they are such an easy target. Not only were they truly evil, but they were also quite memorable. The uniforms, the pageantry, the figures themselves. Who doesn't know the names of Himmler or Goebbels? And the numbers of deaths they are responsible for are staggering.
But by any measure you can think of, either numbers or just sheer wasteful brutality, Stalin and the Soviets are equally as bad and quite possibly even worse. Which is why the above linked article is so welcome to this friendly neighborhood bookseller. Despite the postwar hype about Hitler's plans for the West, the fact is that he never really had any concrete concepts about destroying the USA; his understanding of America was really quite poor. Stalin, on the other hand, knew America much better and was a far greater threat. And during the war FDR knew it, as did Churchill. But while Churchill viewed Stalin as an evil necessity, FDR cozied up to him and gave away half of Europe at Yalta, based strictly on the idea that he alone could control Stalin.
History, it seems, is finally beginning to deal with the truth.
How many people did Stalin murder before the war even began? http://www.projo.com/news/content/ukraine_award_11-09-08_3QC75DP_v14.2c2579c.html
*** It should come as no surprise that, despite the countless books already written on Churchill, major historians such as Carlo D'Este are still writing new biographies on the English Lion. Focusing on Churchill the soldier, the book looks fascinating, and I can think of at least one person for whom it would make an ideal Christmas gift.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/books/review/Kagan-t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
*** Father Andrew Greeley is in critical condition at a Chicago hospital after falling and fracturing his skull. Author of more than fifty books, I'm betting a lot of people weren't even aware that he was a Catholic priest.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Give-away plays and he's not dead
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news.
*** I'm a lucky guy. Never denied it. So lucky, in fact, that a few years ago I was able to tour part of England (for the second time!) and, as part of that tour, spend a memorable afternoon at the Globe theater. You know the Globe, right? Shakespeare, Marlow, that crowd? Elizabeth I, Catholics being hunted down and murdered, fun times in jolly old England. Well the Globe is back and, according to the stories, this rendition is absolutely faithful in all respects to the original. It's doubtful that it's on the same exact site, but it's close and on the correct side of the Thames, so what the heck.
If you ever visit the Globe see if Kitty is still giving tours. She absolutely made our group's day, although I suspect she did not remember it the next morning. Kitty appeared to be in her cups. And, if she is giving tours and is NOT a bit wobbly, be kind enough to front her a glass of whatever she likes. It's worth it. We loved Kitty.
Anyway, the Globe is there, it's overwhelmingly impressive and now private US collector John Wolfson has pledged his amazing collection of early play texts to the theater, including his Shakespeare quartos and folios. If I ever get back I would dearly love to see them.
http://broadwayworld.com/article/US_Donor_Pledges_Collection_Including_Shakespeare_Folios_to_Shakespeares_Globe_20010101
*** Here's an anti-obituary: Forrest J. Ackerman has not passed away. It seems that yesterday Locus was reporting the legendary fan had died, only to learn that if he was dead then someone forgot to tell him. So if you heard it, it was wrong.
*** Dallas has lost another Indie. Or, at least, the Dallas area. We've spoken about this many times in the past, I'm sure you remember that memorable evening in front of the campfire warming expensive brandy in cheap metal cups over the flames, but it's always sad when a bookstore closes. Chains are one thing, but Indies are quite another. To David Norwood, owner of the Bookworm in Frisco, the staff here at Billthebookguy.com wish you only the best.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6612504.html
*** Neil Gaiman is once again turning to non-fiction. This isn't so surprising, fiction authors often write non-fiction also, but the subject is interesting: China and its journey to the west.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6612086.html
*** I'm a lucky guy. Never denied it. So lucky, in fact, that a few years ago I was able to tour part of England (for the second time!) and, as part of that tour, spend a memorable afternoon at the Globe theater. You know the Globe, right? Shakespeare, Marlow, that crowd? Elizabeth I, Catholics being hunted down and murdered, fun times in jolly old England. Well the Globe is back and, according to the stories, this rendition is absolutely faithful in all respects to the original. It's doubtful that it's on the same exact site, but it's close and on the correct side of the Thames, so what the heck.
