The Dark Knight

There was a time not so long ago when you went to a movie based on a comic book and got your money's worth: action, fighting, explosions, great special effects, cool costumes and gadgets, and an ending promising sequels bound to deliver more of the same "as soon as we can make another one." All that ends with The Dark Knight. You definitely get your money's worth and much, much more.

In Gotham City, Batman (Christian Bale) is both worshiped by imitators and condemned by many as a vigilante. He's so fed up with being the hero that when new District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) comes along, he seems the logical replacement as The Good Guy. While Bruce Wayne's doubts and inner demons stew, along comes the Joker (Heath Ledger), full of twisted games, carnage and anarchy.

At this point, The Dark Knight moves beyond (way beyond) the realm of a summer action movie, venturing into places many moviegoers simply looking for action and special effects may not fully appreciate. Ledger's Joker is about as far from Jack Nicholson's 1989 rendition as you can get. There are what could be construed as "comic moments," but (possibly due to Ledger's tragic death in January) Ledger plays them in such a way that if you do find yourself laughing, all traces of humor quickly vanish into a crevasse of utter despair.

Without giving away too much, the chase and battle scenes (which are excellent) take a backseat to the psychological war waged by the Joker against Batman. A recurring theme in the film is the inevitability of all heroes, given enough time, to become the worst villain imaginable. The Joker knows how to play on Batman's fears and doubts, urging him to give in to chaos and anarchy, the only reasonable choice left to him. This is far more than a clumsy attempt to lure "the noble crime-fighter" over to the Dark Side, it is an examination of ethics and morality in an arena where there are no easy choices, no easy answers. The Joker has made his choice; he has a firm grip on his own twisted philosophical worldview. He's just waiting for Batman to make his. He even taunts Batman at one point with the helplessness of his situation, saying "There's nothing you can do to me."

The Dark Knight is very, very dark indeed, and we're not really talking about cinematography. Filmed mostly in Chicago, director Christopher Nolan's vision of Gotham is frequently grounded in far more realistic tones than Tim Burton's films. When you realize that you're looking at a real city, not some elaborately structured sets that reach up into the clouds, the film just feels darker, grittier. Yet the real darkness occurs inside the minds of the characters, something the writers and director understand very well. The Dark Knight gives you a lot to enjoy visually, but even more to ponder during the drive home and long after you've parked in the garage, turned out the lights and are left with your own reflections on ethics, morality and what it means to be human....or inhuman.

Summertime Blues, More Tomorrow

Things have been pretty busy around here. Cindy and are both taking some time off, trying to tackle several house projects that have been on our "To Do" list for quite some time. Of course, one of those ongoing projects is purging books. Since I shut down the online bookstore a few weeks back, I've moved loads of books.



I'm only throwing one title out there for your consideration. I have three copies of Michael Marshall Smith's More Tomorrow and Other Stories. I'm keeping one of them and will offer the other two copies to the first two friends/acquaintances who respond. They aren't free, but I guarantee you won't have to pay the current price of $44 that they're going for used on Amazon. (At one time used copies were selling for over $200.)

Full Disclosure: These are signed, numbered copies, but they are also ex-library copies with the usual stamps and stickers. They have definitely been around the block; not falling apart, but well-worn. But if all you want is a reading copy, it's not a bad deal. I just don't need three copies.

If you don't know about the book, Tim Lebbon (I believe) wrote an excellent essay about it in Horror: Another 100 Best Books a couple of years back. Again, if you're interested, just let me know.

Update: One copy has been claimed.

A Few Quick Weekend Thoughts

Be Kind Rewind (2008) is not a great movie and probably isn't even a good one, but it is charming. Cindy and I saw it last night and enjoyed it despite its many flaws.




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On a more sobering note, Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman is an excellent read. You may not agree with Postman's opinions, but he gives you plenty to think about. Also consider that the book was written in 1985 before the Internet, cellphones, DVDs, and most of satellite TV. More on this book later.




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Uglies (YA 2005) by Scott Westerfeld is one of the better YA books I've read this year. I enjoyed his Midnighters series, but Uglies is on a higher tier. Westerfeld not only writes a great story, but mixes in some fun sf concepts and examines concepts of image, social structure and much more, all without being preachy. More on this one in the near future also.

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Off to wash a car or two and see some old (actually, Matt, you're not that old) college friends in D.C. later. Everybody have a good weekend and stay away from stale firecrackers at those "Buy One, Get Three Free" sales.

