Good morning bookies! It's bright and cool here in West Tennessee, most unusual for late August. We should be baking and we're not.
So, Friday I was at the local Memphis Public Library book sale. I spent all morning there. I bought two books. It was dreadful. The library is now skimming off what they consider their best books and selling them on ebay. So, who is determining what books are what? 'Why, we are!' one befuddled woman told me. 'We even sold a first edition the other day!"
God only knows what that book was they sold, whether it was first edition or a 20th. I can assure you this woman would not have known. But obviously whatever they had, if was not at the sale. Nothing but crap, beat up ex-library copies that have been around that sale for years now. A complete waste of time. If you're thinking about going to a Memphis sale in the future, I wouldn't bother. Unless, of course, you're just looking for something to read and don't mind the copy being a bit beat up, in which case you'll probably find something.
*** Technically speaking, ancient tablets were the books of their time and so are germane to this blog about books. Right? Right. And it's right in the wheelhouse of my imagination's strike zone that the linked article describes archaeologists finding Turkish tablets more than 2700 years old, tablets that don't just list the day to day activities of a temple, but also might verify facts concerning the Persian Empire's expansionist tendencies in those days. Amazing people, amazing stuff. To put this in a time context, these tablets were contemporary to the founding of Rome.
Ancient Persian tablets found
*** A signed copy of Mein Kampf was recently sold at auction and, I must say, it went for less than I would have thought, 21,000 pounds, or roughly $38,000. Not only that, this copy was inscribed by Hitler to a fellow inmate at Landsberg Prison. Inscriptions from Hitler are quite rare. On the other hand, the book is more or less unreadable, the passages are so tangled and dense and rambling that one can look quite a while for coherence, without finding it. Not that anyone buying such a book would actually read it, mind you.
Signed Mein Kampf under the gavel
*** During World War II Germany created, or came close to creating, or at least thought about creating, a whole series of extraordinary, far-ahead-of-their-time weapons. The first stealth aircraft, the first operational jet fighter, the first operational rocket fighter, the first jet bomber, smart bombs with TV sets built into their nose, (and those were actually used in the war, too)...and, of course, the famed V2 rocket, the first ballistic missile, still the basis for most so-called SCUD missiles in use throughout the world. And for that particular little bit of worrisome hardware we can thank one Werner Von Braun.
Of course, after the war von Braun came to America and helped put us on the moon, so before we go getting all indignant let's remember that while Braun might have been a Nazi scientist, he was our Nazi scientist.
That, at least, seems to be the general thought behind Dark side of the Moon: Wehrner von Braun, the Third Reich, and the Space Race by Wayne Biddle. Von Braun was a rocket scientist, he designed and built the much feared V2 for Hitler, a weapon that killed thousands in London and Antwerp. But he was also a German and his country was at war. Like fellow scientists in the USSR, saying 'no' to research that could be used for weapons was not an option. If you weren't useful, then you were taking up valuable resources.
Von Braun was a fascinating man and this might be one book I seek out to read.
A needed biography of Werner von Braun
*** The subject of the Italian resistance during World War II, the roving bands of guerillas who made life so miserable for the Germans and Fascist Italians after Italy's surrender in 1943, is a subject almost begging for a good book to detail all of its many aspects. And, based on this review below, it still needs one. Or maybe the book that has been written just needs a better reviewer.
The headline of this book review mentions the book being biased; it's hard to imagine the book is more biased than the reviewer. I mean, come on! How am I supposed to take you seriously when you're using the subject of a review to launch your own political spin about modern Italian politics? This guy is obviously a leftist outraged that Italy was not allowed to become a communist country. Give me a break.
However, given the paucity of information available on this particular topic, the book does fill an important need. Now it just needs a better reader.
World War II behind the lines in Italy
Showing posts with label World War 2 book reivew. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World War 2 book reivew. Show all posts
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Just one of those Sundays
Good day bookies! Stand by for news and comment.
Okay, first, I know that I said this blog would be more frequent now that personal stuff was out of the way, but that was premature. More personal stuff came up. Sorry about that. I'll do my best, but ailing relatives need attention and I'm the only one who can give it.
*** The list of authors for The Southern Festival of Books is finally out, and the first name on the list is the most exciting. Buzz Aldrin will be there. That's right, the original Moonwalker will be on hand to sign autographs and hold a seminar. Not sure what the agenda will be yet but I'm sure it will be special. Your friendly neighborhood bookseller might be there this year.
Authors scheduled for the Southern Festival of Books
*** A round-up of book reviews, starting with three Texas mysteries including the new one from David Morrell.
Texas Times Three
*** Sometimes, the causes of the politically correct are so convoluted that it's hard to disentangle where one perceived insult stops and another one starts. Such is the case with a new book on the diaspora of the Jewish intelligentsia from Germany during the time of the Third Reich. Flight From the Reich: Refugee Jews, 1933-1946 by Deborah Dwork and Robert Jan van Pelt does not sound like the sort of books that Jewish scholars would get all mad about, does it? Except that those involved in the Holocaust, either as survivors or their families, or as scholars, want that piece of history all to themselves. The authors of Flight recall that at a presentation they were once asked "what does the history of Jewish refugees have to do with the Holocaust?"
Since when is victimization by the Nazis a zero sum game? Are those who were able to flee before becoming caught up in the Nazi death machinery somehow unworthy of being included in its victims? It's very strange.
This book does, however, appear to be a welcome addition to the burgeoning literature on one major cause of Germany's failure in World War II, namely, its brain drain. It has long been one of my beliefs that aside from the Holocaust's insanity, in and of itself, on sheer practical terms the loss of all of that technical expertise in fields the Nazis found themselves critically short of once war came, everything from nuclear science to factory management, was deadly stupidity.
The Jewish diaspora from Nazi Germany
*** And so Frank McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes, has died from cancer. I never had the chance to meet Mr. McCourt, but by all accounts he was a fine man and I'm sorry that he's gone.
*** As something of a companion volume to the above comes another new book about why Hitler lost the war, contained in a one volume history. One of the recurring themes is that Hitler lost the war because he put Nazi rhetoric into practice, something I have believed for a long while now, so I may read this one myself. The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War. By Andrew Roberts. Allen Lane: 712 pages. 25 pounds. (Yikes!) To be published in the US by HarperCollins in 2011.
This seems to be a trend among historians, focusing on the economic causes of the war and their impact on the battlefield. This is all to the good, if the historian is good enough to make it interesting.
Hitler lost because he was Hitler
*** In addition to the above link, another reviewer weighs in with what they felt was new about the book, the rather old discovery that the German Wehrmacht was ill-prepared for winter war in Russia in 1941. Apparently Roberts' one-volume history is interesting enough to excite the reviewers, which is good. But come on, writing a whole article about the Germans shivering in the snows of Russia?
No.
Really?
Who knew? Or, rather, who didn't know? Frankly, I expect better than this from the Telegraph.
Another look at Roberts' new book.
*** And now, because the fascination with Nazism and Hitler seems matched only by the revulsion for same, there is yet another book another yet another lower level Nazi functionary that uses the premise to bash both the UK and the USA for their post-war use of former enemies to stave off future enemies.
Hunting Evil by Guy Walters is about Nazis used by MI6 and the CIA just after World War II at the beginning of the Cold War. The author is outraged that this happened. Which is understandable. But he wrote this article in English, not in Russian, so it isn't all bad. And it's not like the Russians didn't also use former Nazis that fell into their hands against the West.
If there's one thing I hate, really despise, it's second-guessing decades after the event has occurred. Unless, of course, it's me that's doing it.
More Nazis used by the West
Okay, first, I know that I said this blog would be more frequent now that personal stuff was out of the way, but that was premature. More personal stuff came up. Sorry about that. I'll do my best, but ailing relatives need attention and I'm the only one who can give it.
*** The list of authors for The Southern Festival of Books is finally out, and the first name on the list is the most exciting. Buzz Aldrin will be there. That's right, the original Moonwalker will be on hand to sign autographs and hold a seminar. Not sure what the agenda will be yet but I'm sure it will be special. Your friendly neighborhood bookseller might be there this year.
Authors scheduled for the Southern Festival of Books
*** A round-up of book reviews, starting with three Texas mysteries including the new one from David Morrell.
Texas Times Three
*** Sometimes, the causes of the politically correct are so convoluted that it's hard to disentangle where one perceived insult stops and another one starts. Such is the case with a new book on the diaspora of the Jewish intelligentsia from Germany during the time of the Third Reich. Flight From the Reich: Refugee Jews, 1933-1946 by Deborah Dwork and Robert Jan van Pelt does not sound like the sort of books that Jewish scholars would get all mad about, does it? Except that those involved in the Holocaust, either as survivors or their families, or as scholars, want that piece of history all to themselves. The authors of Flight recall that at a presentation they were once asked "what does the history of Jewish refugees have to do with the Holocaust?"
Since when is victimization by the Nazis a zero sum game? Are those who were able to flee before becoming caught up in the Nazi death machinery somehow unworthy of being included in its victims? It's very strange.
This book does, however, appear to be a welcome addition to the burgeoning literature on one major cause of Germany's failure in World War II, namely, its brain drain. It has long been one of my beliefs that aside from the Holocaust's insanity, in and of itself, on sheer practical terms the loss of all of that technical expertise in fields the Nazis found themselves critically short of once war came, everything from nuclear science to factory management, was deadly stupidity.
The Jewish diaspora from Nazi Germany
*** And so Frank McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes, has died from cancer. I never had the chance to meet Mr. McCourt, but by all accounts he was a fine man and I'm sorry that he's gone.
*** As something of a companion volume to the above comes another new book about why Hitler lost the war, contained in a one volume history. One of the recurring themes is that Hitler lost the war because he put Nazi rhetoric into practice, something I have believed for a long while now, so I may read this one myself. The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War. By Andrew Roberts. Allen Lane: 712 pages. 25 pounds. (Yikes!) To be published in the US by HarperCollins in 2011.
This seems to be a trend among historians, focusing on the economic causes of the war and their impact on the battlefield. This is all to the good, if the historian is good enough to make it interesting.
Hitler lost because he was Hitler
*** In addition to the above link, another reviewer weighs in with what they felt was new about the book, the rather old discovery that the German Wehrmacht was ill-prepared for winter war in Russia in 1941. Apparently Roberts' one-volume history is interesting enough to excite the reviewers, which is good. But come on, writing a whole article about the Germans shivering in the snows of Russia?
No.
Really?
Who knew? Or, rather, who didn't know? Frankly, I expect better than this from the Telegraph.
Another look at Roberts' new book.
*** And now, because the fascination with Nazism and Hitler seems matched only by the revulsion for same, there is yet another book another yet another lower level Nazi functionary that uses the premise to bash both the UK and the USA for their post-war use of former enemies to stave off future enemies.
Hunting Evil by Guy Walters is about Nazis used by MI6 and the CIA just after World War II at the beginning of the Cold War. The author is outraged that this happened. Which is understandable. But he wrote this article in English, not in Russian, so it isn't all bad. And it's not like the Russians didn't also use former Nazis that fell into their hands against the West.
If there's one thing I hate, really despise, it's second-guessing decades after the event has occurred. Unless, of course, it's me that's doing it.
More Nazis used by the West
Monday, June 22, 2009
Hot Monday
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news and comment.
If you're looking for Part Two of the World Famous Trip Blog, especially those of you working for the foreign press, those blogs will be separate from the normal blog. I know you want to read what I thought about your country, and I know you Swiss are waiting for my comments on your police force, but I have regular readers also who expect book news.
I'm also still feeling gloppy, though not quite as gloppy as yesterday, which raised gloppiness to new heights. Yuckishness is about the same.
*** Giles MacDonogh's last book was the massively unpopular and exceedingly well researched After the Reich: The Brutal History of Allied Occupation, a long overdue examination of the wholesale slaughter of German civilians after World War Two, mostly in the East but tolerated by indifference in the West, as well as the diaspora of German families who had lived abroad for generations. It was shameful and betrayed the ideals of what we had been fighting for, even if it was somewhat understandable in the context of the times.
Now MacDonogh is back with a new book that looks at pre-war Germany in 1938, the year of decision, the year when the Allies could have stopped Hitler, maybe with war and maybe without, but stop him they could. The Wehrmacht of 1938 was not ready for war. This is one that your friendly neighborhood bookseller would like to read, given that he has actually seen the table on which the Munich agreement was signed, as well as his general interest in the period. The author is usually entertaining in style and authoritative in scope, so there is little to indicate this won't be an important and illuminating work.
1938: When real leadership could have stopped war
Okay, another WW2 review. Lest ye think otherwise, no, this is not an exclusively World War Two oriented blog. It's just working out that way right now.
*** Evans Carlson is one of the most influential military leaders the US has ever produced. Which is saying something, considering that he only commanded small numbers of troops and only fought in twice in combat. Yet his innovations are a fundamental part of today's military.
Carlson was a marine and both raised and commanded the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion. aka Carlson's Raiders. A new book gives depth to the life of this important man and his two battles, American Commando: Evans Carlson, His WWII Marine Raiders and America's First Special Forces Mission by John Wukovits. What Carlson did was form an entire battalion of guerrillas, based on the model of the Chinese Communists. Within that battalion he became one of the men, sharing their hardships, leading from the front.