If you ever visit the Globe see if Kitty is still giving tours. She absolutely made our group's day, although I suspect she did not remember it the next morning. Kitty appeared to be in her cups. And, if she is giving tours and is NOT a bit wobbly, be kind enough to front her a glass of whatever she likes. It's worth it. We loved Kitty.
Anyway, the Globe is there, it's overwhelmingly impressive and now private US collector John Wolfson has pledged his amazing collection of early play texts to the theater, including his Shakespeare quartos and folios. If I ever get back I would dearly love to see them.
http://broadwayworld.com/article/US_Donor_Pledges_Collection_Including_Shakespeare_Folios_to_Shakespeares_Globe_20010101
*** Here's an anti-obituary: Forrest J. Ackerman has not passed away. It seems that yesterday Locus was reporting the legendary fan had died, only to learn that if he was dead then someone forgot to tell him. So if you heard it, it was wrong.
*** Dallas has lost another Indie. Or, at least, the Dallas area. We've spoken about this many times in the past, I'm sure you remember that memorable evening in front of the campfire warming expensive brandy in cheap metal cups over the flames, but it's always sad when a bookstore closes. Chains are one thing, but Indies are quite another. To David Norwood, owner of the Bookworm in Frisco, the staff here at Billthebookguy.com wish you only the best.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6612504.html
*** Neil Gaiman is once again turning to non-fiction. This isn't so surprising, fiction authors often write non-fiction also, but the subject is interesting: China and its journey to the west.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6612086.html
Thursday, November 6, 2008
A great one gone, an old one found, a new one missed
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news.
*** By now I guess you know that Michael Crichton has died from cancer at age 66. Your friendly neighborhood bookseller really liked Crichton, although I never met him. His first book, A Case of Need, was a pro-abortion novel that wasn't particularly well written and was published under a pseudonym, Jeffery Hudson, because Crichton feared retaliation in the days before Roe v. Wade. He continued with the political thread running through his books for his entire life, and while one could argue that his stance in A Case of Need took the liberal viewpoint, in fact he displayed a life-long libertarian streak, much like Robert Heinlein did, in social and scientific matters. Crichton wasn't afraid to scoff at what he considered bad science, State of Fear being the prime example by skewering the global warming crowd.
Of course, he is best known for Jurassic Park and The Lost World, two of the best SFF monsters novels ever written. Congo was also a terrific novel, if you haven't read it you should find a copy now. Sphere, on the other hand, was hackneyed and stale, something long-time SFF fans would have found way too familiar and not very well written. Rising Sun might appear dated by today's computer magic, but at the time of publication if was fabulous and thrilling.
Crichton was a favorite and will be missed.
*** BBG has been to Dublin, Ireland, twice, and was just looking for an excuse to go back again. (And when exactly did BBG develop this annoying habit of referring to himself in the third person?) It seems that a rare text of the 1535 edition of Cicero's On Old Age has been found at the King's Inn Law Library in Dublin. Cicero, of course, was the Roman philosopher who writings have survived the ages. Just to see such a book would be quite a thrill and, while in Dublin, BBG could also take another, longer look at The Book of Kells.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1104/1225523343345.html
*** Okay, I'm really stretching the whole book-related thing here, but this did appear in the PNAS Journal of November 3. It seems that the burial sight of a 12,000 year old shaman has been discovered in Northern Israel. The linked article can supply the details but I find this absolutely fascinating. Put into context, we think of Ancient Egypt as being almost impossibly long ago, its founding being somewhere beyond 5,000 years in the past, but if the dating here is correct then this grave was already 7,000 years old when Egypt was founded. Staggering.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081105083721.htm
*** With Christmas coming gift ideas are sure to be important, especially this year. Aside from the sorts of things that I would think make great gifts, nice copies of signed books from a favorite author, or a book that you might not buy for yourself but would really like to own, there is also a new book for married folks that might... err...ahem...well, you read it.
