Don’t forget to swing by the Weird Book Room to check out the new books added.
This week’s feature celebrates the big hair and metal music of the 1980’s while our new row of five weird and wonderful titles covers everything from Bible study to Gangsta Rap.
I’m not going into specifics…you’ll have to visit the Weird Book Room for more details!
Goodcomics.com is spending November celebrating DC Comics’ 75th Anniversary. How, you ask? By combing through the unimaginable numbers of covers from 75 years of DC comics, posting a few a day, and at the end, having readers vote on their top 10. The result will be a list of the 75 most iconic comic book covers in DC Comics history!
This has been going on for a few weeks now, so the master list is pretty impressive already. Go have a look - voting starts November 23rd!
So far, this would be my top ten:
In a shocking revelation leaving millions stunned, teen media sweetheart Miley Cyrus has publicly admitted that she doesn’t like Twilight. Not the books, not the first movie, and she won’t be seeing any of the other movies.
“I don’t believe in it. I don’t like vampires. … I don’t like the wolf that pops out of the screen when I’m watching my TV at night. I don’t like it. I don’t want anything to do with it. I don’t like the shirts. I don’t like any of it.
“I feel really lame because everyone’s, like, so excited. I’m like, ‘Don’t even talk about it.’”
While Stephenie Meyer’s vampire saga shows no signs of collapsing under Cyrus’ confession, it is without a doubt a very sad day for tweens, many of whom have been witnessed wandering the streets, mouths agape, shuffling near to movie theaters and bookstores then away again, clearly confused and distressed.
No word on what Hannah Montana thinks of the stories.
I found a video showing some of the beautiful detail and intricacy of Robert Sabuda’s pop-up version of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Some of the things paper architects can create are so amazing and detailed. Especially in a story like Alice in Wonderland, so full of vivid imagery and magic and bizarre, colourful fantasy, having the added physical dimension brings the story so much more to life. Check it out:
I would have absolutely adored that when I was a little girl. It would make a great gift. Or, if you prefer something a little more seasonally specific, the same author also did a Pop-up book version of The 12 Days of Christmas.
Anyone who uses LibraryThing will know that it is constantly evolving. Tim Spalding and his team are regularly pushing through new initiatives and the latest one is particularly interesting from the perspective of AbeBooks and secondhand bookstores in general.
LibraryThing’s latest innovation, introduced yesterday, is a ‘local book search’. Basically, when you come across a book on LibraryThing that you would like to purchase from a local bookstore you are presented with a ‘local book search’ tab on that book’s details page. By clicking through, you are presented with a list of your local bookshops and details on whether they have the book or not.
For Unless by Carol Shields, I can see the book is stocked by Grafton Books and Renaissance Books down the road in Victoria (our hometown here on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada) and Beacon Books just up the highway in Sidney among others.
For Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood, I can again see that Grafton has a copy and Beacon Books, and Ten Old Books up the road in Duncan.
LibraryThing lists AbeBooks’ booksellers that have physical bookstores and that’s something we are happy about even though, to some extent, it gives book-buyers the chance to ‘go around the AbeBooks system’ and simply walk into the bookstore and buy the book without using our site (so we miss out on earning commission). We’re very aware Internet searching for local services and products is something everybody does, but we’re also aware LibraryThing’s local book search is another method of exposing AbeBooks’ sellers and their listings to the book-buying public. LibraryThing attracts a community of passionate bibliophiles and bibliophiles are AbeBooks’ target customers – this was something we definitely wanted to be part of.
It’s still early days for this new service on LibraryThing but Tim Spalding is already reporting decent interest. Local book search will improve as more booksellers go to LibraryThing and create a venue for their bookshop. We’ll be encouraging more AbeBooks sellers to create LibraryThing venues. LibraryThing is deeply committed to supporting independent bookstores of all shapes and sizes, and AbeBooks is nothing without the thousands of professional independent sellers who list on our site, so we’re looking forward to seeing how this service develops.
We’re pretty excited about our most recent sale. This time we have Bookfever.com, who specialize in modern first editions and signed books, who have discounted their entire inventory, and by a margin of 20%. If you are getting a jump on your Christmas shopping they have some fantastic books listed including the lots from Trixie Belden series (including No. 1 seen here), signed Invasion by Aaron Wolfe (aka Dean Koontz), and the highly sought after Ticket to Ride by Dennis Potter.