At Makin Island in 1942 his leadership was, to say the least, uneven. He sort of accomplished his mission of harrying the Japanese but also left men behind to the horrors of Japanese captivity. Carlson, however, learned from his mistakes, and during the Battle of Guadalcanal his launched his battalion behind Japanese lines and devastated their efforts to retake Henderson Field. Known as The Long Patrol, that mission is the one that made him famous and is still studied today.
Carlson's Raiders
If you're looking for Part Two of the World Famous Trip Blog, especially those of you working for the foreign press, those blogs will be separate from the normal blog. I know you want to read what I thought about your country, and I know you Swiss are waiting for my comments on your police force, but I have regular readers also who expect book news.
I'm also still feeling gloppy, though not quite as gloppy as yesterday, which raised gloppiness to new heights. Yuckishness is about the same.
*** Giles MacDonogh's last book was the massively unpopular and exceedingly well researched After the Reich: The Brutal History of Allied Occupation, a long overdue examination of the wholesale slaughter of German civilians after World War Two, mostly in the East but tolerated by indifference in the West, as well as the diaspora of German families who had lived abroad for generations. It was shameful and betrayed the ideals of what we had been fighting for, even if it was somewhat understandable in the context of the times.
Now MacDonogh is back with a new book that looks at pre-war Germany in 1938, the year of decision, the year when the Allies could have stopped Hitler, maybe with war and maybe without, but stop him they could. The Wehrmacht of 1938 was not ready for war. This is one that your friendly neighborhood bookseller would like to read, given that he has actually seen the table on which the Munich agreement was signed, as well as his general interest in the period. The author is usually entertaining in style and authoritative in scope, so there is little to indicate this won't be an important and illuminating work.
1938: When real leadership could have stopped war
Okay, another WW2 review. Lest ye think otherwise, no, this is not an exclusively World War Two oriented blog. It's just working out that way right now.
*** Evans Carlson is one of the most influential military leaders the US has ever produced. Which is saying something, considering that he only commanded small numbers of troops and only fought in twice in combat. Yet his innovations are a fundamental part of today's military.
Carlson was a marine and both raised and commanded the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion. aka Carlson's Raiders. A new book gives depth to the life of this important man and his two battles, American Commando: Evans Carlson, His WWII Marine Raiders and America's First Special Forces Mission by John Wukovits. What Carlson did was form an entire battalion of guerrillas, based on the model of the Chinese Communists. Within that battalion he became one of the men, sharing their hardships, leading from the front.
At Makin Island in 1942 his leadership was, to say the least, uneven. He sort of accomplished his mission of harrying the Japanese but also left men behind to the horrors of Japanese captivity. Carlson, however, learned from his mistakes, and during the Battle of Guadalcanal his launched his battalion behind Japanese lines and devastated their efforts to retake Henderson Field. Known as The Long Patrol, that mission is the one that made him famous and is still studied today.
Carlson's Raiders
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Thanks to all of our veterans!
Good day bookies! It's wet here in West Tennessee, but with Memorial Day being tomorrow it seems a good time to blog a bit about some forthcoming WW2 books, as well as some loose clutter form my recent unplanned sabbatical.
*** Anthony Beevor is one of the more respected World War II historians working now, otherwise, the news that there is yet another book on D-Day and the liberation of France would pass by without comment. I mean, at some point we get it, right? The Allies invaded France, fought hard to get ashore and eventually overwhelmed the bad guys. How many more details can there be to flesh out yet another book on the subject.
However, I'm not calling foul on this one for two reasons: First, the book I am currently reading is Shattered Sword: The Untold Battle of Midway which I resisted reading for several years because, let's face it, how much more of Midway's story could possibly be untold, right? Well, as it turns out, quite a lot of it. So if it's true for Midway who knows, it might also be true for D-Day.
Second, Beevor is a really fine historian who is not usually content to simply regurgitate what others have written. If he thinks there is a fresh story here to tell then maybe there is. I'll sure give him a chance to show me.
Beevor does D-Day
--- Monday, May 25. Update. Beevor is quoted in British newspapers as saying that Allied bombing of French cities post-D-Day is almost a war crime. What utter rubbish. After reading this nonsense, Beevor comes across as a revisionist clown who is re-writing history because of his own political agenda. Some say he is only doing this to draw attention to the new book, but I can tell you that after reading his comments I have to assume the book is slanted by this crap. Count me out.
*** With tomorrow being Memorial Day, it seems appropriate to mention another new book on World War II, this time the memoir of a US fighter pilot who was shot down and fell into the hands of the SS and found himself at Buchenwald. Unlike places like Auschwitz, Buchenwald not not a death camp per se. It was a work camp, supplying slave labor for German industry, but the difference is only one of degree. Surviving Buchenwald was highly unlikely.
It was not a place captured military personnel were usually sent and Joe Moser found himself there along with other American fliers and barely escaped death. His story is told in the book A Fighter Pilot in Buchenwald, a book aviation buffs would probably enjoy.
Surviving the worst
*** Booksellers have always known that one of the biggest problems in the industry are forged signatures. By and large this doesn't apply to the lesser valued titles, books that sell for less than a couple of hundred dollars, because forging a book to sell it for $50 or so just isn't worth it. That's not to say it can't happen, just that it's rare. Used booksellers in West Tennessee that I know, and who shall remain nameless, are aware that a probable forger has been operating in a southern state for many years now. (Is that vague enough for you? Good. I love writing this blog but lawsuits aren't part of the plan.) I've talked to people who claim they know people who claim they know employees who did the actual forging.
Maybe, maybe not.
Anyway, legitimate dealers are always happy to see forgers charged and convicted, thus the following happy link, wherein a bad guy pays the piper for his crimes.
Bad guy takes the fall for forgeries
*** A sequel to Catcher in the Rye? Yep, it's true. Bet you didn't know that. Of course, it wasn't written by J.D. Salinger but you take what you can get, right? Except John David California's 60 Years Later Coming Through the Rye has caught Salinger's attention and, more importantly, the attention of his lawyers. Can you say lawsuit? This could be interesting, though, because it appears that Mr. California (I get this mental image of a big guy in Speedos, which is not an image I wanted to have) has done his homework in avoiding infringement. This one might be worth following.
Salinger isn't happy, or so we hear
*** I would put this next blogbit under the category of 'There is so much data flow happening that my brain can't pay attention to things I really would like to pay attention to.'
I'm a Sherlock Holmes fan. Not a buff, I don't read every scrap out there written by just anybody, I haven't joined my local chapter of the Giant Rats of Sumatra, but I do really enjoy the character. So, how is it that I didn't know Robert Downey, Jr., was making a new Sherlock Holmes film, one that appears from the trailer to be right up my alley? Just too much to keep up with in a world that is far too joined-at-the-hip. Information overload, indeed.
Sherlock Holmes to the Rescue
*** Anthony Beevor is one of the more respected World War II historians working now, otherwise, the news that there is yet another book on D-Day and the liberation of France would pass by without comment. I mean, at some point we get it, right? The Allies invaded France, fought hard to get ashore and eventually overwhelmed the bad guys. How many more details can there be to flesh out yet another book on the subject.
However, I'm not calling foul on this one for two reasons: First, the book I am currently reading is Shattered Sword: The Untold Battle of Midway which I resisted reading for several years because, let's face it, how much more of Midway's story could possibly be untold, right? Well, as it turns out, quite a lot of it. So if it's true for Midway who knows, it might also be true for D-Day.
Second, Beevor is a really fine historian who is not usually content to simply regurgitate what others have written. If he thinks there is a fresh story here to tell then maybe there is. I'll sure give him a chance to show me.
Beevor does D-Day
--- Monday, May 25. Update. Beevor is quoted in British newspapers as saying that Allied bombing of French cities post-D-Day is almost a war crime. What utter rubbish. After reading this nonsense, Beevor comes across as a revisionist clown who is re-writing history because of his own political agenda. Some say he is only doing this to draw attention to the new book, but I can tell you that after reading his comments I have to assume the book is slanted by this crap. Count me out.
*** With tomorrow being Memorial Day, it seems appropriate to mention another new book on World War II, this time the memoir of a US fighter pilot who was shot down and fell into the hands of the SS and found himself at Buchenwald. Unlike places like Auschwitz, Buchenwald not not a death camp per se. It was a work camp, supplying slave labor for German industry, but the difference is only one of degree. Surviving Buchenwald was highly unlikely.
It was not a place captured military personnel were usually sent and Joe Moser found himself there along with other American fliers and barely escaped death. His story is told in the book A Fighter Pilot in Buchenwald, a book aviation buffs would probably enjoy.
Surviving the worst
*** Booksellers have always known that one of the biggest problems in the industry are forged signatures. By and large this doesn't apply to the lesser valued titles, books that sell for less than a couple of hundred dollars, because forging a book to sell it for $50 or so just isn't worth it. That's not to say it can't happen, just that it's rare. Used booksellers in West Tennessee that I know, and who shall remain nameless, are aware that a probable forger has been operating in a southern state for many years now. (Is that vague enough for you? Good. I love writing this blog but lawsuits aren't part of the plan.) I've talked to people who claim they know people who claim they know employees who did the actual forging.
Maybe, maybe not.
Anyway, legitimate dealers are always happy to see forgers charged and convicted, thus the following happy link, wherein a bad guy pays the piper for his crimes.
Bad guy takes the fall for forgeries
*** A sequel to Catcher in the Rye? Yep, it's true. Bet you didn't know that. Of course, it wasn't written by J.D. Salinger but you take what you can get, right? Except John David California's 60 Years Later Coming Through the Rye has caught Salinger's attention and, more importantly, the attention of his lawyers. Can you say lawsuit? This could be interesting, though, because it appears that Mr. California (I get this mental image of a big guy in Speedos, which is not an image I wanted to have) has done his homework in avoiding infringement. This one might be worth following.
Salinger isn't happy, or so we hear
*** I would put this next blogbit under the category of 'There is so much data flow happening that my brain can't pay attention to things I really would like to pay attention to.'
I'm a Sherlock Holmes fan. Not a buff, I don't read every scrap out there written by just anybody, I haven't joined my local chapter of the Giant Rats of Sumatra, but I do really enjoy the character. So, how is it that I didn't know Robert Downey, Jr., was making a new Sherlock Holmes film, one that appears from the trailer to be right up my alley? Just too much to keep up with in a world that is far too joined-at-the-hip. Information overload, indeed.
Sherlock Holmes to the Rescue
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Treasures, revisions and outrages
Good day bookies! Stand by for news and comment.
*** Who doesn't love stories of treasures lost and found? I do, for sure, and when I read about charities that have been given rare and valuable books it makes me wonder if the donators knew what they were donating. Anyway, the attached story is one such, and gives me yet another reason to want to make a book pilgrimage to England and Scotland.
Rare books left on doorstep in Edinburgh
*** Franklin Roosevelt is often held up by liberals as their vision of the nearly perfect president, just as Ronald Reagan is cited by conservatives as their template for greatness. In FDR's case one of the biggest stains on his presidency was the charge that he was indifferent to the plight of Europe's Jews as the Holocaust swept millions of them away. It has been very hard for his defenders to make a case otherwise, but a new book attempts to do just that.
The new book Refugees and Rescue makes the claim that FDR tried, starting in 1938, to allow tens of thousands of German and Austrian refugees to come to the US or Palestine, but that he was thwarted by those who didn't approve. Your friendly neighborhood bookseller hasn't read this book so he can't say how compelling the evidence might be. He can, however, say that, to contradict the rather mountainous evidence against FDR on this issue, the book will have to be pretty convincing.
Did FDR really try to save the Jews?
*** When I first logged onto the internet, when was that? 1993? 1994? It's been a long, long while. But whenever that long ago universe-changing event occurred, the first message boards that I encountered were on AOL. You paid per minute back then for internet access, AOL charged a monthly fee, but boy, what you got in return! You had instant access to people all over the world who had the same interests as you did. It was all quite grand! And AOL was leading the way. I know that I was posting there in 1997 and am pretty sure the beginning was before that.
In those days everybody was on AOL, including authors and other famous people. The Hardboiled board, a board devoted to Hardboiled PI fiction, featured as one of its posters Anthony Bourdain, whose novel Gone Bamboo, was current. He was just as funny then as now, maybe not quite as confident. But that's not the point of this entry, which is, in fact, a rambling bash of the idiots running AOL.
See, that board and all of the others I posted on were recently wiped out by the cretins whose task is apparently to destroy AOL once and for all. And, for the record, John Donahoe has nothing to do with it. This is a completely separate group of numbskulls.
Boards that were 12-14 years old, boards that were, in internet terms, historical classics, are now gone forever. And with them went a large chunk of whatever audience AOL had left. Now it's just another sterile site with nothing in particular to offer. Might as well be Yahoo. Without the traffic, that is. Who makes these decisions? Who sits in an isolated office somewhere and decides that whatever audience your site still has needs to be alienated? I don't know. Nor do I care. Whoever it is should be fired immediately, but the reality is they will probably get a huge bonus.
There is no requiem for what was lost, no mourning for the glory that was AOL. What a shame. What a damned shame.
*** Who doesn't love stories of treasures lost and found? I do, for sure, and when I read about charities that have been given rare and valuable books it makes me wonder if the donators knew what they were donating. Anyway, the attached story is one such, and gives me yet another reason to want to make a book pilgrimage to England and Scotland.