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/70127-mitchell-beazleys-guide-for-lovers.html
*** Lastly, I can only read and sigh and wish I could be there. The Miami Book Fair opens this weekend. The linked article has a great picture of one of the truly nice guys in the world of crime fiction, Jim Hall. I've met Jim once but feel like I've known him for much longer. He goes back to the old AOL Hardboiled board (which is still around but nearly abandoned now) in the rollicking days when the internet was young and blogs didn't exist. If you haven't read his Thorn books you've missed on the great series out there. (And if you start, be aware, it took three or four books for Just Jim to hit his stride)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081105/ap_en_ot/miami_book_fair;_ylt=Avyg.xTV4bDXbZP7LmIDKZhREhkF
*** By now I guess you know that Michael Crichton has died from cancer at age 66. Your friendly neighborhood bookseller really liked Crichton, although I never met him. His first book, A Case of Need, was a pro-abortion novel that wasn't particularly well written and was published under a pseudonym, Jeffery Hudson, because Crichton feared retaliation in the days before Roe v. Wade. He continued with the political thread running through his books for his entire life, and while one could argue that his stance in A Case of Need took the liberal viewpoint, in fact he displayed a life-long libertarian streak, much like Robert Heinlein did, in social and scientific matters. Crichton wasn't afraid to scoff at what he considered bad science, State of Fear being the prime example by skewering the global warming crowd.
Of course, he is best known for Jurassic Park and The Lost World, two of the best SFF monsters novels ever written. Congo was also a terrific novel, if you haven't read it you should find a copy now. Sphere, on the other hand, was hackneyed and stale, something long-time SFF fans would have found way too familiar and not very well written. Rising Sun might appear dated by today's computer magic, but at the time of publication if was fabulous and thrilling.
Crichton was a favorite and will be missed.
*** BBG has been to Dublin, Ireland, twice, and was just looking for an excuse to go back again. (And when exactly did BBG develop this annoying habit of referring to himself in the third person?) It seems that a rare text of the 1535 edition of Cicero's On Old Age has been found at the King's Inn Law Library in Dublin. Cicero, of course, was the Roman philosopher who writings have survived the ages. Just to see such a book would be quite a thrill and, while in Dublin, BBG could also take another, longer look at The Book of Kells.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1104/1225523343345.html
*** Okay, I'm really stretching the whole book-related thing here, but this did appear in the PNAS Journal of November 3. It seems that the burial sight of a 12,000 year old shaman has been discovered in Northern Israel. The linked article can supply the details but I find this absolutely fascinating. Put into context, we think of Ancient Egypt as being almost impossibly long ago, its founding being somewhere beyond 5,000 years in the past, but if the dating here is correct then this grave was already 7,000 years old when Egypt was founded. Staggering.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081105083721.htm
*** With Christmas coming gift ideas are sure to be important, especially this year. Aside from the sorts of things that I would think make great gifts, nice copies of signed books from a favorite author, or a book that you might not buy for yourself but would really like to own, there is also a new book for married folks that might... err...ahem...well, you read it.
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/70127-mitchell-beazleys-guide-for-lovers.html
*** Lastly, I can only read and sigh and wish I could be there. The Miami Book Fair opens this weekend. The linked article has a great picture of one of the truly nice guys in the world of crime fiction, Jim Hall. I've met Jim once but feel like I've known him for much longer. He goes back to the old AOL Hardboiled board (which is still around but nearly abandoned now) in the rollicking days when the internet was young and blogs didn't exist. If you haven't read his Thorn books you've missed on the great series out there. (And if you start, be aware, it took three or four books for Just Jim to hit his stride)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081105/ap_en_ot/miami_book_fair;_ylt=Avyg.xTV4bDXbZP7LmIDKZhREhkF
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Series- Part 2
The later books in Jordan's series had much higher production values and are generally found in better condition than the early ones. Higher print runs undoubtedly contributed to this as the earlier volumes were passed around from friend to friend.
Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Series- Part 1
Robert Jordan's 'Wheel of Time' series is one of the most popular fantasy series of all time. Sadly, Mr. Jordan died far too young, but not before I had the pleasure of both corresponding with and meeting him. Very nice man.
The books themselves are fairly straight-forward Tor offerings. As is evident in the photos, his signature was anything but perfunctory. Indeed, one senses more than a little of the dramatic in his elaborate and happy scrawl. The copyright pages are typical, with first editions indicated by a number line down to '1'.