Putting Stephenie Meyer into the vault for a minute, here is another woman who is going to sell a lot of books - Sarah Palin. The first signed copy of her book, Going Rogue, is now listed for sale and the price is $115. I can’t decide whether that is expensive or cheap. I guess it depends on how her political career goes. If she challenges Barack Obama in 2012 and becomes president, then $115 will be a bargain. Signed copies of Going Rogue are going to become reasonably plentiful once her booktour kicks off.
Her booktour starts on November 18 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It’s interesting to see her appearances closely mirror appearances made by Palin and John McCain when they were on the campaign trail. On December 7, Palin appears at the massive Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, which is close to the location of last year’s Republican National Convention, where Palin likened herself to a pit bull (an odd comparison as this breed of dog is now infamous for attacking toddlers.)
Going Rogue is getting a huge media lift - interviews with Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters will be televised this week, and she’ll be doing the rounds of the right-wing talk radio and TV shows. Here is the NY Times’ review.
Obama’s books and his own book tour were key factors in his bid to gain the Democratic nomination and then helped to define his beliefs once the actual presidential campaign was under way.
In terms of collectibility, Palin has a long, long way to go in order to match Obama. The most expensive Obama book sold by AbeBooks is a signed 1995 first edition of Dreams From My Father that went for a huge $12,500 during the early days of his presidency.
UPDATE - the first signed Sarah Palin book sold shortly very quickly after the post was written. The Oprah effect?
The Beautiful Book Boutique exists to showcase some of the treasures that make AbeBooks special - the rare books, collectible books, antiquarian books and unusual, precious finds that make up part of the 110 million books for sale on our site.
This time around, the focus is on beautiful sports books from centuries past. From collectible cricket books to beautiful baseball books, mustachioed strong men and leatherheads, the world of sports is a treasure trove of fantastic old titles.
Collectible Old Sports Books - see all twenty!
Further to our post remember the killings of the Clutter family in Holcomb, KS 40 years ago, and the beginnings of Truman Capote’s book In Cold Blood, we’ve put together a list of ten true crime books, all of which have at least a basis in reality (some are more theoretical looks at true crimes, such as Patricia Cornwell’s take on Jack the Ripper).
1.The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Tells the story of Henry Howard Holmes, a serial killer who worked out of a hotel he owned outside the 1893 worlds fair.
2. Midnight in the Garden and Good and Evil by John Berendt
Berendt’s sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative reads like a thoroughly engrossing novel, and yet it is a work of nonfiction.
3. The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule
The story of the Ted Bundy Murders. Rule began researching her book while Bundy’s murders were unsolved. She had been friends and colleagues with Bundy.
4. Portrait of a Killer by Patricia Cornwell
A proposed solution to the Jack the Ripper case from Cornwell’s perspective, using modern forensic suppositions and technology.
5. The Innocent Man by John Grisham
Chronicles the story of Ron Williamson, how he was arrested and charged with a crime he did not commit, how his case was (mis)handled and how an innocent man was sent to death row.
6. Killing Pablo by Mark Bowden
Describes the rise and fall of Pablo Escobar, a notorious Colombian drug lord who became one of the narcotic trade’s first billionaires.
7. The Night Stalker by Phillip Carlo
Portrays the crimes of Richard Ramirez, the AC/DC-worshiping serial killer who terrorized Los Angeles in the 1980s.
8. 
Deviant by Harold Schechter
The story of Ed Gein, the killer whose fiendish fantasies inspired Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.
9. Studies in Murder by Edmund Pearson
An overview of five famous murders of the 19th and 20th centuries including those of Miss Lizzie Borden.
Enter the workday of real policemen. Follow fifteen detectives, three sergeants, and a lieutenant, whose job it is to investigate Baltimore’s 234 murders.
In two days, it will be 50 years since the quadruple-murder of a family that led to an investigation, manhunt and eventual double-execution. The Clutter family - Herb, his wife Bonnie, and their two youngest children, Nancy (16) and Kenyon (15) were shot to death in their home in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas on November 15th, 1959. Two elder siblings, Beverly and Eveanna, no longer lived at home.
American author Truman Capote, poised to write a different piece entirely, read about the murders in the paper and, intrigued, set out with his friend and fellow author Harper Lee to write an article about the town’s reactions. Upon arrival, Capote quickly determined there was much more than an article here. He called his editor and let him know he would be staying in Kansas for as long as it took to research the book he now knew he needed to write.