Rare books left on doorstep in Edinburgh
*** Franklin Roosevelt is often held up by liberals as their vision of the nearly perfect president, just as Ronald Reagan is cited by conservatives as their template for greatness. In FDR's case one of the biggest stains on his presidency was the charge that he was indifferent to the plight of Europe's Jews as the Holocaust swept millions of them away. It has been very hard for his defenders to make a case otherwise, but a new book attempts to do just that.
The new book Refugees and Rescue makes the claim that FDR tried, starting in 1938, to allow tens of thousands of German and Austrian refugees to come to the US or Palestine, but that he was thwarted by those who didn't approve. Your friendly neighborhood bookseller hasn't read this book so he can't say how compelling the evidence might be. He can, however, say that, to contradict the rather mountainous evidence against FDR on this issue, the book will have to be pretty convincing.
Did FDR really try to save the Jews?
*** When I first logged onto the internet, when was that? 1993? 1994? It's been a long, long while. But whenever that long ago universe-changing event occurred, the first message boards that I encountered were on AOL. You paid per minute back then for internet access, AOL charged a monthly fee, but boy, what you got in return! You had instant access to people all over the world who had the same interests as you did. It was all quite grand! And AOL was leading the way. I know that I was posting there in 1997 and am pretty sure the beginning was before that.
In those days everybody was on AOL, including authors and other famous people. The Hardboiled board, a board devoted to Hardboiled PI fiction, featured as one of its posters Anthony Bourdain, whose novel Gone Bamboo, was current. He was just as funny then as now, maybe not quite as confident. But that's not the point of this entry, which is, in fact, a rambling bash of the idiots running AOL.
See, that board and all of the others I posted on were recently wiped out by the cretins whose task is apparently to destroy AOL once and for all. And, for the record, John Donahoe has nothing to do with it. This is a completely separate group of numbskulls.
Boards that were 12-14 years old, boards that were, in internet terms, historical classics, are now gone forever. And with them went a large chunk of whatever audience AOL had left. Now it's just another sterile site with nothing in particular to offer. Might as well be Yahoo. Without the traffic, that is. Who makes these decisions? Who sits in an isolated office somewhere and decides that whatever audience your site still has needs to be alienated? I don't know. Nor do I care. Whoever it is should be fired immediately, but the reality is they will probably get a huge bonus.
There is no requiem for what was lost, no mourning for the glory that was AOL. What a shame. What a damned shame.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
This and the other, no that
Good day, bookies! It's the weekend! Stand by for book news and comment.
*** Torpedo 8. If you're a WW2 buff, I need say no more, you know exactly what this was and what happened. However, if you're not a WW2 buff, a short explanation is in order. Torpedo 8 was the carrier torpedo plane squadron that was wiped out to the last plane, and almost to the last man, during the Battle of Midway in June, 1942. Ensign George Gay was the sole survivor. This would be a tragic story if their sacrifice had not lead directly to the staggering US victory at Midway.
Torpdeo planes needed to be close to the water to drop their torpedoes, otherwise they would malfunction. The TBD Devastators of Torpedo 98 were very slow and very underarmed. Sitting ducks for the Japanese Combat Air Patrol that swooped down like hungry raptors and slaughtered them. However, by doing that the Japanese abandoned defending the higher altitudes where, just as the last of Torpedo 8 was crashing into the sea, US dive bombers appeared. Unhindered by fighters they went on to sink 3 out of the 4 Japanese aircraft carriers, effectively ending the spread of the Japanese across the Pacific and handing the initiative over to the US.
A new book, A Dawn Like Thunder by Robert J Mrazek finally does justice to the sacrifice these men made. When the Japanese CAP was swarming around them, not one plane veered off from its attack run. They all stayed on course, died, and in so doing set up victory.
The Story of Torpedo 8
*** Smith College is hosting an exhibit that I would love to see, "From Weimar to War: Popular Propaganda in Germany 1928-1941". Mostly featuring 'cigarette albums', this shows the evolution of modern propaganda under watchful eye of the man who more or less invented it, Joseph Goebbels.
German Propganda
*** This one goes under the category of 'How stupid can you possibly be?' J.K. Rowling will no longer be the patron for the Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland. Think about that a second. You are a charity, your highest profile patron is perhaps the world's most well known author, and you lose her patronage because of a management dispute? Seriously? Who are you going to get to replace her? These people are so dense, so stupid, that frankly I have to wonder if they don't serve in the US Congress, having written the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. Indeed, they may be even more doltish than the brainless fools who wiped out the used children's books business, because we expect members of Congress to be idiots, but you would hope that managers of charities might exhibit at least the slightest bit of good sense.
JK Rowling and MS Society Scotland part ways
*** Finally, an emailer asked me if there was a new book coming out titled "John Calipari will burn in Hell." I have researched this extensively and, as of this writing, I can say that I have found no evidence that such a book is being published. Lots of evidence for the premise, but none for the book. Sorry to my correspondent, but look at it as your opportunity to write the book yourself.
*** Torpedo 8. If you're a WW2 buff, I need say no more, you know exactly what this was and what happened. However, if you're not a WW2 buff, a short explanation is in order. Torpedo 8 was the carrier torpedo plane squadron that was wiped out to the last plane, and almost to the last man, during the Battle of Midway in June, 1942. Ensign George Gay was the sole survivor. This would be a tragic story if their sacrifice had not lead directly to the staggering US victory at Midway.
Torpdeo planes needed to be close to the water to drop their torpedoes, otherwise they would malfunction. The TBD Devastators of Torpedo 98 were very slow and very underarmed. Sitting ducks for the Japanese Combat Air Patrol that swooped down like hungry raptors and slaughtered them. However, by doing that the Japanese abandoned defending the higher altitudes where, just as the last of Torpedo 8 was crashing into the sea, US dive bombers appeared. Unhindered by fighters they went on to sink 3 out of the 4 Japanese aircraft carriers, effectively ending the spread of the Japanese across the Pacific and handing the initiative over to the US.
A new book, A Dawn Like Thunder by Robert J Mrazek finally does justice to the sacrifice these men made. When the Japanese CAP was swarming around them, not one plane veered off from its attack run. They all stayed on course, died, and in so doing set up victory.
The Story of Torpedo 8
*** Smith College is hosting an exhibit that I would love to see, "From Weimar to War: Popular Propaganda in Germany 1928-1941". Mostly featuring 'cigarette albums', this shows the evolution of modern propaganda under watchful eye of the man who more or less invented it, Joseph Goebbels.
German Propganda
*** This one goes under the category of 'How stupid can you possibly be?' J.K. Rowling will no longer be the patron for the Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland. Think about that a second. You are a charity, your highest profile patron is perhaps the world's most well known author, and you lose her patronage because of a management dispute? Seriously? Who are you going to get to replace her? These people are so dense, so stupid, that frankly I have to wonder if they don't serve in the US Congress, having written the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. Indeed, they may be even more doltish than the brainless fools who wiped out the used children's books business, because we expect members of Congress to be idiots, but you would hope that managers of charities might exhibit at least the slightest bit of good sense.
JK Rowling and MS Society Scotland part ways
*** Finally, an emailer asked me if there was a new book coming out titled "John Calipari will burn in Hell." I have researched this extensively and, as of this writing, I can say that I have found no evidence that such a book is being published. Lots of evidence for the premise, but none for the book. Sorry to my correspondent, but look at it as your opportunity to write the book yourself.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Long time gone
Good day bookies! Stand by for news and comment.
First of all, I know it's been a while since the last entry. Apologies, but all of those pesky realities of life are still leeching away at my time. I'm dancing as fast as I can!
*** Government, again. We seem to be entering an era where governments of all kinds feel it their inherent duty to throw as many obstacles as possible into the life of those who make a living through ecommerce. First the lunacy of the ink-in-lead issue, which appears to have gone sadly un-protested by the sheeple, and now the state government of Kentucky. That's right, a new law in Kentucky may force those trying to sell a used microwave on Craigslist to buy some groceries to have an auctioneers' license.
We've seen this sort of thing before, by the way. Usually the bots in the legislature in question have the good sense not to knuckle under to the auctioneer lobby and vote for something that would likely get them booted out of office. But not always. The requisites for holding public office these days seems to be that you A) always vote to expand government power to encroach on people's lives, and B) be too stupid to know or care about how your actions affect your constituents. Of course, those in favor of this bill say it would have no effect on online activities. And, if you choose to believe them, that's your business. But given the track record of government actions on small business people, I wouldn't bet my livelihood on them being right, and that's exactly what you would be doing.
So, all you Kentucky Bonanzlers and Ebayers, got a spare thou for that auctioneer's license laying around?
Kentucky wants blood
*** Had I been around during WW2 and destined to fight, I think the most frightening job would have been as a merchant mariner. Swabbing the deck on a tramp freighter might not seem like something dangerous, boring, maybe, but not dangerous, but it was. Lurking out there were submarines waiting to sink you. Ships in the Pacific weren't in so much danger. Japanese official policy was for submarines to seek out US warships, not attack the US supply lines. Few allied ships were sunk by Japanese submarines.
German U-Boats, however, were a different story. If your ship went down in the Atlantic you might have a long wait until rescue. Even as part of a convoy, torpedoed ships could not be guarded, they had to be left behind at the mercy of the submarines. Sometimes, the U-Boat captain would give them food and coordinates, sometimes the sub would machine gun the survivors, but mostly they would just sail off and leave them to the mercy of the Atlantic.
A new book Merchant Mariners at War: An Oral History of World War II by George Billy, gives the men who manned these most vital ships a chance to tell their story.
All hail the Merchant Marine
*** Ebay. Seriously, I don't think I could make this up if I tried. After a year of John Donohoe's inane 'disuptive innovation', of screwing up anything and everything that was ever good about the site, of alienating and insulting every honest seller the site ever had, ebay has decided that it's future market is to be...the ebay of old. That's right, abandoning their quest to become an Amazon clone, ebay has decided that it needs to be ebay.
I'm not kidding.
A year ago their stock was around $34. Today, it's around $12, and flirted with $10 for a few days. It might do so again. And for this the moron heading the company is being paid millions and millions. Which just goes to show that it's not what you know, it's not who you know, it's not even whether you are competent or not. No. It goes to show that PT Barnum was right, there's a sucker born every minute, and some of them comprise the ebay board of directors who hired this clown.
ebay: everything bad is good again
*** There was a time when books were special. You just didn't see them every day, they were expensive objects of art, cherished and handed down as heirlooms. And some few of the most special eventually wind up in museums, where they may be enjoyed by any and all.
A grand home for a rare treasure
*** In the never ending pantheon of books concerning the Nazis and World War II comes yet another in the newest sub-genre, which I have dubbed 'German Angst.' Nuremberg was and is not one of Germany's biggest cities, but where the Nazis are concerned it may be the most recognizable. So how, after the war, did those Nurembergers deal with the sudden juxtaposition of their status, from favored city of the Nazis to outcast by the Allies? A new books seeks to explain that very question. Haunted City: Nuremberg and the Nazi Past by Neil Gregory Yale does a seemingly fine job of looking at how a people and a city dealt with a history that befriended and gave succor to evil.
Nuremberg and the Nazis
First of all, I know it's been a while since the last entry. Apologies, but all of those pesky realities of life are still leeching away at my time. I'm dancing as fast as I can!
*** Government, again. We seem to be entering an era where governments of all kinds feel it their inherent duty to throw as many obstacles as possible into the life of those who make a living through ecommerce. First the lunacy of the ink-in-lead issue, which appears to have gone sadly un-protested by the sheeple, and now the state government of Kentucky. That's right, a new law in Kentucky may force those trying to sell a used microwave on Craigslist to buy some groceries to have an auctioneers' license.
We've seen this sort of thing before, by the way. Usually the bots in the legislature in question have the good sense not to knuckle under to the auctioneer lobby and vote for something that would likely get them booted out of office. But not always. The requisites for holding public office these days seems to be that you A) always vote to expand government power to encroach on people's lives, and B) be too stupid to know or care about how your actions affect your constituents. Of course, those in favor of this bill say it would have no effect on online activities. And, if you choose to believe them, that's your business. But given the track record of government actions on small business people, I wouldn't bet my livelihood on them being right, and that's exactly what you would be doing.
So, all you Kentucky Bonanzlers and Ebayers, got a spare thou for that auctioneer's license laying around?
Kentucky wants blood
*** Had I been around during WW2 and destined to fight, I think the most frightening job would have been as a merchant mariner. Swabbing the deck on a tramp freighter might not seem like something dangerous, boring, maybe, but not dangerous, but it was. Lurking out there were submarines waiting to sink you. Ships in the Pacific weren't in so much danger. Japanese official policy was for submarines to seek out US warships, not attack the US supply lines. Few allied ships were sunk by Japanese submarines.
German U-Boats, however, were a different story. If your ship went down in the Atlantic you might have a long wait until rescue. Even as part of a convoy, torpedoed ships could not be guarded, they had to be left behind at the mercy of the submarines. Sometimes, the U-Boat captain would give them food and coordinates, sometimes the sub would machine gun the survivors, but mostly they would just sail off and leave them to the mercy of the Atlantic.
A new book Merchant Mariners at War: An Oral History of World War II by George Billy, gives the men who manned these most vital ships a chance to tell their story.