Experiencing Thomas M. Disch

Last night a man walked into the library asking for books by Thomas M. Disch, who, as most sf fans know, tragically took his own life last weekend. Our library system owns four Disch titles: Business Man: A Tale of Terror, The Priest: A Gothic Romance, The Sub: A Study in Witchcraft, and the new book, The Word of God: Or, Holy Writ Rewritten.

I was helping another patron while my co-worker helped the man looking for Disch books. By the time I'd finished with my patron, the man had placed requests outside the county for a couple of Disch titles we didn't carry. He also gave my co-worker his name and number, asking if she could find Disch's Casablanca and to see if she could find it for him.

I told her I'd search it for her, and found that "Casablanca" is not a novel, but a short story available on the SCIFICTION classics archive (which I have bookmarked to read later today). We called the patron and told him. He was delighted.



I have to confess that I haven't read Disch, even though I own two of his novels, 334 and Camp Concentration.



I always feel horrible when an important writer has left us and I haven't taken the time to read any of his work. I actually bought both novels years ago, knowing that they are important works in the sf canon, but used the excuse of "Well, I'm just not in the mood to read that right now" as a way of delaying reading something that might make me uncomfortable or challenge my worldview. And that type of thinking is just flat-out wrong.

I'm putting 334 at the top of my reading stack. I'd also challenge you to read something by Disch, especially if (like me) you haven't read him before.

Angels Flight (1999) - Michael Connelly

It's not fair, but I can't help it: Every time I read (or in this case, listen to) one of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch novels, I visualize Clint Eastwood as Bosch. Maybe that stems from seeing Eastwood in the film Blood Work, which is based on a Michael Connelly novel, albeit a non-Bosch one. I don't care for much of Eastwood's work over the last ten or fifteen years, so maybe I'm trying to recapture the Dirty Harry Eastwood, the "Go ahead, make my day" Eastwood.

Or maybe it's because Bosch, like Eastwood's Dirty Harry, is constantly one thread away from stepping over the line that both he and the reader knows is there, the line separating what you're supposed to do, according to the law, and what you must do to make things right. Walking that thin line is what makes Bosch so interesting as a character. In Angels Flight, Connelly drops Bosch into the middle of a very tricky murder investigation: African American lawyer Howard Elias, famous for suing a long line of LAPD cops for police brutality, has been murdered inside an LA transit train car called Angels Flight. All signs indicate that the murderer was a member of the LAPD and everyone in the city knows it. So why has Bosch, who's not even at the top of the rotation assignment list, been handed the case? And can he solve the case before another riot breaks out?

Early on I feared Angels Flight (1999) might spin out of control, relying too much on a Rodney King-like atmosphere, pushing the reader's emotional buttons too frequently, but Connelly is way too smart to resort to such tactics. Instead, he concentrates on character and procedure, things he knows inside and out, especially where Bosch is concerned. In the three years he was a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, Connelly really kept his eyes and ears open. If what he's writing in his novels isn't the real thing, it sure feels like it.

Angels Flight isn't my favorite Harry Bosch novel and it's probably not a good place to start the series (which would be The Black Echo, the first Harry Bosch novel), but it is a good Summer (or any time of the year) read.

Darkside (YA 2007) - Tom Becker: Where Does It Belong?

Darkside (YA 2007) - Tom Becker

In the first book of a proposed series, Becker creates a dark, underground counterpart to the normal, everyday "Lightside" of London, a place full of werewolves, vampires, and garden-variety nasty folk called (you guessed it) Darkside. As the book opens, a young boy named Ricky has been kidnapped and taken to Darkside by bounty hunter Marianne and her henchmen. Marianne delivers him to Grimshaw, the leader of an entertainment exhibition called Beastilia Exotica. But Grimshaw plans a show consisting of jackals eating two boys in front of a live audience. The other boy, Jonathan, discovers that his father has some sort of strange connection to Darkside. Maybe that's why his dad has been living in a mental hospital.... Jonathan makes several discoveries about Darkside and thinks one of his dad's friends, Carnegie, may be able to help. But Jonathan's going to have to travel to Darkside to find him, all the while avoiding capture by Marianne.

Darkside promises an exciting, action-filled read and on those terms, it delivers. But the book (which is in the YA section of our library system) seems better suited to J-Fiction, what I would consider grades 5-7 or maybe even younger. Both the length and vocabulary are on the level of other J-Fiction books I've read, so the only reason I can think of for placing the book in YA is the dark subject matter. Even so, Darkside is not very graphic or bloody, not nearly as much as a book like Joseph Delaney's The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch, which is in our J-Fiction section. Amazon labels Delaney's book as appropriate for ages 9-12. (Apprentice is also about 100 pages longer than Darkside, but page count is probably no longer a deciding factor in where a book should be placed.)