The small and tight-knit community of Holcomb was stunned by the murders, which left in its wake fear and unanswered questions. The Clutters were well-liked and well-respected, and the town was small enough that everyone knew each other. Herb Clutter ran a farm, was fair to his employees, was in no way wealthy, and had no enemies anyone could bring to mind. Bonnie Clutter was a homemaker and avid gardener, prone to bouts of severe depression, but again, known to and liked by her neighbours and community. Nancy and Kenyon were both well-adjusted, happy high school students with friends and dates and activities. They were a close family and got along well. Who would do such a thing?
At last, a trail of bad checks led police to investigate and arrest Richard “Dick” Hickock and Perry Edward Smith. Capote stayed in Holcomb, and made multiple trips back after his return to New York. He spoke to townspeople, law enforcement agents, the neighbours of the Clutters, and even conducted thorough and personal interviews with both Hickock and Smith. He developed a personal friendship with Smith, though how much of that was sincere and how much was the means to the end of Capote’s book has been questioned many times.
The eventual finished product, Capote’s final, and arguably finest full-length piece In Cold Blood was first published in September 1965, in The New Yorker magazine, five months after Hickock and Smith were executed by hanging.
In Cold Blood goes into such minute detail about the Clutters, the killers and Holcomb in general that it’s impossible to read it without very much feeling the horror, fear and sorrow that the town suffered. Far from being merely a factual recitation of a crime, it takes a very in-depth examination and analysis of how and why such a terrible thing could happen. The 2005 film Capote stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote and Catherine Keener as Harper Lee, and examines Capote’s methods, motives and obsession while writing In Cold Blood.
Capote himself died in 1984, of complications from alcoholism. Signed or early edition copies of In Cold Blood can be very collectible.
Fire is fascinating - I love sitting around campfires and burning things. But fire and books don’t mix…or do they? The Fine Books Company of Rochester, Michigan, has bundled together the complete fireproof science fiction collection - limited first edition copies of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Stephen King’s Firestarter.
Both books are bound in an asbestos material called Johns-Manville Quinterra. The asbestos Fahrenheit 451 edition was limited to 200 copies, all signed by Bradbury, and the copies of Firestarter, signed by King, were a limited lettered edition of only 26 copies.
These two silver shimmering books are very special indeed. And the price? $31,810.
Learn more and see other fire-themed books (like Fire Laddies ABC).
I stumbled on weloveyouso via BoingBoing today, and on it was featured handmade clutch purses. The artist’s name is Olympia Le-Tan and she is clearly wonderful. Look how great these are! I love them all. I think the Nineteen Eighty-Four one is my favourite. I think…. Hm. Maybe I should look again.
In 2008, children’s laureate Michael Rosen founded the Roald Dahl funny prize to recognize humourous children’s books. He felt the prize was needed as funny kids’ books often get overlooked in favour of more serious, emotionally touching stories (kind of like at the Oscars) that tackle bigger issues and are seen as serious. But let’s face it - kids love funny books, and there are few things better than making a kid chortle. And nobody knew how to elicit that response better than Roald Dahl.
Now it’s 2009, and this year’s winners have been announced:
• For children aged six and under, the winning book was Mr Pusskins Best in Show by Sam Lloyd (Orchard Books)
•For children aged seven to fourteen, the winning book was Grubtown Tales: Stinking Rich and Just Plain Stinky by Philip Ardagh, illustrated by Jim Paillot (Faber and Faber)
Congratulations to the winners, each of whom will receive £2,500 (approximately $4,000 US) and a bottle of wine from Roald Dahl’s personal wine cellar.
If you’re looking for funny children’s books, of course anything by Roald Dahl fits the bill. But did you know that Irish author Roddy Doyle also pens funny kids’ books? His book The Giggler Treatment is sure to have any child under 10 in stitches. The Gigglers are creatures who are always on the lookout for adults being unkind to children, then serving them their just desserts. If a grown-up shouts unfairly at a child, or is overly grumpy or neglectful, the Gigglers set them up for the Giggler treatment - which is where Rover the dog comes in. For a modest fee, Rover provides the Gigglers with all the steamy, stinky, fresh from the dog droppings that they could ever use. The Gigglers make sure to put said poop in the footpath of the offending adult. Highly recommended for belly laughs and cackles.
And now I’ll of course have to seek out the two that won this year’s Roald Dahl Funny Prize - my inner child loves a good laugh!
The literature generated from World War I is well documented and will hopefully serve as a reminder of how the world can fall apart. From Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, the poetry of Sassoon, Graves, Brooke, and Owen to All Quiet on the Western Front, there are numerous examples of acclaimed writing inspired by the Great War.
But what did the ordinary soldiers of World War I read on a daily basis during life in the trenches? Reading material was in heavy demand from the men living in cramped conditions in a war that was static for long periods of time.