All hail the Merchant Marine
*** Ebay. Seriously, I don't think I could make this up if I tried. After a year of John Donohoe's inane 'disuptive innovation', of screwing up anything and everything that was ever good about the site, of alienating and insulting every honest seller the site ever had, ebay has decided that it's future market is to be...the ebay of old. That's right, abandoning their quest to become an Amazon clone, ebay has decided that it needs to be ebay.
I'm not kidding.
A year ago their stock was around $34. Today, it's around $12, and flirted with $10 for a few days. It might do so again. And for this the moron heading the company is being paid millions and millions. Which just goes to show that it's not what you know, it's not who you know, it's not even whether you are competent or not. No. It goes to show that PT Barnum was right, there's a sucker born every minute, and some of them comprise the ebay board of directors who hired this clown.
ebay: everything bad is good again
*** There was a time when books were special. You just didn't see them every day, they were expensive objects of art, cherished and handed down as heirlooms. And some few of the most special eventually wind up in museums, where they may be enjoyed by any and all.
A grand home for a rare treasure
*** In the never ending pantheon of books concerning the Nazis and World War II comes yet another in the newest sub-genre, which I have dubbed 'German Angst.' Nuremberg was and is not one of Germany's biggest cities, but where the Nazis are concerned it may be the most recognizable. So how, after the war, did those Nurembergers deal with the sudden juxtaposition of their status, from favored city of the Nazis to outcast by the Allies? A new books seeks to explain that very question. Haunted City: Nuremberg and the Nazi Past by Neil Gregory Yale does a seemingly fine job of looking at how a people and a city dealt with a history that befriended and gave succor to evil.
Nuremberg and the Nazis
Sunday, March 1, 2009
So long, Mr. Harvey
Good morning bookies. Stand by for news.
By now you have no doubt learned that we lost Paul Harvey yesterday at age 90. It's hard to describe the vacuum that your friendly neighborhood bookseller feels because of this. Growing up in the days before talk radio was prevalent, Paul Harvey was the one radio newsman I can remember from my youth. He was a calming influence and I knew that as long as he was around, everything would turn out alright. Even to this day I have his web site bookmarked and listen to his daily newscasts whenever I have the time. 'The Rest of the Story' was and is one of my favorite programs. Damn, I'm going to miss him.
The photo above is looking out my office window. About midnight last night you would have thought we were in Alaska, the snow was pouring down, wind blowing, about as close to a blizzard as West Tennessee is ever likely to come. But, in typical West Tennessee fashion, it will all be gone quickly. This weekend it's supposed to hit the 70's. Let's hope it stays there.
*** One of the more forgotten chapters in World War II is the contribution made by women, specifically, nurses. World War II Front Line Nurse by Mildred Radawiec MacGregor seeks to rectify that a bit, giving the experience of one such lady from Michigan.
World War II Front Line Nurse
*** Boy, talk about a book that's right up my alley. The Lost City of Z by David Grann seems like something I would love to read, even without a visit to the author's website. However, given that the site is ultra-nifty, this might just be one that BBG has to go out and find for himself. Dark, foreboding jungle, a lost expedition for a city of gold, mysterious diaries...Indiana Jones at his best and truest.
DavidGrann.com
*** Finally, your friendly neighborhood bookseller attended a book signing last week given by David Kidd Books and featuring t.Jefferson Parker. I had never seen Parker before and he seemed like quite a nice guy. He spoke for about 30 minutes about how and why he writes, his day begins at 6:30 am and ends at 5 pm, Monday-Friday, no holidays. Like many authors he chose not to read from the book he was touring to support, The Renegades, and personally I prefer it this way. I mean, if you're going to read the book anyway, then why do you need the author to read it to you? But that leaves the author needing material for the obligatory talk, so I understand also why they do sometimes choose to read. Anyway, Parker didn't have anything particularly revealing to say, but I liked his explanation of why he chose to write The Renegades. The plot centers around the shipping of money from the north, aka The United States, south to Mexico. He liked this idea because normally books about the drug trade are about smuggling drugs into the US, not smuggling the money they are sold for out of the country. Nice idea. I don't usually read his stuff but I might make an exception.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Baseball is near
Good Sunday morning, bookies! It's bright skies and warmish weather here in West Tennessee and my least favorite month of the year has given way to my second-least favorite month of the year. February is a month of hope, no matter how cold it might be. Because in less than two weeks I'm going to read those magic words that mean Spring is just around the corner: 'Pitchers and catchers reported to training camp today." That's right, baseball season is getting close, and they don't call them the Boys of Winter, now do they? Heck, college baseball season starts in less than two weeks. Let's get this show on the road.
*** Sometimes I tell you things and you don't listen. Like last August when I told you about the new start-up ebay alternative I had found and made a home, Bonanzle. You didn't believe me, or you blew it off and thought 'yeah, yeah, where have I heard that before?' But here we are, six months later, with Bonanzle past the million listing mark and being heaped with praise from media everywhere. Of course, it's still early in the company's history, so you, too, can jump on the bandwagon.
Bonanzle keeps growing
*** The list of Best and Worst places to work in 2008 seems a bit harsh to me. The Best Place to work would be anywhere that gives you a paycheck that doesn't bounce. The worst would be the place that lays you off. But, using different criteria, Glassdoor has compiled its own list, presumably one of companies that actually still pay their employees. And guess who at Number 47 in the bottom 50? Yep, you guessed it, ebay. The site-that-aims-to-have-zero-traffic has never been a highly rated place to work, but bottom 50 is pretty bad. I guess John Donohoe hates his employees as much as he hates his sellers. and no, that doesn't make sense, but neither does anything else the company has done for the past year.
ebay rated as one of the worst places to work by its employees
*** Since we're on the subject of auctions sites and ebay, here's a quick little round up of what some of them plan for the immediate future:
Coming soon to a site near you
*** And, since there's more ebay stuff, we'll just pile it all on here. This actually involves more than just ebay, it's about how our beloved Congress wants to make life even harder for those trying desperately to make a little extra cash on the internet. Why people want these buffoons to have even more control of their lives is beyond me.
Of course, the irony in the attached story is that while Congress is out to destroy the small internet seller once and for all, ebay, who has spent the last year trying to do this very thing, wants help from the small seller in fighting against Congress. In other words, the Devil wants our help fighting Satan.
Two vampires fighting over the same blood
*** Ah, finally, you say. An actual blog entry about a book. Isn't that what this blog is supposed to be about?
There is an obvious new trend in World War II histories, one that is quite refreshing to someone like me, but might be easily misunderstood. Namely, historians are examining the role of the Allies in what some might call atrocities. Certainly the Americans, French and British did not set out to commit atrocities, and those that were committed were done so against the rules. But not so with the Red Army, whose behavior in Germany was at least as bad, if not worse, than the German behavior in the USSR. But the Germans had in coming, you say? Not so fast there, bucko.
Let us not forget that until June, 1941, the USSR was no friend of either England or the USA. Stalin had, by that point, invaded and conquered half of Poland (we always forget that the Red Army also attacked Poland in September of 1939), the three Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, had attacked Finland (without provocation or warning) and taken the Karelian Isthmus for herself, had taken Bessarabia from Rumania...in other words, Stalin was every bit the aggressor that Hitler was, except that his conquests did not have ties of allegiance to the west. Nor was he any less bloody in his treatment of the populace. How many Ukranians were killed during the collectivization of the 20's? Millions, surely, but how many millions? 10-20 million is the figure I see most often.
So the Russo-German War was, in reality, a clash between one murderous dictator and another, nothing more, nothing less. Does the fact that Stalin was an ally of the West during the war years excuse the Red Army's barbarous behavior? It's a question that probably could not have been asked until recently.
Here's a seven year review of Anthony Beevor's Berlin: The Downfall, who was the first of the big named authors to start down this path.
The Red Army's bloody road of rape
*** Hallelujah, hallelujah, we are saved from ourselves by the US Congress! But not for another year.
Bookies have read my rants about the idiotic new anti-lead law passed by the US Congress that was so poorly written that it banned almost anything that could even be seen by a kid under 12, including used books. I commented at the time that, like almost everything Congress does, it was so out of touch with reality that it would need to be seriously amended, delayed or cancelled. Well, the government has picked delay. The silliness won't go into effect until next year, presumably so they can issue guidelines to try and make sense of the senseless.
I say again, just ban imports from China and be done with it.
*** Sometimes I tell you things and you don't listen. Like last August when I told you about the new start-up ebay alternative I had found and made a home, Bonanzle. You didn't believe me, or you blew it off and thought 'yeah, yeah, where have I heard that before?' But here we are, six months later, with Bonanzle past the million listing mark and being heaped with praise from media everywhere. Of course, it's still early in the company's history, so you, too, can jump on the bandwagon.
Bonanzle keeps growing
*** The list of Best and Worst places to work in 2008 seems a bit harsh to me. The Best Place to work would be anywhere that gives you a paycheck that doesn't bounce. The worst would be the place that lays you off. But, using different criteria, Glassdoor has compiled its own list, presumably one of companies that actually still pay their employees. And guess who at Number 47 in the bottom 50? Yep, you guessed it, ebay. The site-that-aims-to-have-zero-traffic has never been a highly rated place to work, but bottom 50 is pretty bad. I guess John Donohoe hates his employees as much as he hates his sellers. and no, that doesn't make sense, but neither does anything else the company has done for the past year.
ebay rated as one of the worst places to work by its employees
*** Since we're on the subject of auctions sites and ebay, here's a quick little round up of what some of them plan for the immediate future:
Coming soon to a site near you
*** And, since there's more ebay stuff, we'll just pile it all on here. This actually involves more than just ebay, it's about how our beloved Congress wants to make life even harder for those trying desperately to make a little extra cash on the internet. Why people want these buffoons to have even more control of their lives is beyond me.
Of course, the irony in the attached story is that while Congress is out to destroy the small internet seller once and for all, ebay, who has spent the last year trying to do this very thing, wants help from the small seller in fighting against Congress. In other words, the Devil wants our help fighting Satan.
Two vampires fighting over the same blood
*** Ah, finally, you say. An actual blog entry about a book. Isn't that what this blog is supposed to be about?
There is an obvious new trend in World War II histories, one that is quite refreshing to someone like me, but might be easily misunderstood. Namely, historians are examining the role of the Allies in what some might call atrocities. Certainly the Americans, French and British did not set out to commit atrocities, and those that were committed were done so against the rules. But not so with the Red Army, whose behavior in Germany was at least as bad, if not worse, than the German behavior in the USSR. But the Germans had in coming, you say? Not so fast there, bucko.
Let us not forget that until June, 1941, the USSR was no friend of either England or the USA. Stalin had, by that point, invaded and conquered half of Poland (we always forget that the Red Army also attacked Poland in September of 1939), the three Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, had attacked Finland (without provocation or warning) and taken the Karelian Isthmus for herself, had taken Bessarabia from Rumania...in other words, Stalin was every bit the aggressor that Hitler was, except that his conquests did not have ties of allegiance to the west. Nor was he any less bloody in his treatment of the populace. How many Ukranians were killed during the collectivization of the 20's? Millions, surely, but how many millions? 10-20 million is the figure I see most often.
So the Russo-German War was, in reality, a clash between one murderous dictator and another, nothing more, nothing less. Does the fact that Stalin was an ally of the West during the war years excuse the Red Army's barbarous behavior? It's a question that probably could not have been asked until recently.
Here's a seven year review of Anthony Beevor's Berlin: The Downfall, who was the first of the big named authors to start down this path.
The Red Army's bloody road of rape
*** Hallelujah, hallelujah, we are saved from ourselves by the US Congress! But not for another year.
Bookies have read my rants about the idiotic new anti-lead law passed by the US Congress that was so poorly written that it banned almost anything that could even be seen by a kid under 12, including used books. I commented at the time that, like almost everything Congress does, it was so out of touch with reality that it would need to be seriously amended, delayed or cancelled. Well, the government has picked delay. The silliness won't go into effect until next year, presumably so they can issue guidelines to try and make sense of the senseless.
I say again, just ban imports from China and be done with it.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Gaiman, Lee, Updike, Brady and the Z Plan
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news and comment.
There's white stuff on the ground here in Memphis. It's disgusting, let me tell you. I prefer it when that big yellow thing is up in the sky and you can wear shorts and t-shirts without shivering. People ask me if I don't enjoy the change of seasons and the short answer is: no.
*** Neil Gaiman has made a career of creeping out adults and has now set his sights on our kids, writing horror stories for the innocent and unsuspecting. And he must be good at it, or bad, depending on your point of view, because his latest work, The Graveyard Book, has won the Newberry Medal. Talk about prestigious! In case you don't know, winning the Newberry is a pretty big deal, about like winning the lottery, because it virtually guarantees that your book will remain in print in one form or another for years to come.
Gaiman spooks out the kiddies
*** The first of today's obligatory World War II reviews is rather interesting to me, concerning, as it does, a ship that was never finished. As all of you know I'm a real naval enthusiast, always have been. The earliest books that I remember reading were histories of the US Navy in World War II, I have an extensive collection of lead warships, I have read histories of both of Japan's biggest battleships, Yamato and Musashi, as well as their sister ship that was converted to an aircraft carrier, Shinano, I'm a Titanic buff...well, anyway, I like ships. I was mildly surprised, however, to learn that someone is obsessed with and has written a new history about the Graf Zeppelin, the one and only carrier that Nazi Germany launched during its brief history.