I think Apprentice is in the right place; it belongs in J-Fic. But so does Darkside. Of course YA is a large category and encompasses a broad range of writing and reading levels. It's conceivable that Darkside could be at the lower edge (not in quality, but in reading level) of YA.

And of course, it could be all about selling books. Would the book sell better as YA or as J-Fic?

Which opens up a whole haunted houseful of doors I'm not ready to go into right now. Just something to think about.

She's Unstoppable!

My Clarion 2004 friend Marjorie M. Liu is unstoppable! Her newest book is called The Iron Hunt, sequel to the novella that appeared in the anthology Wild Thing. You can watch a book trailer (created by another Clarion bud Al Bogdan) here.

June Books Read

Skin Hunger (YA 2007) Kathleen Duey
Skin Hunger (the first volume in a planned trilogy called A Resurrection of Magic) is narrated by two characters in alternating chapters. Sadina, who communicates with animals, keeps house for an intense, abusive scholar named Somiss, headmaster of a secret school (which is about as different from Hogwarts as you can imagine) where boys learn the forbidden art of magic or die trying. Sadina falls in love with Franklin, an instructor who teaches magic largely through food deprivation. One of Franklin’s students, Hahp (born generations after Sadima) narrates his experiences at the school as he struggles to learn the magic arts before he starves to death.

The connections between the two protagonists remain unclear for a long time, which might frustrate readers. Also many scenes seem to repeat themselves without revealing any new insights into this strange world where magic has been outlawed. Be warned that the book ends abruptly with no apparent resolution. Although two sequels are forthcoming, they will probably need to contain more action than this first volume. Yet even with these potential distractions, the story itself and the strangeness of it kept me reading. Duey has done a fine job of creating an unusual world with unusual rules and plenty of mystery and weirdness.

This is a complex book, but for readers who’ve read the Harry Potter books and are ready for something more challenging, Skin Hunger may be just what they’re looking for.





Brittle Innings (1994) - Michael Bishop
Recommended by my good friend Kelly, this is a wonderful novel about a minor league baseball team in the Deep South during World War II. There is an important (and very well done) speculative element that I won't spoil for you; you'll just have to read the book. But I will say that even without the speculative element, Brittle Innings would be a fine novel. This one may be hard to find, but it's worth the effort.







Kit's Wilderness (YA 1999) - David Almond
13-year-old Christopher Watson (nicknamed Kit) moves with his family to an old English mining town, only to discover that an ancestor with the same name died in the mines. So did the ancestors of several of the young people in the town. Kit discovers that many of these kids gather secretly to play the game of "Death." Kit tries to deal with the death around him, both past and present, and how to escape the drudgery and inevitability of life in a mining town.

The book is far richer (as well as darker) and more interesting than what I've just described. I really can't do justice to describing how good this challenging YA novel is. If you think all YA is formulaic and predictable, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by Kit's Wilderness.






Islam at the Crossroads: Understanding Its Beliefs, History, and Conflicts (NF 2002) - Paul A. Marshall, Roberta Green and Lela Gilbert
I wonder, almost seven years after the awful events of 9/11, how much Americans really know about Islam? On television we sometimes hear the talking heads spout generalizations about the religion and perhaps snippets from the Qur’an. I’m not sure what we read in newspapers and magazines is much more accurate. I can only speak for myself: I’m woefully ignorant of Islam, its history, practices and tenets. But I’m learning.

I picked up Islam at the Crossroads in the hopes that the slim volume would at least get me started in understanding the basics of Islam. At only 113 pages of text (and a few maps), the book certainly isn’t going to be a comprehensive study, but it is a pretty good starting point.

The book begins with a chapter entitled “What Muslims Believe,” which includes the five pillars (practices) of Islam, the six principles (beliefs), the three main types of Islam, and a brief examination between the beliefs of Christianity and Islam. Readers should understand that the examination of beliefs in particular is a general one. Christians (and maybe Muslims as well) will find many points of argument, but again, these are generalizations to give the reader a basis for understanding.

Few things are more important to a Muslim than history. It’s not pleasant to hear, but it’s probably true that the average Muslim knows a lot more about history than does the average Christian. The chapters “Islam’s Earliest Days” and “The Rise and Fall of the Ottomans” trace (again, in a very general way) the history of Islam, focusing on the most important names and places. (Yes, the names can be difficult to keep up with, but the number of them is far from overwhelming.)