We have started with the third book in the series, The Dragon Reborn. Note that this copy is dated from his visit to Memphis in 2000. Like a number of books during this period, the paper used had quite an acidic content that
lent itself to toning.Next up is book five, The Fires of Heaven. Published in 1993 it was similar in most respects to the first four books, but by now the paper stock had improved so that toning was less of an issue.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Harry, MAC and the Kings
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news.
Today is election day in the USA, but this blog is non-political. I have very strong feelings regarding the outcome, but don't look for them here, they will appear in my political blog and that's not open to the public. Now, on to book stuff.
*** Australian writer Jacob Rosenberg has died at age 86. He wrote a number of books about World War II, most notably the novels East of Time and Sunrise West, both set in the Lodz ghetto in Poland. He lost his entire family at Auschwitz.
http://jta.org/news/article/2008/11/03/1000709/australian-author-goldberg-dies
*** Those who know me know that Max Allan Collins is one of my top five favorite crime writers, although my favorite series of his, the Nate Heller books, has been dormant since 2001's Angel in Black. My review of his first collaboration with Mickey Spillane, The Goliath Bone, is in this month's iloveamysterynewsletter
The astute bookie will also have noticed that I just finished Black Hats written by MAC under the nom-de-plume of Patrick Culhane. And so along comes a very timely interview with this prolific and exceedingly creative guy. I found it quite enjoyable.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6610795.html
*** The family of Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King are squabbling over her personal papers and, of course, there is a pot-load of money at stake. What a shock, relatives fighting over their inheritance. One has signed to write a book for $1.4 million, the others have the papers, who knows who believes what. It's a mess.
*** Wheels within wheels, as Bertie Wooster would say. Not only is Harry Potter still an avalanche of hype, now comes the definitive work on the fan and cyber worlds that go along with such a phenomenon. Melissa Anelli first gave up her life to run the second largest English language Potter site out there, and now she has turned obsession into prose with Harry, a History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, his Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon.
This is my kind of story, by the way. Nothing better than a good obsession and to make a buck out of the deal is even better. Good for Melissa!
http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2008-11-03-harry-potter-history_N.htm
Today is election day in the USA, but this blog is non-political. I have very strong feelings regarding the outcome, but don't look for them here, they will appear in my political blog and that's not open to the public. Now, on to book stuff.
*** Australian writer Jacob Rosenberg has died at age 86. He wrote a number of books about World War II, most notably the novels East of Time and Sunrise West, both set in the Lodz ghetto in Poland. He lost his entire family at Auschwitz.
http://jta.org/news/article/2008/11/03/1000709/australian-author-goldberg-dies
*** Those who know me know that Max Allan Collins is one of my top five favorite crime writers, although my favorite series of his, the Nate Heller books, has been dormant since 2001's Angel in Black. My review of his first collaboration with Mickey Spillane, The Goliath Bone, is in this month's iloveamysterynewsletter
The astute bookie will also have noticed that I just finished Black Hats written by MAC under the nom-de-plume of Patrick Culhane. And so along comes a very timely interview with this prolific and exceedingly creative guy. I found it quite enjoyable.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6610795.html
*** The family of Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King are squabbling over her personal papers and, of course, there is a pot-load of money at stake. What a shock, relatives fighting over their inheritance. One has signed to write a book for $1.4 million, the others have the papers, who knows who believes what. It's a mess.
*** Wheels within wheels, as Bertie Wooster would say. Not only is Harry Potter still an avalanche of hype, now comes the definitive work on the fan and cyber worlds that go along with such a phenomenon. Melissa Anelli first gave up her life to run the second largest English language Potter site out there, and now she has turned obsession into prose with Harry, a History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, his Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon.
This is my kind of story, by the way. Nothing better than a good obsession and to make a buck out of the deal is even better. Good for Melissa!
http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2008-11-03-harry-potter-history_N.htm
Monday, November 3, 2008
Go somewhere or win something
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news.
*** Have you ever attended a convention for books and/or authors? If so, then you know how much fun they can be, both as a chance to discuss mutual likes (or dislikes) with other fans of the genre, or to listen to favorite authors answer questions on a panel, to be exposed to new ideas...just to be stimulated and given new enthusiasm for something you already love. If you have not been to a convention, make it a goal in 2009 to go and have some fun. I'll try to keep you updated on some that I think might be fun. And to start off with:
http://www.mwaflorida.org/sleuthfest.htm
You love mysteries, so there's great writers to hob-nob with. It's March, so most of the country is cold, what's not to like about a Florida beach? The site only has the Guests of Honor currently but usually there is a contingent of Florida writers who show up, Florida having more than its share of great crime writers, and in the end who really cares, anyway. It's probably a lot warmer in Florida than wherever you are going to be.