Conceived as part of Germany's overall naval buildup, known as the Z-Plan, Graf Zeppelin wasn't meant to be a fighting force in itself, such as the American task forces that roamed the Pacific. It wasn't a particularly impressive ship, despite the breathless hyperbole of the linked article. Although as long as most full-sized carriers, it's air complement gave it the striking power of a light carrier. The planes would have been modified Stukas, with torpedo bombers and fighters designed for use on a ship. ME-109's would not have worked due to their weird landing gear. None of these planes was overly advanced, none carried a big enough payload to really due the damage needed by a lone carrier. Now, had she ever been on the high seas in tandem with, say, either Bismarck or Tirpitz, or convoy raiding on the Murmansk run, then okay, there was a use providing air cover for other ships, scouting duties and maybe chasing away some cruisers or getting a hit or two on a battleship and forcing them back to port. And this was her intended role.
But a monster, she was not. In a carrier-versus-carrier battle Graf Zeppelin would have been kicked around pretty well. So I would like to read the book Without Wings: The Story of Hitler's Aircraft Carrier by Stephen Burke, I'm curious what his conclusions might be, as well as any interesting tidbits he's dug up about Graf Zeppelin's brief history. I might get this one.
Graf Zeppelin and one hyperbolic journalist
*** And next we have yet another new World War II history book article written by yet another breathless journalist who insists on making his subject bigger and more important than is necessary. Dolloping on the hyperbole we are told that a new history of the US 99th Division 'explodes the myth!' of this or that aspect of the war, where the only person who might have believed such a myth in the first place is the writer of the article. I mean, let's face it, does Once Upon a Time in War: The 99th Division in World War II by Robert Humphrey really explode any myths that World War II was glorious, glamorous or easy? Come on. Hollywood told this story as early as 1949, with an all-star cast. Anybody seen 'Battleground' with Van Johnson lately? What about 'Band of Brothers', that ring any bells?
What this book appears to be is actually something I might read, an oral history of the 99th Division from the standpoint of the GIs who did the fighting. That's an interesting and important story. It doesn't need to be hyped with exclamation points of hack phrases like 'explodes the myth.' Any World War II buff knows that the greatest weakness of the US Army in World War II was in its officer corps. Some senior commanders were top-notch, Patton comes to mind, some weren't bad, Bradley and Eisenhower are good examples, and some were grossly incompetent. (Mark Clark, anyone?) What was worse was the leadership void just below that level, and particularly in the supply services. The article indicates that the men suffered from poor logistics; given the corruption in the ETO that's certainly possible.
Anyway, this book looks like my sort of book and I might read it. Despite the article.
The 99th Division in World War II
*** Hoaxes. Let's face it, we all enjoy reading about a good hoax. And while the linked article might not be the Top 10 Hoaxes of all time (are you telling me the Romans or Egyptians didn't have hoaxers too, but history has forgotten them?), they are 10 fascinating examples of gullibility. And since several of them are books it is relevant to this blog. Neat how I make up the rules as I go, isn't it?
Hoaxes
*** John Updike died yesterday. You probably already knew that. I count myself fortunate for having been able to see him a few years ago on the campus at the University of Memphis. He spoke for an hour or so, this was right after the release of Terrorist, and I was first in line for the book-signing afterward. (I don't know how long he was there, but the line was several hundred people in length.) He was quite funny and polished during the talk. I'm told he was paid $50k for showing up, which seems like quite a bit until you consider that he either A) needed the money or B) couldn't turn down such a massive payday. Whichever is the case, I had a great time and I'm saddened that he's gone.
John Updike dead at 76
*** Also gone is novelist/editor James Brady, aged 80. I have never read any of his work but those I trust tell me he was quite good. He seems to have been known mostly as a 'gossip pioneer', what that is. I thought gossip had been around a lot longer than that.
RIP James Brady
*** Gack! Stan Lee is getting sued for $750 million. Double gack! That's a chunk o' change. It seems shareholders in his company are wondering why he, and not they, got the payout from the many mega-hit movies based on Marvel comic characters Lee created. Beats me why not. I do know that when this much money starts floating around, lawsuits are inevitable.
I hope Stan Lee has a good lawyer. 'Nuff said
There's white stuff on the ground here in Memphis. It's disgusting, let me tell you. I prefer it when that big yellow thing is up in the sky and you can wear shorts and t-shirts without shivering. People ask me if I don't enjoy the change of seasons and the short answer is: no.
*** Neil Gaiman has made a career of creeping out adults and has now set his sights on our kids, writing horror stories for the innocent and unsuspecting. And he must be good at it, or bad, depending on your point of view, because his latest work, The Graveyard Book, has won the Newberry Medal. Talk about prestigious! In case you don't know, winning the Newberry is a pretty big deal, about like winning the lottery, because it virtually guarantees that your book will remain in print in one form or another for years to come.
Gaiman spooks out the kiddies
*** The first of today's obligatory World War II reviews is rather interesting to me, concerning, as it does, a ship that was never finished. As all of you know I'm a real naval enthusiast, always have been. The earliest books that I remember reading were histories of the US Navy in World War II, I have an extensive collection of lead warships, I have read histories of both of Japan's biggest battleships, Yamato and Musashi, as well as their sister ship that was converted to an aircraft carrier, Shinano, I'm a Titanic buff...well, anyway, I like ships. I was mildly surprised, however, to learn that someone is obsessed with and has written a new history about the Graf Zeppelin, the one and only carrier that Nazi Germany launched during its brief history.
Conceived as part of Germany's overall naval buildup, known as the Z-Plan, Graf Zeppelin wasn't meant to be a fighting force in itself, such as the American task forces that roamed the Pacific. It wasn't a particularly impressive ship, despite the breathless hyperbole of the linked article. Although as long as most full-sized carriers, it's air complement gave it the striking power of a light carrier. The planes would have been modified Stukas, with torpedo bombers and fighters designed for use on a ship. ME-109's would not have worked due to their weird landing gear. None of these planes was overly advanced, none carried a big enough payload to really due the damage needed by a lone carrier. Now, had she ever been on the high seas in tandem with, say, either Bismarck or Tirpitz, or convoy raiding on the Murmansk run, then okay, there was a use providing air cover for other ships, scouting duties and maybe chasing away some cruisers or getting a hit or two on a battleship and forcing them back to port. And this was her intended role.
But a monster, she was not. In a carrier-versus-carrier battle Graf Zeppelin would have been kicked around pretty well. So I would like to read the book Without Wings: The Story of Hitler's Aircraft Carrier by Stephen Burke, I'm curious what his conclusions might be, as well as any interesting tidbits he's dug up about Graf Zeppelin's brief history. I might get this one.
Graf Zeppelin and one hyperbolic journalist
*** And next we have yet another new World War II history book article written by yet another breathless journalist who insists on making his subject bigger and more important than is necessary. Dolloping on the hyperbole we are told that a new history of the US 99th Division 'explodes the myth!' of this or that aspect of the war, where the only person who might have believed such a myth in the first place is the writer of the article. I mean, let's face it, does Once Upon a Time in War: The 99th Division in World War II by Robert Humphrey really explode any myths that World War II was glorious, glamorous or easy? Come on. Hollywood told this story as early as 1949, with an all-star cast. Anybody seen 'Battleground' with Van Johnson lately? What about 'Band of Brothers', that ring any bells?
What this book appears to be is actually something I might read, an oral history of the 99th Division from the standpoint of the GIs who did the fighting. That's an interesting and important story. It doesn't need to be hyped with exclamation points of hack phrases like 'explodes the myth.' Any World War II buff knows that the greatest weakness of the US Army in World War II was in its officer corps. Some senior commanders were top-notch, Patton comes to mind, some weren't bad, Bradley and Eisenhower are good examples, and some were grossly incompetent. (Mark Clark, anyone?) What was worse was the leadership void just below that level, and particularly in the supply services. The article indicates that the men suffered from poor logistics; given the corruption in the ETO that's certainly possible.
Anyway, this book looks like my sort of book and I might read it. Despite the article.
The 99th Division in World War II
*** Hoaxes. Let's face it, we all enjoy reading about a good hoax. And while the linked article might not be the Top 10 Hoaxes of all time (are you telling me the Romans or Egyptians didn't have hoaxers too, but history has forgotten them?), they are 10 fascinating examples of gullibility. And since several of them are books it is relevant to this blog. Neat how I make up the rules as I go, isn't it?
Hoaxes
*** John Updike died yesterday. You probably already knew that. I count myself fortunate for having been able to see him a few years ago on the campus at the University of Memphis. He spoke for an hour or so, this was right after the release of Terrorist, and I was first in line for the book-signing afterward. (I don't know how long he was there, but the line was several hundred people in length.) He was quite funny and polished during the talk. I'm told he was paid $50k for showing up, which seems like quite a bit until you consider that he either A) needed the money or B) couldn't turn down such a massive payday. Whichever is the case, I had a great time and I'm saddened that he's gone.
John Updike dead at 76
*** Also gone is novelist/editor James Brady, aged 80. I have never read any of his work but those I trust tell me he was quite good. He seems to have been known mostly as a 'gossip pioneer', what that is. I thought gossip had been around a lot longer than that.
RIP James Brady
*** Gack! Stan Lee is getting sued for $750 million. Double gack! That's a chunk o' change. It seems shareholders in his company are wondering why he, and not they, got the payout from the many mega-hit movies based on Marvel comic characters Lee created. Beats me why not. I do know that when this much money starts floating around, lawsuits are inevitable.
I hope Stan Lee has a good lawyer. 'Nuff said
Sunday, January 25, 2009
A Sunday special
Good Sunday morning bookies! Stand by for news.
A very grateful shout-out to the best-selling children's author who wrote me a nice email over my views of promoting children's reading. If he grants permission I will reprint his email here. It shows the power of the internet that my work can come to the attention of such a well-known author and that he would find value there.
*** Good grief. We all know that forgery is a problem in the book industry, especially when dealing with uber-expensive books, but greed and stupidity only go so far in explaining how a Reading, PA, ebay seller got away with peddling books with forged signatures for years. As the article explains, he had stamps made from authentic signatures. STAMPS! Even your friendly neighborhood booksellers has a lighted high-magnification tool for examining signatures that he did not get in person, and that's all it would take to spot a stamped signature, a cursory look, the barest bit of due diligence.
Forgeries for Dummies
*** Here is today's World War II book review. I know, it does seem that way, doesn't it? For history buffs I'm sure this is great. For those who don't read history, not so much. Well, look at it this way, you're doing research for that next gift you need to buy for a history lover.
Another end of World War II book, and there seems to be a new emphasis on the Allied attitude toward the liberated and conquered people, each with its own agenda. The pro-German writers all dwell on how badly the German population was treated, Nazi or not, and they do have a point. The greatest diaspora in European history was the driving of ethnic Germans from their homelands outside Germany in post-war Europe. On the other hand, anti-German writers take a different tack and emphasize collective guilt. Today's writer of the moment, William Hitchcock, appears to be of the opinion that the French and the Dutch are the aggrieved parties. What is never quite pointed out is that the real aggrieved party is the one whose country wasn't invaded, but showed up to bail everybody out of the predicament they caused, namely, America.
Liberation: The Bitter Road to Freedom
*** This past Monday saw the 200th birthday celebration of a genius, Edgar Allan Poe. When you consider what a deeply trouble man he was it's incredible what he achieved in such a short span of life. Your friendly neighborhood bookseller has been to the University of Virgina and seen his room there, very small, dark, unheated except for the fireplace...to create whole new genres of prose (I am one who credits Poe with having invented the modern detective story) under conditions that modern Man considers primitive, is an amazing accomplishment. Seriously, think about just what a talent this man was.
One of the newer competitions among middle schools these days is Forensics. No, not cutting up corpses, that's forensic pathology. I'm talking about this:
The American Forensic Association
BBG has first hand knowledge of this organization and its wonderful and wondrous activities. Essentially, it's a competition between schools based on public speaking, with categories such as Poetry, Prose, Extemporaneous, Humorous and many others. It promotes and develops public speaking ability among children when they are still quite young and, even if they never win a competition, when they are grown they have no fear of speaking before an audience because they have been trained to do so.
Okay, with the commercial out of the way, what does this have to do with Poe? His work is probably chosen more often for use in Forensics competitions than any other writer. the Tell-Tale Heart I have seen performed by at least five poeple and, when done well, is still a winner. so, 200 years on, Poe is still not only relevant, but downright influential.
Poe turns 200, but doesn't look a day over 150
*** Ah, Florence, Italy. Home of the Uffizi Gallery, David, Brunelleschi's Dome, gypsies begging money from you as you stand in line to climb the steps to the top of that dome, a really cool bookstore across the street from the Uffizi, the Pitti Palace...well, okay, you get the idea. Florence is the home of the Renaissance and, one imagines, embodies the beauty Man can produce. One forgets that Florence is also home to the Monster of Florence, a serial killer in the mold a Jack the Ripper/Hannibal Lechter fusion, a pitiless murderer who has never been caught or identified. What's worse, he's current.