“Islam in the Modern World” helps the reader understand the perspectives of moderate and radical Islam, the challenges facing the religion, and how world events in the last hundred years have shaped modern Islam. The authors also focus on how radical Islam is organized, financed and structured.

Islam at the Crossroads is a short, fascinating book that probably just scratches the surface of the Islamic religion. It’s not a perfect work, but as a brief introduction full of confusion and misunderstanding, I recommend it as a starting point.





Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion, and Betrayal (YA 2007) - Mal Peet
One of my favorite YA reads of late, discussed here.











Willful Creatures: Stories (2005) - Aimee Bender
Enjoyable collection of stories of modern fantasy, surreal, sometimes a bit twisted, often hilarious, always entertaining. My favorite is "End of the Line" in which a man goes to a pet store, buys a little man in a cage, and does some pretty cruel things to him. Many of the stories reminded me a little of Kelly Link. If you like Link, you might like Bender.







Escape from the Deep: A Legendary Submarine and Her Courageous Crew (NF 2008) - Alex Kershaw
For anyone who thinks that non-fiction is boring, read this and let me know if you still have that opinion. Discussed here.








Culture Shift: Engaging Current Issues with Timeless Truth (NF 2008) - R. Albert Mohler, Jr.

I bought Culture Shift for two reasons: It deals, obviously, with cultural issues and contains a positive blurb by John Piper, one of my favorite Christian writers. My only regret in buying the book is its brevity. At only 160 pages, I felt like I’d been served a salad when I’d walked into a restaurant after a week of fasting.

Mohler begins the book by asking how Christians can remain faithful in a constantly changing culture. Like it or not, culture is inescapable, yet if Christians are to be effective as followers of Christ, we must understand the culture we live in.

Some of the cultural topics Mohler tackles include faith and politics, law, the Supreme Court and religion, terrorism, the War on Terror, education, science, dishonesty, abortion, natural disasters and character. In several instances, Mohler provides the reader with many scriptural references and in others he simply looks at the big picture in light of the general teachings of the Bible. You might not agree with everything that Mohler (president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) writes, but he certainly gives you plenty to think about.

Each of the book’s twenty chapters is fairly short, most ten pages or less. For anyone interested in a brief overview of Christian responses to cultural issues, this is the perfect length, but if you want a more in-depth treatment, you’ll have to look elsewhere. (Mohler does provide several titles of books, magazines and on-line resources.) If you have any interest at all in the Christian’s role in culture, you should pick up this book.




Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) - Philip K. Dick
Unless you've been living in a maze of subterranean tunnels for the past 30 or so years, you know that the film Blade Runner is based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? But you may not be aware of the differences between the novel and the film. The general story line is the same: Decker, a bounty hunter, is busy tracking down six androids so dangerous they've been banned from Earth. But they're so much like humans, they're hard to detect. From that starting point on, however, a multitude of differences emerge between the book and the film. (Just the film by itself has several different versions, endings, etc., but that's another story for another time.)

You could probably write a dissertation (and maybe someone already has) on the differences between the novel and the film. I won't discuss them here, but if you've only seen the film, you owe it to yourself to experience the richness of the novel. It was hard for me to divorce my reading eye from the visual images from the film (which I've seen many times), but the reward is well worth the attempt. Highly recommended.

(And by the way, anyone who thinks that Philip K. Dick is not worthy to be included in the Library of America series because he wrote sf probably hasn't read Philip K. Dick.)


That's it for June. Get out there and read something.

June Books Bought

Here they are, all the books I purchased in June:




Mansfield Park (1814) - Jane Austen
There's a zillion editions of all of Jane Austen's novels, but this import at Daedalus Books looked pretty nice and the price was right. I haven't read any Austen in a few years, plus Vladimir Nabokov discusses the novel early in his book Lectures on Literature (which I hope to buy soon), providing even further impetus to purchase/read the book.
Trade Paperback - Price: $3.98





Foundling: Monster Blood Tattoo Book One (YA 2006) - D.M. Cornish
Mine's a British import, but the one being marketed in the U.S. is the paperback edition pictured on Amazon. My good friend Kelly mentioned this book awhile back, asking me if I'd heard anything about it. I didn't know much about it, but read the jacket at Daedalus and gave it the "first page" test and it passed. So there you have it.
Hardcover - Price: $3.98




The Outsiders (1967) - S.E. Hinton
Purchased at the Printer's Row Book Fair in Chicago. I'm really excited about this one. I didn't get to see S.E. Hinton (who was one of the speakers at the book fair), but I did snag a signed copy. Sure, it's a 2006 paperback, but hey, a signed S.E. Hinton? It's a no-brainer.
Signed Trade Paperback - Price: $10.00