If you prefer something a bit more general than a crime convention, and maybe something a bit more northerly, than you might try the Southern Kentucky Festival of Books.
http://www.sokybookfest.org/
Or, if you are really looking for something big, there's always the Virginia Festival of the book in Charlottesville.
http://www.vabook.org/index.html/
*** The World Fantasy Awards were announced yesterday at the World Fantasy Convention in Alberta, Canada. I notice some old favorites of mine on the lists, authors I read during the heyday of my SFF reading some 30 years ago. Kim Newman is still around and I loved Anno Dracula and its sequels, real ground-breaking stuff. Good for him!
http://www.worldfantasy.org/awards/
*** Marilyn Ferguson, a new age author, has died at age 70. The extremely influential 1980 book, The Aquarian Conspiracy, tied together disparate threads of research, such as biofeedback, seeking a comprehensive whole. This gradually coalesced into the New Age Movement.
*** Have you ever attended a convention for books and/or authors? If so, then you know how much fun they can be, both as a chance to discuss mutual likes (or dislikes) with other fans of the genre, or to listen to favorite authors answer questions on a panel, to be exposed to new ideas...just to be stimulated and given new enthusiasm for something you already love. If you have not been to a convention, make it a goal in 2009 to go and have some fun. I'll try to keep you updated on some that I think might be fun. And to start off with:
http://www.mwaflorida.org/sleuthfest.htm
You love mysteries, so there's great writers to hob-nob with. It's March, so most of the country is cold, what's not to like about a Florida beach? The site only has the Guests of Honor currently but usually there is a contingent of Florida writers who show up, Florida having more than its share of great crime writers, and in the end who really cares, anyway. It's probably a lot warmer in Florida than wherever you are going to be.
If you prefer something a bit more general than a crime convention, and maybe something a bit more northerly, than you might try the Southern Kentucky Festival of Books.
http://www.sokybookfest.org/
Or, if you are really looking for something big, there's always the Virginia Festival of the book in Charlottesville.
http://www.vabook.org/index.html/
*** The World Fantasy Awards were announced yesterday at the World Fantasy Convention in Alberta, Canada. I notice some old favorites of mine on the lists, authors I read during the heyday of my SFF reading some 30 years ago. Kim Newman is still around and I loved Anno Dracula and its sequels, real ground-breaking stuff. Good for him!
http://www.worldfantasy.org/awards/
*** Marilyn Ferguson, a new age author, has died at age 70. The extremely influential 1980 book, The Aquarian Conspiracy, tied together disparate threads of research, such as biofeedback, seeking a comprehensive whole. This gradually coalesced into the New Age Movement.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
New ILAM is up!
This just in: the best crime review site on the net is up with a new issue.
http://www.iloveamysterynewsletter.com/
I must say that the reviews of Stephen Hunter's Night of Thunder and The Goliath Bone by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins are absolutely brilliant, must reads for anyone who likes crime fiction.
http://www.iloveamysterynewsletter.com/
I must say that the reviews of Stephen Hunter's Night of Thunder and The Goliath Bone by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins are absolutely brilliant, must reads for anyone who likes crime fiction.
A sunny Sunday
Good morning bookies. Stand by for news.
It's Sunday, the first day of Standard time. Given that your friendly neighborhood bookseller hates cold weather and darkness, it's not a day he particularly looks forward to. I have been told that Christmas decorations fit nicely on a palm tree and finding out is one of my main objectives in life.
The growth of online bookselling has certainly had its high points, (me, for example) but as with any human endeavor there are also unintended consequences. The major selling sites, Amazon, ABE, Alibris, Biblio, are all overrun with 'booksellers' who wouldn't know a book if it bit them in the butt. They are commodities brokers and books are their produce.