As you would expect there have been numerous books, documentaries, etc., speculating on who is the killer. A man was convicted of the crimes only to have his conviction overturned on appeal. People have been threatened with arrest for their work covering this subject, a notion foreign to Americans, and best-selling crime novelist Douglas Preston has been warned to leave Italy because of his new book. Here's a review:
The Monster of Florence
*** Those who know me know that Dennis Lehane's Shutter Island is near the top of my all-time 'I Hated It' List. Not for the same reason as, say, The Da Vinci Code Or The Third Secret, both of which were dreadful books featuring ridiculous 'research', third-grade level writing and a real passion for Catholic-bashing. No, Shutter Island was beautifully written and highly original. Lehane is the real deal, even if I don't care for his work. In this I am, and should be, in the vast minority. Good. I have met Lehane twice and I really, really like the guy. Very polite, very smart, very dedicated. I just don't like his work.
Anyway, that probably says more about me than about him, so let's post this interview for those who are in the vast majority and love his stuff. And I say, good. I hope he gets even richer than he already is.
Lehane on the line
>>> What I'm reading: "The Six Sacred Stones" by Matthew Reilly.
A very grateful shout-out to the best-selling children's author who wrote me a nice email over my views of promoting children's reading. If he grants permission I will reprint his email here. It shows the power of the internet that my work can come to the attention of such a well-known author and that he would find value there.
*** Good grief. We all know that forgery is a problem in the book industry, especially when dealing with uber-expensive books, but greed and stupidity only go so far in explaining how a Reading, PA, ebay seller got away with peddling books with forged signatures for years. As the article explains, he had stamps made from authentic signatures. STAMPS! Even your friendly neighborhood booksellers has a lighted high-magnification tool for examining signatures that he did not get in person, and that's all it would take to spot a stamped signature, a cursory look, the barest bit of due diligence.
Forgeries for Dummies
*** Here is today's World War II book review. I know, it does seem that way, doesn't it? For history buffs I'm sure this is great. For those who don't read history, not so much. Well, look at it this way, you're doing research for that next gift you need to buy for a history lover.
Another end of World War II book, and there seems to be a new emphasis on the Allied attitude toward the liberated and conquered people, each with its own agenda. The pro-German writers all dwell on how badly the German population was treated, Nazi or not, and they do have a point. The greatest diaspora in European history was the driving of ethnic Germans from their homelands outside Germany in post-war Europe. On the other hand, anti-German writers take a different tack and emphasize collective guilt. Today's writer of the moment, William Hitchcock, appears to be of the opinion that the French and the Dutch are the aggrieved parties. What is never quite pointed out is that the real aggrieved party is the one whose country wasn't invaded, but showed up to bail everybody out of the predicament they caused, namely, America.
Liberation: The Bitter Road to Freedom
*** This past Monday saw the 200th birthday celebration of a genius, Edgar Allan Poe. When you consider what a deeply trouble man he was it's incredible what he achieved in such a short span of life. Your friendly neighborhood bookseller has been to the University of Virgina and seen his room there, very small, dark, unheated except for the fireplace...to create whole new genres of prose (I am one who credits Poe with having invented the modern detective story) under conditions that modern Man considers primitive, is an amazing accomplishment. Seriously, think about just what a talent this man was.
One of the newer competitions among middle schools these days is Forensics. No, not cutting up corpses, that's forensic pathology. I'm talking about this:
The American Forensic Association
BBG has first hand knowledge of this organization and its wonderful and wondrous activities. Essentially, it's a competition between schools based on public speaking, with categories such as Poetry, Prose, Extemporaneous, Humorous and many others. It promotes and develops public speaking ability among children when they are still quite young and, even if they never win a competition, when they are grown they have no fear of speaking before an audience because they have been trained to do so.
Okay, with the commercial out of the way, what does this have to do with Poe? His work is probably chosen more often for use in Forensics competitions than any other writer. the Tell-Tale Heart I have seen performed by at least five poeple and, when done well, is still a winner. so, 200 years on, Poe is still not only relevant, but downright influential.
Poe turns 200, but doesn't look a day over 150
*** Ah, Florence, Italy. Home of the Uffizi Gallery, David, Brunelleschi's Dome, gypsies begging money from you as you stand in line to climb the steps to the top of that dome, a really cool bookstore across the street from the Uffizi, the Pitti Palace...well, okay, you get the idea. Florence is the home of the Renaissance and, one imagines, embodies the beauty Man can produce. One forgets that Florence is also home to the Monster of Florence, a serial killer in the mold a Jack the Ripper/Hannibal Lechter fusion, a pitiless murderer who has never been caught or identified. What's worse, he's current.
As you would expect there have been numerous books, documentaries, etc., speculating on who is the killer. A man was convicted of the crimes only to have his conviction overturned on appeal. People have been threatened with arrest for their work covering this subject, a notion foreign to Americans, and best-selling crime novelist Douglas Preston has been warned to leave Italy because of his new book. Here's a review:
The Monster of Florence
*** Those who know me know that Dennis Lehane's Shutter Island is near the top of my all-time 'I Hated It' List. Not for the same reason as, say, The Da Vinci Code Or The Third Secret, both of which were dreadful books featuring ridiculous 'research', third-grade level writing and a real passion for Catholic-bashing. No, Shutter Island was beautifully written and highly original. Lehane is the real deal, even if I don't care for his work. In this I am, and should be, in the vast minority. Good. I have met Lehane twice and I really, really like the guy. Very polite, very smart, very dedicated. I just don't like his work.
Anyway, that probably says more about me than about him, so let's post this interview for those who are in the vast majority and love his stuff. And I say, good. I hope he gets even richer than he already is.
Lehane on the line
>>> What I'm reading: "The Six Sacred Stones" by Matthew Reilly.
Friday, January 16, 2009
This, that, the other and more
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news and comment.
When I said I might miss a few blogs this week, I didn't think it would mean the whole week. Sorry about that. I was in Arlington, VA., for the funeral of my uncle, a most solemn and moving experience. It's hard to express how you feel when you realize that someone you thought of as merely 'uncle so and so', a nice man who was there your whole life wearing his cherished but heavily worn jacket, his baggy pants, paying you to wrap his Christmas gifts when you were a kid, growing his own vegetables and pickling them for Christmas gifts, that seemingly ordinary man who was your uncle earned through his career the honor that brought 40-50 men and women of the United States Army to venture out into the January cold for his funeral, people he had never met but who honored him as one of their own. There was a band, an honor guard, a horse-drawn caisson, the riderless horse with the boots backward in the stirrups. There was the shooting guard firing its salute, and an honest-to-goodness bugler to blow Taps. He was buried less than 200 yards from his oldest brother, both in the shadow of the Pentagon. From five brothers born to a middle class family, two are buried at Arlington.
I guess I always knew my uncle was special, just not special in this particular way.
Now I'm back, so let's get to blogging.
*** Okay, someone has my ideal life. Or one of my ideal lives, anyway. Running a bookstore on the high seas. Yep. If we can have a ship that is a floating condo complex, why not one that is a giant bookstore? This is one of the neatest things I've ever seen, I wonder if it could navigate the Mississippi River up to Memphis? I have to assume that the books are all new, unless the public brings in their used books to sell (trade?) while the ship is in port, which would really be kind of neat. The link is to an older story about the ship, there are newer stories but this one had the best pictures.
Floating bookstore
*** During the 60's and 70's there was a flurry of activity surrounding Japanese soldiers who were left behind and forgotten on various islands scattered around the Pacific during World War II, men who didn't know the war had ended and were still fighting (or, mostly hiding from) US forces. I have read the autobiography of one such man, Onoda, who was trapped on a small Phillippine Island until 1974 but who was accused of cowardice on his return to Japan. (The Japanese of the pre-war period weren't big on forgiveness) Now here's the story of another such man who, for some inexplicable reason, lived a similar story but was NOT thought of as a coward on his return to Japan. I think to know the reason one was thought a coward and the other was not, you would need to be Japanese.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/KA17Dh01.html
*** I know, you're going into withdrawal. It's been more than a week without a story bashing ebay. Well, this is a Bonanzle story, not an ebay, exactly. Of course, without ebay's momentous choke job last year there would not BE a Bonanzle, not one growing so fast as the 2009 version, anyway, so the following story from CNN shows just how far the little-site-that-could has come. More than 20,000 members now and you can only think it will grow exponentially from his point.
*** Bonanzle gaining steam and members
*** The demise of the independent bookstore is rather an old story by now, but there is still room to mourn when a good one goes under. I never shopped at Cody's, but it seems like the sort of store that I would have liked. Our local independent small-chain seller, Davis-Kidd books, is terrific, the personnel irreplaceable, but one can only hope they are in this for the long run. Losing them would hurt very badly, so I understand the sense of loss for Cody's loyal customers.
A good one bites the dust
*** There was a time when I took historian David Irving seriously. As did many other people, I might add. He was British, he was a historian, he sounded good and had the right credentials. His opinions were a bit different than most, but so what? Mine are too. Of course, this was before he wound up in jail in Austria for denying the Holocaust. (As an American this seems bizarre, that someone could be thrown in jail for espousing a political view, even one as awful as this. But if I am ever in Austria again, and I hope that I am, you can be sure I won't be denying the Holocaust or Sieg Heil-ing down Kartnerstrasse, even if I were so inclined, which I'm not. I mean, how stupid can you be?)
Anyway, Irving lost pretty much all credibility when he went about saying the Holocaust wasn't real and didn't happen, but this has lead to a most interesting turn: Irving, it seems, was chosen by Hitler himself to be his biographer. Not that the two ever met, of course. Irving spent part of his childhood dodging bombs dropped by the Luftwaffe and was still a child when Hitler ate the end of a Walther. But, no matter. Hitler somehow knew Irving would come along one day and appointed him the task of writing his 'true' biography. How could he know such a thing? don't think about it, you'll get a headache. Instead, read the attached article, it's fascinating and eerie and you'll hope you're never sitting next to Irving on a long plane flight.
David Irving is even stranger than you thought
*** I note that Patrick McGoohan died Tuesday in L.A. 'The Prisoner' was one of those fleeting moments of remembered greatness in one's youth, so transitorily wonderful that you never forget it. During one of my two years at UT Knoxville there was a marathon of 'The Prisoner's' one and only season that I sat through until my backside ached. The series was one of those that was so uniquely English that it could never have been made anywhere else, and efforts to try would have failed miserably.
A legend has passed.
*** Not merely one legend, however. I see where sir John Mortimer has died and this is truly a loss that I will feel. For those who haven't discovered Rumpole of the Bailey, I feel sorry for you. Second only to PG Wodehouse in my estimation of the great 20th century British humorists, Mortimer could seemingly will laughs from even the most dour reader. 'She Who Must Be Obeyed' is something all husbands can relate to and none would admit to doing so. Sigh...
No more Rumpole
When I said I might miss a few blogs this week, I didn't think it would mean the whole week. Sorry about that. I was in Arlington, VA., for the funeral of my uncle, a most solemn and moving experience. It's hard to express how you feel when you realize that someone you thought of as merely 'uncle so and so', a nice man who was there your whole life wearing his cherished but heavily worn jacket, his baggy pants, paying you to wrap his Christmas gifts when you were a kid, growing his own vegetables and pickling them for Christmas gifts, that seemingly ordinary man who was your uncle earned through his career the honor that brought 40-50 men and women of the United States Army to venture out into the January cold for his funeral, people he had never met but who honored him as one of their own. There was a band, an honor guard, a horse-drawn caisson, the riderless horse with the boots backward in the stirrups. There was the shooting guard firing its salute, and an honest-to-goodness bugler to blow Taps. He was buried less than 200 yards from his oldest brother, both in the shadow of the Pentagon. From five brothers born to a middle class family, two are buried at Arlington.
I guess I always knew my uncle was special, just not special in this particular way.
Now I'm back, so let's get to blogging.
*** Okay, someone has my ideal life. Or one of my ideal lives, anyway. Running a bookstore on the high seas. Yep. If we can have a ship that is a floating condo complex, why not one that is a giant bookstore? This is one of the neatest things I've ever seen, I wonder if it could navigate the Mississippi River up to Memphis? I have to assume that the books are all new, unless the public brings in their used books to sell (trade?) while the ship is in port, which would really be kind of neat. The link is to an older story about the ship, there are newer stories but this one had the best pictures.
Floating bookstore
*** During the 60's and 70's there was a flurry of activity surrounding Japanese soldiers who were left behind and forgotten on various islands scattered around the Pacific during World War II, men who didn't know the war had ended and were still fighting (or, mostly hiding from) US forces. I have read the autobiography of one such man, Onoda, who was trapped on a small Phillippine Island until 1974 but who was accused of cowardice on his return to Japan. (The Japanese of the pre-war period weren't big on forgiveness) Now here's the story of another such man who, for some inexplicable reason, lived a similar story but was NOT thought of as a coward on his return to Japan. I think to know the reason one was thought a coward and the other was not, you would need to be Japanese.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/KA17Dh01.html
*** I know, you're going into withdrawal. It's been more than a week without a story bashing ebay. Well, this is a Bonanzle story, not an ebay, exactly. Of course, without ebay's momentous choke job last year there would not BE a Bonanzle, not one growing so fast as the 2009 version, anyway, so the following story from CNN shows just how far the little-site-that-could has come. More than 20,000 members now and you can only think it will grow exponentially from his point.