Birds of America: Stories (1998) - Lorrie Moore
Another Printer's Row Book Fair purchase. Just because I've heard that Moore is a great writer and haven't yet read her stories.
Trade Paperback - Price: $5.00








Flannery O'Connor: Collected Works (Library of America 1988)
Also purchased at the Printer's Row Book Fair. I was about to leave the book fair when I saw a guy that had several LOA slipcased editions for sale. This one was (1) in superb condition and was (2) Flannery O'Connor. If you know me at all, you know that I adore Flannery O'Connor and would build a monument in her honor, deep in the heart of Georgia, complete with fine carvings of peacocks in marble, with... Sorry, sometimes I get carried away. Anyway, this volume contains Wise Blood, which I only have in a beat-up paperback.
Hardcover in slipcase - Price: $15.00




unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity... and Why It Matters (NF 2008) - David Kinnaman
I picked this one up at the library a few weeks ago, read the first chapter, and knew I wanted to buy it. Christians are supposed to represent Christ in the world, but we usually do a pretty lousy job of it. Kinnaman's book researches and analyzes data from 16-29-year-olds who hold negative perceptions of Christianity based on what they see Christians doing (or not doing) in the world on a day-to-day basis.
Hardcover - Price: $12.23




The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel (2008) - David Wroblewski
I was very suspicious of this book. It's received glowing reviews from just about everyone who's picked it up. In fact I couldn't find a professional review that didn't like it. It's not that I always check out the reviews before I read a book, but when a novel is about a mute boy and his dogs, red flags start popping up all over the place. So what the heck - I bought it. I'll let you know what I think.
Hardcover - Price: $15.57


Total Book Purchases for June: $65.76
Total Book Purchases for May: $42.93
Yikes...

Books You Might Have Missed #1

Every now and then I'll hear about a book on the Washington Post Book World podcast that I absolutely must read, even though I probably would have skimmed over the same book in the newspaper's print version. Case in point: Marilyn Yalom's new non-fiction book The American Resting Place: 400 Years of History Through Our Cemeteries and Burial Grounds.

Yalom originally planned a project connected with a year-long visit to her mother's grave in a Palo Alto, California, but instead ended up visiting 250 cemeteries across the country (photographed by Yalom's son Reid). That may sound like a lot, but Yalom estimates there are about 250,000 cemeteries in America. Historical connections with the past and the ways they are expressed in our burial practices drew her into the expanded project.

For instance, why do so many cemeteries look so different from one another? Immigrants into this country brought their own burial rituals and styles with them. These get played out around cemeteries all over the country. The best place, according to Yalom, for a wide variety of religions and ethnicities on display? Chicago. Jewish, Protestant and Catholic cemeteries all look slightly different, but Yalom notices marked differences even within religious groups. An Irish Catholic cemetery looks very different from a Polish Catholic cemetery. Every difference in how we mourn, even the minute ones, becomes evident in the cemetery.

Yalom also examines differences in historical periods and practices. Colonial graveyards make specific references to the status of women based on family (wife, mother, daughter, etc.), but not men. Yet in recent decades, you see women's gravestones identifying their work, voluntary organizations, etc. All of this gets you thinking about what other aspects of cemeteries Yalom covers. I wonder how much she talks about the graves of children or criminals. (Does she mention pets? I don't know.) I haven't even picked up the book yet, but I can imagine the photos alone are worth the price of the book. Very interesting stuff. If anyone buys it (or even thumbs through it), let me know.

This is Not Your Father's Bass Clarinet

If you're somewhat bored with your current choices in music, you've got to check this out. I don't think I can improve on this description from The Clarinet:

Becoming a fan of Edmund Welles is a process: first there is shock, followed by confusion, interest, and eventually infatuation. Edmund Welles bass clarinet quartet...defies expectations and shatters preconceived ideas of chamber music, invoking images of heavy metal and medieval occultism. This could be the musical child of Led Zeppelin, Spinal Tap, and David Lynch, in the form of a bass clarinet quartet.

I know, I know, you can't get past the photo. Well, click on some of their audio clips, close your eyes and experience something really unique. (If you want more, go here.)

Escape from the Deep (NF 2008) - Alex Kershaw

In October, 1944, the U.S. Navy submarine Tang was on her fifth Pacific patrol led by Commander Richard O'Kane, a man whose hatred for the enemy was impossible to miss or ignore. He had, after all, sunk over 100,000 tons of Japanese vessels in his previous patrols and was always on the lookout for more. That October, O'Kane indeed found more, but at a great cost.