You know the ones. Their descriptions all say something like 'may be ex-library, may have marks or writing, may have a dust jacket'. (I keep waiting for one to say 'may actually be a book.') These people haul in massive quantities of battered books, scan their ISBNs, pull out the ones their computers tell them to pull out, then list them on a site with no description and little interest in accuracy. They are usually called mega-listers and you often see a variation of them at book sales holding electronic scanning devices. (Watch for a future blog entitled 'Invasion of the Scanner People. Oh, and before some of you go berserk, I understand that scanners might be a useful adjunct for a true bookseller. I'm referring to those whose only basis for buying a book rests with the scanner)
BBG despises this practice. Sometimes a customer looking for a nice, well described first edition of a particular book may have to wade through pages and pages of this mega-lister crap first, and who wants to do that? So why do the sites allow this? Because as long as the mega-listers pay their fees on time, the sites don't care. For all of their advertising about great books and great sellers, etc., as long as the check clears they don't care what their listers do.
(On a side note, this is why www.worldbookmarket.com was born. A collection of booksellers who actually describe their books and have them in stock. What a unique concept!)
So, today, we bring you an article on one such mega-lister. This company is not particularly different from the others who do the exact same thing. I especially like the garbage chute with the books pouring from it; nothing like caring about what you sell, eh?
http://www.thenewstribune.com/business/story/506388.html
*** The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.
If you understand that reference, then you will probably want to read a new history of the band, Pigs Might Fly, the Inside Story of Pink Floyd by Mark Blake. Every human being and a majority of aliens have, of course, memorized 'Dark Side of the Moon', but how many have seen the 1971 movie 'Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii'? Pre-dating 'Moon', the movie has the boys performing all of their early stuff to an audience of Roman ghosts. For your blog-host it's surreal, since I've been to Pompeii and stood at the very spot where they filmed. I haven't read Blake's book about the Floyd, and it's not generally the sort of thing I do read, but this might be an exception.
*** We may have found the perfect Christmas gift for a bookie. Coffee table books are always popular, large, generally printed on heavy, slick paper, bright photographs and illustrations, ideal for reading a few minutes and putting aside. So what better coffee table book could one ask for than Monsters: History's Most Evil Men and Women by Simon Sebag Montefiore?
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/non-fiction/article5049974.ece
Certainly such a book could help to muddle through the awkwardness of Christmas with relatives or friends, the perfect conversation piece when things lag a bit.
"So, who is your favorite mass murderer?"
"Oh, I had always leaned toward Stalin, but after reading this book I have a new admiration for Madame Mao. More coffee or mince meat pie?"
*** I must admit that Neil Gaiman has not been one of my favorite writers. It's not that I dislike his work, it's just that by the time he came on the scene I was done reading SFF for a while. Fortunately, it's the nature of books that such things are easily rectified by simply buying someone's backlist. Indeed, the idea behind his new novel The Graveyard Book is so intriguing I might have to do that very thing. It's the story of a boy who escapes from a serial killer who wipes out his family and is raised in a graveyard by ghosts, vampires and werewolves. Such fun. Here's a very interesting interview:
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article5050156.ece
It's Sunday, the first day of Standard time. Given that your friendly neighborhood bookseller hates cold weather and darkness, it's not a day he particularly looks forward to. I have been told that Christmas decorations fit nicely on a palm tree and finding out is one of my main objectives in life.
The growth of online bookselling has certainly had its high points, (me, for example) but as with any human endeavor there are also unintended consequences. The major selling sites, Amazon, ABE, Alibris, Biblio, are all overrun with 'booksellers' who wouldn't know a book if it bit them in the butt. They are commodities brokers and books are their produce.
You know the ones. Their descriptions all say something like 'may be ex-library, may have marks or writing, may have a dust jacket'. (I keep waiting for one to say 'may actually be a book.') These people haul in massive quantities of battered books, scan their ISBNs, pull out the ones their computers tell them to pull out, then list them on a site with no description and little interest in accuracy. They are usually called mega-listers and you often see a variation of them at book sales holding electronic scanning devices. (Watch for a future blog entitled 'Invasion of the Scanner People. Oh, and before some of you go berserk, I understand that scanners might be a useful adjunct for a true bookseller. I'm referring to those whose only basis for buying a book rests with the scanner)
BBG despises this practice. Sometimes a customer looking for a nice, well described first edition of a particular book may have to wade through pages and pages of this mega-lister crap first, and who wants to do that? So why do the sites allow this? Because as long as the mega-listers pay their fees on time, the sites don't care. For all of their advertising about great books and great sellers, etc., as long as the check clears they don't care what their listers do.