*** Bonanzle gaining steam and members
*** The demise of the independent bookstore is rather an old story by now, but there is still room to mourn when a good one goes under. I never shopped at Cody's, but it seems like the sort of store that I would have liked. Our local independent small-chain seller, Davis-Kidd books, is terrific, the personnel irreplaceable, but one can only hope they are in this for the long run. Losing them would hurt very badly, so I understand the sense of loss for Cody's loyal customers.
A good one bites the dust
*** There was a time when I took historian David Irving seriously. As did many other people, I might add. He was British, he was a historian, he sounded good and had the right credentials. His opinions were a bit different than most, but so what? Mine are too. Of course, this was before he wound up in jail in Austria for denying the Holocaust. (As an American this seems bizarre, that someone could be thrown in jail for espousing a political view, even one as awful as this. But if I am ever in Austria again, and I hope that I am, you can be sure I won't be denying the Holocaust or Sieg Heil-ing down Kartnerstrasse, even if I were so inclined, which I'm not. I mean, how stupid can you be?)
Anyway, Irving lost pretty much all credibility when he went about saying the Holocaust wasn't real and didn't happen, but this has lead to a most interesting turn: Irving, it seems, was chosen by Hitler himself to be his biographer. Not that the two ever met, of course. Irving spent part of his childhood dodging bombs dropped by the Luftwaffe and was still a child when Hitler ate the end of a Walther. But, no matter. Hitler somehow knew Irving would come along one day and appointed him the task of writing his 'true' biography. How could he know such a thing? don't think about it, you'll get a headache. Instead, read the attached article, it's fascinating and eerie and you'll hope you're never sitting next to Irving on a long plane flight.
David Irving is even stranger than you thought
*** I note that Patrick McGoohan died Tuesday in L.A. 'The Prisoner' was one of those fleeting moments of remembered greatness in one's youth, so transitorily wonderful that you never forget it. During one of my two years at UT Knoxville there was a marathon of 'The Prisoner's' one and only season that I sat through until my backside ached. The series was one of those that was so uniquely English that it could never have been made anywhere else, and efforts to try would have failed miserably.
A legend has passed.
*** Not merely one legend, however. I see where sir John Mortimer has died and this is truly a loss that I will feel. For those who haven't discovered Rumpole of the Bailey, I feel sorry for you. Second only to PG Wodehouse in my estimation of the great 20th century British humorists, Mortimer could seemingly will laughs from even the most dour reader. 'She Who Must Be Obeyed' is something all husbands can relate to and none would admit to doing so. Sigh...
No more Rumpole
Monday, December 22, 2008
Patton and models
*** A former OSS agent claims in a new book that there was an assassination plot that lead to the death of General George S. Patton. Patton, as you know, was killed in a car wreck before 1945 was over. While stationed in Europe with the army of occupation he had been making noises about the dangers of the Soviet Union, and felt that a war with the USSR was inevitable and we might as well get on with it while the military forces were in place.
In Target Patton author Robert Wilcox makes his case, based on the diaries of an OSS assassin. Most of you know that your friendly neighborhood bookseller leads a double life, with his alter-ego being that of writer. And yes, he has been paid for his work on World War II, a modest bit, but still. So BBG has at least some street cred when it comes to matters of WW2. And he thinks this whole this is entirely possible.
The actions of the US leadership in World War II, both civilian and military, were, at times, scandalous. Taken overall American generalship, that is, high ranking American military leaders, could be considered as mediocre. For every George Patton there was a Mark Clark, or Dwight Eisenhower. The best thing that can be said for the American leadership was that Sir Bernard Law Montgomery was not one of them.
Anyway, I will read this book. It comes on the heel's of the recent spate of post-war books I've read, including the massively influential The Wages of Destruction and my current read, After the Reich. It also ties in with the book I am currently researching. Here's a couple of links for you to decide for yourself.
Target Patton
http://www.robertkwilcox.com/
*** This isn't book related, it's mopey nostalgia. Sorry. When I was a kid, not long ago, I built model airplanes. Like, all the time. Every day I would ride my bike to the store (back when that wasn't considered a suicidal tendency) for a new model and/or paint, come home, build it, then whoosh it around. I hung them from the ceiling, I cut out the box tops and wall-papered my bedroom with them. Great stuff.
So when I saw this article about German models outselling British ones in the UK, it brought back pleasant memories and I wanted to share them. By the way, I get why the kids are buying more German models. The Luftwaffe might have lost, but their planes just looked cooler.
You mean people still build model airplanes?
*** Julius Fast has died. He won the very first Edgar Award in 1946 for first novel Watchful at Night, wrote several other mysteries and then branched out into pop psychology. He was 89.
In Target Patton author Robert Wilcox makes his case, based on the diaries of an OSS assassin. Most of you know that your friendly neighborhood bookseller leads a double life, with his alter-ego being that of writer. And yes, he has been paid for his work on World War II, a modest bit, but still. So BBG has at least some street cred when it comes to matters of WW2. And he thinks this whole this is entirely possible.
The actions of the US leadership in World War II, both civilian and military, were, at times, scandalous. Taken overall American generalship, that is, high ranking American military leaders, could be considered as mediocre. For every George Patton there was a Mark Clark, or Dwight Eisenhower. The best thing that can be said for the American leadership was that Sir Bernard Law Montgomery was not one of them.
Anyway, I will read this book. It comes on the heel's of the recent spate of post-war books I've read, including the massively influential The Wages of Destruction and my current read, After the Reich. It also ties in with the book I am currently researching. Here's a couple of links for you to decide for yourself.
Target Patton
http://www.robertkwilcox.com/
*** This isn't book related, it's mopey nostalgia. Sorry. When I was a kid, not long ago, I built model airplanes. Like, all the time. Every day I would ride my bike to the store (back when that wasn't considered a suicidal tendency) for a new model and/or paint, come home, build it, then whoosh it around. I hung them from the ceiling, I cut out the box tops and wall-papered my bedroom with them. Great stuff.
So when I saw this article about German models outselling British ones in the UK, it brought back pleasant memories and I wanted to share them. By the way, I get why the kids are buying more German models. The Luftwaffe might have lost, but their planes just looked cooler.
You mean people still build model airplanes?
*** Julius Fast has died. He won the very first Edgar Award in 1946 for first novel Watchful at Night, wrote several other mysteries and then branched out into pop psychology. He was 89.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Baseball, World War II and other recipes
Good morning bookies! Stand by for news and comment.
First, a request. If anyone has book related news, be it from authors, bookstores, websites, whatever, please send it to me. Thank you.
*** Why is the press always the last to cover a story? Here's a nice little recap about what we already know, that Ebay is flopping around like a catfish on a pier.
The Setting Ebay sun
*** Baseball and World War II. Seriously, if you were going to write a 'guy' book, especially for Baby Boomers, how could you go wrong with either subject? You couldn't. But you could combine the two, which is what authors Todd Anton & Bill Rowlin have done in their new book When Baseball Went to War published by Rounder Books. It's a sequel of sorts to Anton's 2007 publication No Greater Love: Life Stories from the Men Who Saved Baseball, also published by Rounder.
I haven't read this one, thus I take the linked review at face value. But baseball players did flock to defend the country and, while it's a story that has been told, I have no doubt there was plenty left for the authors to discover. For every Ted Williams there must have been two or three or four lesser players who fought (and died) without the limelight, doing their duty because it was the right thing to do. We owe them more than we can repay.
When Baseball Went to War
*** I recently wrote about the upcoming auction of some rare A.A.Milne-related material. A selection of original E.H. Shepard drawings for the books was going under the gavel. Could it bring the pre-auction estimates in the current economic climate? Well, yes, it could.
It seems they sold for about $2 million. One can only wonder if the artist ever had any idea his work could command such prices.
*** HarperVoyager has acquired the rights to two Janny Wurts novels, the final two volumes in the Wars of Light and Shadow series. This is meaningful to your friendly neighborhood bookseller because a couple of years ago he met Ms. Wurts at MidSouthCon. I had the chance to sit in the lobby and peruse her sketch book and she told me that some of the drawings would be in future books of the Wars of Light and Shadow. Now that is happening and I will most likely see the finished versions of those works in progress. A bit surreal.
*** Johnny Depp's brother has his debut novel out, a supposedly Elmore Leonard-esque romp in Hollywood. Daniel Depp certainly has a varied resume, from bookseller to screen-writer. Whether this translates into good fiction or not, I have no idea. I'll let you decide.
Daniel Depp takes the first step
*** Finally finishing Friday's filings, this bit of pompous fluff. It seems that pundits were asked what books they are reading and what they would recommend. After perusing the list, I can tell you that I don't believe any of them are actually reading what they proclaim, but listed what they think makes them sound more punditey. (And yes, I know that's not a word)
I mean, come on. If you want to whack us over the head with your punditness, get a blog.
Stuffed shirts puffed and fluffed
First, a request. If anyone has book related news, be it from authors, bookstores, websites, whatever, please send it to me. Thank you.
*** Why is the press always the last to cover a story? Here's a nice little recap about what we already know, that Ebay is flopping around like a catfish on a pier.
The Setting Ebay sun
*** Baseball and World War II. Seriously, if you were going to write a 'guy' book, especially for Baby Boomers, how could you go wrong with either subject? You couldn't. But you could combine the two, which is what authors Todd Anton & Bill Rowlin have done in their new book When Baseball Went to War published by Rounder Books. It's a sequel of sorts to Anton's 2007 publication No Greater Love: Life Stories from the Men Who Saved Baseball, also published by Rounder.
I haven't read this one, thus I take the linked review at face value. But baseball players did flock to defend the country and, while it's a story that has been told, I have no doubt there was plenty left for the authors to discover. For every Ted Williams there must have been two or three or four lesser players who fought (and died) without the limelight, doing their duty because it was the right thing to do. We owe them more than we can repay.
When Baseball Went to War
*** I recently wrote about the upcoming auction of some rare A.A.Milne-related material. A selection of original E.H. Shepard drawings for the books was going under the gavel. Could it bring the pre-auction estimates in the current economic climate? Well, yes, it could.
It seems they sold for about $2 million. One can only wonder if the artist ever had any idea his work could command such prices.
*** HarperVoyager has acquired the rights to two Janny Wurts novels, the final two volumes in the Wars of Light and Shadow series. This is meaningful to your friendly neighborhood bookseller because a couple of years ago he met Ms. Wurts at MidSouthCon. I had the chance to sit in the lobby and peruse her sketch book and she told me that some of the drawings would be in future books of the Wars of Light and Shadow. Now that is happening and I will most likely see the finished versions of those works in progress. A bit surreal.
*** Johnny Depp's brother has his debut novel out, a supposedly Elmore Leonard-esque romp in Hollywood. Daniel Depp certainly has a varied resume, from bookseller to screen-writer. Whether this translates into good fiction or not, I have no idea. I'll let you decide.
Daniel Depp takes the first step
*** Finally finishing Friday's filings, this bit of pompous fluff. It seems that pundits were asked what books they are reading and what they would recommend. After perusing the list, I can tell you that I don't believe any of them are actually reading what they proclaim, but listed what they think makes them sound more punditey. (And yes, I know that's not a word)
I mean, come on. If you want to whack us over the head with your punditness, get a blog.
Stuffed shirts puffed and fluffed
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Pearl Harbor and MrsP
*** As history flows all around us, as we read daily of momentous events and happenings, what we do not see are the smaller stories that never make the news, or the plans that are discussed but never carried out. When something historically important happens, historians then research everything surrounding that event to see whether or not their were ancillary plans that could have influenced history one way or the other. And there are few events in the unfolding history of Mankind more seminal than the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which occurred 67 years ago today.
Seemingly every scrap of information about that attack, and the events leading up to it, have been debated and discussed and dissected ad infinitum. You would think that we know everything there is to know.
Maybe not. Author Alan Armstrong's new book, Preemptive Strike: The Secret Plan That Would Have Prevented the Attack on Pearl Harbor, postulates that the Japanese learned of a hare-brained scheme to bomb Japan from Chinese bases, using twin-engined Lockheed Hudson bombers.
Now, from our vantage point this is truly idiotic. The Hudson wound up serving a vital role in WW2 as a patrol bomber, that is, a small bomber with long range that could go out and hunt subs and generally serve as an early warning system around Australia and the U.S., or England. Not particularly fast, not well-armed and carrying a pretty small bomb load, what they were not suited for was any sort of strategic bombing role. And yet, according to Armstrong's new book, that is precisely what was proposed they do, attack Japanese industrial targets from Chinese bases.
Could this rather naive plan have done any harm to the Japanese whatsoever? Maybe if you'd had 10,000 Hudsons they would have noticed. But the concept that somehow a small number of these light bombers would force the Japanese to withdraw from China is incomprehensible. And, if the author is correct and the Japanese learned of the plan and this influenced them to attack Pearl Harbor first, and that's a big if, then the plan goes from merely inane to criminal.
Could important US officials have been this stupid?
*** It seems fitting that on the anniversary of the USA being dragged into World War II we have more than one book review on the topic, this time a little known mission by the OSS, forerunner of the CIA, the sort of thing that its leader 'Wild Bill' Donovan loved.
The Brenner Pass was and is the valley connecting Austria and Italy, a vital link through the Alps that is crucial for any commerce between the two countries. Bring down the pass blocking the link and it makes it very hard for either country to help the other. Thus was a mission born that sounds far-fetched in hindsight, but well worth the gamble during wartime.