On October 24, the U.S.S. Tang found herself in the Formosa Strait surrounded by a convoy of Japanese vessels. Although O'Kane torpedoed some of the ships, one of the Tang's torpedoes misfired and struck itself, sending the sub and it's 87-man crew to the bottom of the South China Sea.

But the story's just beginning. Kershaw's gripping account, gathered mainly from the survivors themselves, takes the reader from the frantic moments when the crew realized their fate to the successful escape of a handful of the sailors to their rescue by a Japanese ship to a Japanese torture camp and beyond.

Escape from the Deep never lets up, not for a second. I was hooked from the first paragraph and felt like I never got a good breath until I'd finished the book. Even the person who absolutely hates history in any form will find the book hard to put down. Yes, it's an exciting page-turner and good history, but Escape from the Deep also leaves the reader with thoughts and questions that last beyond the initial excitement of the story: the nature and rules of war, the human capacity for inflicting suffering, concepts of forgiveness, revenge, brotherhood, understanding and survival. Highly recommended.

NOW We're Talking!

Gasoline prices got you depressed? Ruined your vacation plans? Well, forget all about that. What you need is the Bibliochaise, a literal reading chair produced and sold by an Italian company called Nobody & Co. (Go to the upper right for Products, then find Bibliochaise. Click on the chair and cushion to change colors.)

How cool is this? Of course, nowhere on the site does it mention the price. (Never a good sign.) But it looks pretty tempting, huh? Although I think it should probably have a beverage holder somewhere. Maybe you could have a matching end table with a few _____________________________ novels (pick your least favorite author) stacked up with a hole drilled through large enough to house a can or bottle. (Just an idea, Nobody & Co, just in case you're reading.)

In case you're curious, the chair holds about 16 feet of books. (You can also buy a Bibliofootstool that holds a few.) I'd probably put a little bit of everything in mine: short story collections, a few classics, current books, maybe a few reference books. Ah, the possibilities! So what books would you put in your Bibliochaise?

Sorry, We're Closed

As many of you know, I've been selling used books online (mostly on Amazon, but some on eBay also) for four years, but as of today, I've shut the business down. With all the library hours I'm getting, plus writing, plus stuff going on at church, I just don't have time anymore. Plus sales had been dropping for some time now. There comes a point at in any business (especially if you're the only employee) where it all but takes over your life. Mine was getting close to that.

If you're thinking about getting rich selling used books on the Internet, I'm here to tell you, its not that easy. First of all, there are tons of people out there selling. If you don't believe me, just go to any Friends of the Library Book Sale and see how many people are using scanners to check how much a book is selling for on Amazon. Go to thrift stores when they're putting books out. Some places just dump a shopping cart full of books into the book room and run to escape the feeding frenzy. It really is brutal.

When I started selling online, a book I read estimated that 50,000 people were selling on Amazon alone. And that was four years ago. Competition is rabid and if you don't keep up, you'll be stuck with a houseful of books you can't unload.

But you can also make some pretty good money if you know what you're doing and know where to get books cheap. If you're good, you don't even need the scanner. I see people all the time whipping out their scanners checking every single book in a thrift store. Those people waste a lot of time because they don't know what they're looking for. I didn't buy winners every time, but I had a pretty good sense of what to buy and what not to buy.

There were a lot of headaches, but it was also a lot of fun, especially the hunt. You really never know what you'll find. I came across several signed first editions, several collectible books and some books so rare I've never been able to find any information on them anywhere.

And I've found some weird things in weird places. While walking my dog, I once found a military book on treating injuries during battle. I found it in a doggie poopie station. (Nothing else was in there; I checked.) Got $50 for it.

People always ask if I've ever found money inside a book. Yes. I once found $220 dollars in cash inside a book.

I've found bookmarks, airplane boarding passes, candy wrappers, library slips, greeting cards and photos. I even found one photo of a dead woman in a casket.

The oldest book I ever found was an Arthur Conan Doyle book printed in 1895, which really isn't that old.

The most I ever got for a single book was $365 for an extremely technical book on (I believe) particle acceleration.

One of the more interesting titles I've run across is Santa Claus, Last of the Wild Men: The Origins and Evolution of Saint Nicholas Spanning 50,000 Years by Phyllis Siefker. (I never sold it, but plan to read it one day.)

The books I've seen the most (and are completely worthless for reselling): A Civil Action, What to Expect When You're Expecting, The Firm.