Perhaps the safest answer is anything they could get their hands on. Most soldiers travelled light to the front and then craved books and magazines once they were embroiled in the stalemate. They would read anything that could take their thoughts off the mud, the rats, the shelling, the smell, the snipers and the prospect of going over the top and charging machine gun emplacements….
Find out what the soldiers on both sides of no man’s land were reading.
Over the last two weekends I had opportunity to watch three films adapted from books which were, in their own rights, excellent. The movie versions? More miss than hit, sadly. Read on!
The first was Dave Eggers’ and Spike Jonzes’ adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, which….wasn’t. The original children’s book was very, very short, very art-heavy, and while it explored feelings of grumpiness, bad-moodery, and sadness in kids, and how those feelings can make a child act out and then regret it, it was largely a book of adventure, with clear lines drawn between fantasy and reality (and a happy ending - his supper was still hot!).
I seem to be largely alone here (most of the people I know really liked the film), but I didn’t much care for the movie, at least not in any relation to the book at all. As a standalone effort it was better, but still had its problems. First - it should be made clear that this is not a movie for children. This is a movie for hipster adults who USED to be children, and read the book back then. It’s actually an adaptation of a (much) different book, called simply The Wild Things, by Dave Eggers. I’ve just read the fur-covered edition, which was a gorgeous treat, and I actually quite enjoyed it. 
But without reading this new edition, and having that as a context, moviegoers may be sorely disappointed and let down when attending the film. We saw a Saturday matinee, and the theater was filled with the baffled, restless and disappointed sounds of children’s voices as they asked “Why’s he so angry?” “Where’s he going?” and “Why’d he do that?”. The film was filled with adult concepts of isolation and futility that no kid should be burdened with until unavoidable. It was obscure and full of metaphor and heavy symbolism, and even the really adventurous scenes that were reminiscent of the (original) book were still tainted with it. It CAN be very lonely and bewildering being a child. But I felt like rather than approach that truth from a point of view relatable to children, the filmmakers instead weighed the film down with such complexity as to make it inaccessible to kids, who I thought (perhaps mistakenly) were the intended audience. Points for an adorable kid, a perfect wolf costume, and absolutely amazing design and effects on the wild things, a decent soundtrack, and as-always strong acting by Catherine Keener, but this one is a renter at best for me. 6/10
The second film, also disappointing, was The Men Who Stare at Goats, from Jon Ronson’s book of the same name. The thing is, much of this story is true. The government and military really tried psychic warfare, really sanctioned the secret training of psychic operatives, really conducted many of the ridiculous experiments pictured here. That should be - and would have been - ludicrous enough, and I was hoping for a more a factual, in-depth look at that side of things, especially with such a fantastic cast (Kevin Spacey, George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, all together?! YES!) to support it. But all attempts at subtlety or letting the work speak for itself went right out the window here. Instead of allowing an already wonderfully bizarre story to be enough, there were instead over-the-top acid trips, a lot of yuk-yuk throwaway jokes, and the kind of humour sequences that could have been described with “and then hilarity ensued!”. Mad-capped antics instead of what could have been a really excellent film. I feel like it was something of a waste of an incredible story, very talented actors, and the potential for a good thing. Puzzlingly, the film also includes a scene ending in a soldier’s suicide (I’m not sure whether this actually occurred or was a fictional addition) and portrayed it as a HILARIOUS WHOOPSIE!
Neither myself nor the people I went with - and we were all looking forward to it - were impressed. I’d give it a 5/10, personally, and that almost feels too generous - but I was just so happy to see Jeff Bridges.
An example of a nonfiction story of ridiculousness translated WELL into motion picture would be The Informant! from the book by Kurt Eichenwald, a recent - and always welcome - directorial effort from Steven Soderbergh. Informant! delivered entirely, from a compelling, believable and understated performance by Matt Damon, to absolutely brilliant script-editing, resulting in a subtly funny, escalatingly complicated web of lies and deceit, reminscent of William H. Macy’s fumblings in Fargo. One of the funniest parts of the film is the ongoing inner monologue and musings of the main character, which worked beautifully on the big screen. The story is clear, despite being complex, and while it’s very funny, it doesn’t resort to antics or fart jokes to get there. None of the subtlety or wit of the book is lost. I thoroughly enjoyed and recommend. 8.5/10
The next ones I’m excited to see are the film adaptations of Precious, (from the novel Push, by Sapphire) Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, and The Lovely Bones. I remain cautiously optimistic. See you at the movies, or on the shelves.