The Brenner Assignment by noted historian Patrick K. O'Donnell looks like just the sort of thing your friendly neighborhood bookseller would want to read on a cold winter's night. Or a great Christmas gift for a WW2 buff.
A small, gallant mission
*** Keeping with today's unintended theme of history as blog-fodder, one biography I would dearly love to carve out time to read is Jon Meacham's American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House. Indeed, were that there was a prequel to this detailing his entire life, but it seems pretty clear now that Jackson was way ahead of his time politically and, since he is a Tennessean and so am I, I should know quite a bit more about him than I do. so that's going on the -to-do list for 2009 along with curing cancer and getting rich.
Jackson in the White House
*** Finally, since this is the season of giving, I'll do something I don't usually do and recommend another website. MrsP.com is devoted to promoting reading for children and I can't see one darned thing wrong with that. I non-commercial site, I can only assume that MrsP either is independently wealthy or maybe has a grant of some kind. However she can afford to publish her site, it's a good place for the young ones.
http://mrsp.com/
Seemingly every scrap of information about that attack, and the events leading up to it, have been debated and discussed and dissected ad infinitum. You would think that we know everything there is to know.
Maybe not. Author Alan Armstrong's new book, Preemptive Strike: The Secret Plan That Would Have Prevented the Attack on Pearl Harbor, postulates that the Japanese learned of a hare-brained scheme to bomb Japan from Chinese bases, using twin-engined Lockheed Hudson bombers.
Now, from our vantage point this is truly idiotic. The Hudson wound up serving a vital role in WW2 as a patrol bomber, that is, a small bomber with long range that could go out and hunt subs and generally serve as an early warning system around Australia and the U.S., or England. Not particularly fast, not well-armed and carrying a pretty small bomb load, what they were not suited for was any sort of strategic bombing role. And yet, according to Armstrong's new book, that is precisely what was proposed they do, attack Japanese industrial targets from Chinese bases.
Could this rather naive plan have done any harm to the Japanese whatsoever? Maybe if you'd had 10,000 Hudsons they would have noticed. But the concept that somehow a small number of these light bombers would force the Japanese to withdraw from China is incomprehensible. And, if the author is correct and the Japanese learned of the plan and this influenced them to attack Pearl Harbor first, and that's a big if, then the plan goes from merely inane to criminal.
Could important US officials have been this stupid?
*** It seems fitting that on the anniversary of the USA being dragged into World War II we have more than one book review on the topic, this time a little known mission by the OSS, forerunner of the CIA, the sort of thing that its leader 'Wild Bill' Donovan loved.
The Brenner Pass was and is the valley connecting Austria and Italy, a vital link through the Alps that is crucial for any commerce between the two countries. Bring down the pass blocking the link and it makes it very hard for either country to help the other. Thus was a mission born that sounds far-fetched in hindsight, but well worth the gamble during wartime.
The Brenner Assignment by noted historian Patrick K. O'Donnell looks like just the sort of thing your friendly neighborhood bookseller would want to read on a cold winter's night. Or a great Christmas gift for a WW2 buff.
A small, gallant mission
*** Keeping with today's unintended theme of history as blog-fodder, one biography I would dearly love to carve out time to read is Jon Meacham's American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House. Indeed, were that there was a prequel to this detailing his entire life, but it seems pretty clear now that Jackson was way ahead of his time politically and, since he is a Tennessean and so am I, I should know quite a bit more about him than I do. so that's going on the -to-do list for 2009 along with curing cancer and getting rich.
Jackson in the White House
*** Finally, since this is the season of giving, I'll do something I don't usually do and recommend another website. MrsP.com is devoted to promoting reading for children and I can't see one darned thing wrong with that. I non-commercial site, I can only assume that MrsP either is independently wealthy or maybe has a grant of some kind. However she can afford to publish her site, it's a good place for the young ones.
http://mrsp.com/
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Alice, Ebay and old books
Good morning bookies! It's Tuesday, stand by for news and comment.
Note to my loyal readers: sorry about no blog yesterday, I hadn't realized the level of addiction for some of you. I'll try to do better in the future.
*** Ebay continues to crumble and the word is spreading. Sure, you see local news stories about selling stuff on Ebay in this down economy, just as I saw one yesterday. But, weirdly, it was almost like the news-bot knew it was an obligatory story, that they didn't believe it and didn't expect us to, either.
In the bigger world there continue to be more and more media picking up on the hard facts of Ebay's continuing collapse, as evidenced by the linked story. If you want the stats, here they are. Wow, even I hadn't realized how bad this was becoming.
John Donahoe's vision of perfection is a site with zero traffic
*** Antiquarian books are fascinating. The effort necessary to print a book in the centuries before the modern era was so great that it's a wonder so many were, in fact, printed. When you visit one of the great libraries of the world, such as Trinity College in Dublin or Melk Abbey in Austria, the experience is so overwhelming that you cannot really comprehend what you are seeing. Thousands upon thousands of carefully crafted books from centuries long past, each with its own unique history, with notes in the marginalia and the endpapers from users long gone, so many detective stories waiting to be investigated. It's too much for one brief visit, as on a tour.
So when your friendly neighborhood bookseller runs across a story like the one linked below he is naturally drawn to it. One such book is a different matter, one story to be discovered and admired is something the mind can decipher. And I'm so thankful there are still places in the world that value this knowledge and are willing to protect it for the future.
The Breviarium Ratisponense was printed in Strasbourg, Germany, in 1482. 10 years before Columbus was exploring. This book existed before anyone in Europe knew that American existed. Amazing.
Canadians acquire a very old and rare religious tome
*** Today's World War II book review (it does seem like there's a new book daily, doesn't it?) concerns Kristillnacht, the Night of Broken Crystal in November, 1938, when the Nazis really turned up the meter on their 'Persecute-the-Jews' machine. Destroying buildings, burning books, killing and incarcerating people, this highly-orchestrated 'spur-of-the-moment' supposed national outrage at the murder of a low-ranking diplomat in Paris by a Jewish teenager turned out to be a fiasco for the Nazis, at least in the PR department. Aside from the enormous material losses to a country that was for from rich to begin with, the nationwide pogrom made it clear to even the most sympathetic Nazi apologists that these guys were out of control.
The Shards of Kristillnacht by Mitchell Bard is a re-examination of that seminal moment in time when the Western World finally began to wake to the dangers of the Nazis.
Kristallnacht under the microscope
*** Playwright William Gibson has died aged 94, reports AP. He is best known for The Miracle Worker, which in turn is best known for the film adaptation that projected Patty Duke into stardom.
*** Now that his parents are both gone, Christopher Buckley is taking his chance to cash in before their memories fade. He wrote Losing Mom and Pop and, frankly, warns that the book isn't going to be all that pretty. Indeed, the early word makes it sounds like a bashing of his parents, which will no doubt sell a lot of books to people like Gore Vidal, who can't get enough of bashing William F. Buckley and humanity in general.
Christopher worked at his father's magazine, National Review, wrote essentially conservative books and articles and generally sounded like his father's son, until his father passed away. Then, overnight, he made it known that none of that was really him, that is was all a facade. He had never really believed any of that stuff, he was just making dad happy. Sure gives him credibility in my book.
Christopher Buckley trades his parents memory for cold, hard cash
Note: re-reading this it sounds pretty harsh, so maybe I'm being unfair. If so, well, mea culpa.
*** Amazon has completed their acquisition of ABEbooks. For this one I don't need a link: as an ABE seller of more than 10 years I view the companies assertion that 'nothing will change' as both a skeptic, and one who hopes it isn't true. Because the truth is that ABE is a mess and has been for a long time. Sellers have no idea what is coming next, the fees are outrageously high and there is absolutely no consistency, no vision. Will Amazon change this? I don't see why they would, unless it's to increase fees even more. Will any good come of this? Probably not. But in the end it is doubtful that it matters, ABE just isn't the force that it once was.
*** J.K. Rowling's latest book, The Tales of Beetle the Bard, hits stores Thursday and I could not be more glad. It's not that I'm a Harry Potter-ite: I haven't read the books and don't intend to do so, although I enjoy the movies. But anything that keeps people reading, especially young people, is fine by me, especially when it is also educational. Take the title of her latest, for example. The word 'bard' is probably unknown to most younger people, and while the lyric quality sounds nice in the title, there is no doubt that readers will want to know exactly what a 'bard' is. Good stuff, I hope she sells a billion copies, even better that the proceeds to to charity.
*** Lastly, in the books-I-would-love-to-own category, The Folio Society, in conjunction with The British Library, is issuing two new versions of the original Alice's Adventures Underground by Lewis Carroll. Either would be nice, but the leather Folio Society version is delightful.
Want to buy me something?
Note to my loyal readers: sorry about no blog yesterday, I hadn't realized the level of addiction for some of you. I'll try to do better in the future.
*** Ebay continues to crumble and the word is spreading. Sure, you see local news stories about selling stuff on Ebay in this down economy, just as I saw one yesterday. But, weirdly, it was almost like the news-bot knew it was an obligatory story, that they didn't believe it and didn't expect us to, either.
In the bigger world there continue to be more and more media picking up on the hard facts of Ebay's continuing collapse, as evidenced by the linked story. If you want the stats, here they are. Wow, even I hadn't realized how bad this was becoming.
John Donahoe's vision of perfection is a site with zero traffic
*** Antiquarian books are fascinating. The effort necessary to print a book in the centuries before the modern era was so great that it's a wonder so many were, in fact, printed. When you visit one of the great libraries of the world, such as Trinity College in Dublin or Melk Abbey in Austria, the experience is so overwhelming that you cannot really comprehend what you are seeing. Thousands upon thousands of carefully crafted books from centuries long past, each with its own unique history, with notes in the marginalia and the endpapers from users long gone, so many detective stories waiting to be investigated. It's too much for one brief visit, as on a tour.
So when your friendly neighborhood bookseller runs across a story like the one linked below he is naturally drawn to it. One such book is a different matter, one story to be discovered and admired is something the mind can decipher. And I'm so thankful there are still places in the world that value this knowledge and are willing to protect it for the future.
The Breviarium Ratisponense was printed in Strasbourg, Germany, in 1482. 10 years before Columbus was exploring. This book existed before anyone in Europe knew that American existed. Amazing.
Canadians acquire a very old and rare religious tome
*** Today's World War II book review (it does seem like there's a new book daily, doesn't it?) concerns Kristillnacht, the Night of Broken Crystal in November, 1938, when the Nazis really turned up the meter on their 'Persecute-the-Jews' machine. Destroying buildings, burning books, killing and incarcerating people, this highly-orchestrated 'spur-of-the-moment' supposed national outrage at the murder of a low-ranking diplomat in Paris by a Jewish teenager turned out to be a fiasco for the Nazis, at least in the PR department. Aside from the enormous material losses to a country that was for from rich to begin with, the nationwide pogrom made it clear to even the most sympathetic Nazi apologists that these guys were out of control.
The Shards of Kristillnacht by Mitchell Bard is a re-examination of that seminal moment in time when the Western World finally began to wake to the dangers of the Nazis.
Kristallnacht under the microscope
*** Playwright William Gibson has died aged 94, reports AP. He is best known for The Miracle Worker, which in turn is best known for the film adaptation that projected Patty Duke into stardom.
*** Now that his parents are both gone, Christopher Buckley is taking his chance to cash in before their memories fade. He wrote Losing Mom and Pop and, frankly, warns that the book isn't going to be all that pretty. Indeed, the early word makes it sounds like a bashing of his parents, which will no doubt sell a lot of books to people like Gore Vidal, who can't get enough of bashing William F. Buckley and humanity in general.
Christopher worked at his father's magazine, National Review, wrote essentially conservative books and articles and generally sounded like his father's son, until his father passed away. Then, overnight, he made it known that none of that was really him, that is was all a facade. He had never really believed any of that stuff, he was just making dad happy. Sure gives him credibility in my book.
Christopher Buckley trades his parents memory for cold, hard cash
Note: re-reading this it sounds pretty harsh, so maybe I'm being unfair. If so, well, mea culpa.
*** Amazon has completed their acquisition of ABEbooks. For this one I don't need a link: as an ABE seller of more than 10 years I view the companies assertion that 'nothing will change' as both a skeptic, and one who hopes it isn't true. Because the truth is that ABE is a mess and has been for a long time. Sellers have no idea what is coming next, the fees are outrageously high and there is absolutely no consistency, no vision. Will Amazon change this? I don't see why they would, unless it's to increase fees even more. Will any good come of this? Probably not. But in the end it is doubtful that it matters, ABE just isn't the force that it once was.
*** J.K. Rowling's latest book, The Tales of Beetle the Bard, hits stores Thursday and I could not be more glad. It's not that I'm a Harry Potter-ite: I haven't read the books and don't intend to do so, although I enjoy the movies. But anything that keeps people reading, especially young people, is fine by me, especially when it is also educational. Take the title of her latest, for example. The word 'bard' is probably unknown to most younger people, and while the lyric quality sounds nice in the title, there is no doubt that readers will want to know exactly what a 'bard' is. Good stuff, I hope she sells a billion copies, even better that the proceeds to to charity.
*** Lastly, in the books-I-would-love-to-own category, The Folio Society, in conjunction with The British Library, is issuing two new versions of the original Alice's Adventures Underground by Lewis Carroll. Either would be nice, but the leather Folio Society version is delightful.
Want to buy me something?
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
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
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.
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