Mostly it was a lot of fun, but I'm glad it's over. Real glad.

It's a Busy Monday, So Here You Go...

It may not look like much of an innovation right now, but check out the new hydrogen car from Honda.







However, in the case of The Fall, looks may be everything. Take a look at the stunning trailer. Plus any movie that uses the second movement from Beethoven's Seventh Symphony has to have some redeeming value.

Twilight Zone Graphic Novels

For all you old-school kids who remember the original series, Walker Books for Young Readers is coming out with graphic novel editions of The Twilight Zone. Two of the original first season episodes, Walking Distance and The After Hours go on sale September 16, 2008. Another Zone classic, The Monsters are Due on Maple Street, will be released on December 23, 2008, just in time to make it to your stocking. I really hope these turn out to be good productions. I'm not familiar with the artist Dove McHargue and it's hard to tell much from the covers, but at $9.95 each, I'm guessing the inside pages will be in B&W. Anyway, I think it's pretty cool to see the Zone in a new incarnation.

Living with Books: The Biography of Andy Wolverton

Okay, I admit it. I take great, voyeuristic pleasure in looking at the way other people display their books. (Sick, I know.) I guess that's why Living with Books by Alan Powers is such a treasure.

I love everything about the book: the photos, the ideas it gives you for creative storage solutions and even diagrams. (Although I've been told by Cindy that there's no way I'm allowed to build the staircase bookshelves on page 51.) This may not be a book you'll want to purchase (but then again, maybe it is), but it's lots of fun to look at. See if your local library has it. Get some ideas, go nuts. Just save enough room on those stairs so you can walk.

New Kid in Town...or on the desk, anyway

Ah, the first post from our new 20" 2.66GHz, 320GB hard drive iMac! So far everything is absolutely wonderful! More later after lots of exploration.

Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion, and Betrayal by Mal Peet

You hear a lot these days that YA books are flying off the shelves and they are, but what a lot of people fail to realize is that a huge number of adults are reading YA. Apparently many grownups have become frustrated with adult fiction and just want "a good story," something that keeps the pages turning and wraps up nicely at the end. That's not to say that it has to be simple. It can be well-written, intellectually and emotionally satisfying, challenging, creative, descriptive, effective, powerful and still appeal to both YAs and adults. Tamar is one of those novels.

The odd thing about Tamar (and possibly a selling point for adults) is that most of the book is not written from a teenage point of view. William Hyde, a former WWII British undercover operative in Holland, has apparently committed suicide in 1995, fifty years after the end of the war. Before his death, he leaves a box for his 15-year-old granddaughter Tamar (also Hyde's code name in WWII). Inside, Tamar finds maps, coded messages, photos and other seemingly unrelated objects from her grandfather's past. Slowly she begins to unravel the mystery of why her grandfather, a war hero who helped liberate Holland from the Nazis, would kill himself.

Again, most of the book is told from the point of view of either Hyde or his partner Dart (both not much older than young adults themselves) as they parachute into Holland and work undercover, trying to send messages to the Allies while avoiding detection by the Nazis. Peet does a masterful job of linking the past with the present without falling into the traps and cliches of a multitude of wartime novels. The writing is fresh, the details vivid and the characters multi-dimensional. Highly recommended for YA and adults.

Actually Glad It's Monday...

Man, what a weekend, which thankfully ended this morning at 1:00AM when Cindy and I finally made it home from Chicago. Thanks to the fiendly skies of United, we missed our 10:30 (yes, that would be AM) flight, were unable to get on any Baltimore flight, eventually got on a flight to Philadelphia (but first had to wait in line for 54 other flights to take off before ours), rented a car and drove from Philadelphia to the Baltimore airport where our luggage awaited us (from a standby flight that we'd missed). Total wasted time: 12 hours. No airports in my immediate future, thank you. And thanks, United, for laying off even more employees who probably could have gotten us (and everyone else headed to Baltimore) on our way on time.

Anyway, enough of that. Our visit with our new niece Alex was very good, as was the Printers Row Book Fair, where I picked up a few books, including a signed copy S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders.

More later after a little time in recovery.

May Books Read

Not a bad month for reading, ten books: four YA/J-Fic, three non-fiction, two short story collections and only one novel (but it was a huge one). Although they're not included in my yearly count, I'm now also keeping up with graphic novels at the end of the post. So here we go:


The Bush Tragedy (NF 2008) - Jacob Weisberg
Believe it or not, author Jacob Weisberg (editor-in-chief of Slate) does not have an ax to grind with The Bush Tragedy, even though he freely admits the failure of the George W. Bush presidency is a foregone conclusion. He's more interested in a serious examination of Bush's motivations than in bashing the 43rd president.