(On a side note, this is why www.worldbookmarket.com was born. A collection of booksellers who actually describe their books and have them in stock. What a unique concept!)
So, today, we bring you an article on one such mega-lister. This company is not particularly different from the others who do the exact same thing. I especially like the garbage chute with the books pouring from it; nothing like caring about what you sell, eh?
http://www.thenewstribune.com/business/story/506388.html
*** The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.
If you understand that reference, then you will probably want to read a new history of the band, Pigs Might Fly, the Inside Story of Pink Floyd by Mark Blake. Every human being and a majority of aliens have, of course, memorized 'Dark Side of the Moon', but how many have seen the 1971 movie 'Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii'? Pre-dating 'Moon', the movie has the boys performing all of their early stuff to an audience of Roman ghosts. For your blog-host it's surreal, since I've been to Pompeii and stood at the very spot where they filmed. I haven't read Blake's book about the Floyd, and it's not generally the sort of thing I do read, but this might be an exception.
*** We may have found the perfect Christmas gift for a bookie. Coffee table books are always popular, large, generally printed on heavy, slick paper, bright photographs and illustrations, ideal for reading a few minutes and putting aside. So what better coffee table book could one ask for than Monsters: History's Most Evil Men and Women by Simon Sebag Montefiore?
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/non-fiction/article5049974.ece
Certainly such a book could help to muddle through the awkwardness of Christmas with relatives or friends, the perfect conversation piece when things lag a bit.
"So, who is your favorite mass murderer?"
"Oh, I had always leaned toward Stalin, but after reading this book I have a new admiration for Madame Mao. More coffee or mince meat pie?"
*** I must admit that Neil Gaiman has not been one of my favorite writers. It's not that I dislike his work, it's just that by the time he came on the scene I was done reading SFF for a while. Fortunately, it's the nature of books that such things are easily rectified by simply buying someone's backlist. Indeed, the idea behind his new novel The Graveyard Book is so intriguing I might have to do that very thing. It's the story of a boy who escapes from a serial killer who wipes out his family and is raised in a graveyard by ghosts, vampires and werewolves. Such fun. Here's a very interesting interview:
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article5050156.ece
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Good morning bookies! It's Saturday. Stand by for news.
*** Studs Terkel died yesterday at age 96. I was not widely read of his works, but I did read The Good War and found it a terrific example of oral history, very straight-forward and honest. Certainly they don't make them like him anymore, an activist with a love of country that surpassed all else. He wasn't to my taste most of the time, but that might be to his credit.
*** The International Horror Guild Awards were announced on Halloween and the names of the winners were all among the familiar. Peter Straub won the Living Legend award and Dan Simmons won the Best Novel Award for The Terror. As any Simmons fan can tell you he's a pretty remarkable writer. Whatever genre he's working in, be it SFF, Horror or really hard-boiled crime (to this day Joe Kurtz remains a favorite character of mine) the quality of his work is top-notch. I also like the award category of 'Long Fiction', in place of 'novellette' or 'novella'.
http://www.locusmag.com/2008/News_Awards_IHG_Winners.html
*** Studs Terkel died yesterday at age 96. I was not widely read of his works, but I did read The Good War and found it a terrific example of oral history, very straight-forward and honest. Certainly they don't make them like him anymore, an activist with a love of country that surpassed all else. He wasn't to my taste most of the time, but that might be to his credit.
*** The International Horror Guild Awards were announced on Halloween and the names of the winners were all among the familiar. Peter Straub won the Living Legend award and Dan Simmons won the Best Novel Award for The Terror. As any Simmons fan can tell you he's a pretty remarkable writer. Whatever genre he's working in, be it SFF, Horror or really hard-boiled crime (to this day Joe Kurtz remains a favorite character of mine) the quality of his work is top-notch. I also like the award category of 'Long Fiction', in place of 'novellette' or 'novella'.
http://www.locusmag.com/2008/News_Awards_IHG_Winners.html
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