Before you laugh out loud at Weisberg's comparisons between Bush and Shakespeare's Henry V, thinking that the book's title should be The Bush Comedy, read just a few pages about George W.'s competition with his father George H.W. Bush and consider the son's eagerness in trying to avoid the father's mistakes (especially during the Gulf War). Then consider how a hard-drinking, low-ambition Yale student got religion, orchestrated a campaign that landed him in Austin, and mounted an unlikely run for the White House.

What really drives Bush? The sibling rivalry with his brother Jeb? His religious convictions? Or the advice of members of his inner circle such as Dick Cheney, whom Weisberg calls the most powerful vice-president in the history of the United States?

The Bush Tragedy is a fascinating read, regardless of your political affiliation.





The Last Lecture (NF 2008) - Randy Pausch
You've probably seen Pausch on Oprah or on YouTube, and if you have, you've only seen part of the story. Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2006 and has written a "last lecture" for his students at Carnegie Mellon, but more importantly for his children. This could have been a really sappy, weepy book, but it's filled with humor, courage and insight.






Sunstroke and Other Stories (2007) - Tessa Hadley
I've already discussed this book here, but I can safely say this collection was the month's most satisfying fiction experience. Highly recommended.








The Talisman (1984) - Stephen King and Peter Straub
I read this book over 20 years ago and was captivated by it. (Back then it was the first encounter I'd had with Straub and was responsible for my reading some of his mid-80s novels like Koko and Mystery.) When I saw it on audiobook at the library (all 24 discs), I thought I'd revisit it. It's still a very good story and quite an epic, but I doubt I'll read it again or the sequel Black House.







This is What I Did: (YA 2007) - Ann Dee Ellis
Eighth grader Logan Palorey has just moved to a different part of town, which means a new school and new friends. But a new environment can't change the terrible thing Logan witnessed several weeks ago, an incident involving his best friend Zyler. Logan is tight-lipped about the whole thing. His parents want to help but don't know how, his brothers could care less and all the kids at his new school think he's a freak. All, that is, except an odd girl named Laurel who wants to change her name to Laral because she loves palindromes.

Logan's mom suggests going to see a counselor. Logan's dad suggests Boy Scouts. Logan has his own idea: trying out for the school musical Peter Pan. (After all, Laurel's in the musical.) Each of these three situations provides learning experiences for Logan, but none of them turn out to be quite what he expected.

This is What I Did: reminded me a lot of the Laurie Halse Anderson novel Speak, another book about a troubled teen who doesn't want to talk to anyone. This is What I Did: is a quicker read with more humor, but it's definitely not a "light" version of Speak for boys. It packs a real punch and a satisfying ending.






Unaccustomed Earth (2008) - Jhumpa Lahiri
It seems that everybody is on the Jhumpa Lahiri bandwagon. I mean, it's pretty big news when a literary short story collection lands at the top of the New York Times bestseller list. But I have to tell you, I'm not on the bandwagon.

Lahiri is a fine writer and often creates interesting situations between and among generations of families who have immigrated from India to America. The title story about a father visiting his Americanized daughter after the mother's death was both touching and memorable, but all of the stories follow the same themes of family, clash of cultures, etc. For me, there's just not enough at stake for the characters, not enough conflict and tension. It's not that I expect bodies to fly through windows in every story, but something has to happen. For me it mostly didn't.






Bird Lake Moon (J-Fic 2008) - Kevin Henkes
A book that might get overlooked due to a weak title and an unappealing cover. Two boys meet at a lake one summer, one dealing with the separation of his parents, the other dealing with the death of a brother. Probably best for ages 8-12.









Burger Wuss (YA 1999) - M.T. Anderson
Another exceptional work from my favorite YA writer, M.T. Anderson. Some thoughts on the book here.










Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (NF 2003)
How did the 2002 Oakland A's baseball team manage such an impressive record with a player payroll that's near the bottom of Major League Baseball? (And 2002 wasn't the first or last time it happened.) How does general manager Billy Beane defy conventional scouting wisdom, find players no one else wants and turn them into indispensable parts of highly functioning unit? The story itself is fascinating, yet so are the stories-within-the-story of young players who were ignored by scouting reports until Beane discovered them. If you've ever wondered just how baseball scouting, statistics and drafts work (or don't work), Moneyball is for you.











Sunrise Over Fallujah (YA 2008) - Walter Dean Myers
This one's a real toss-up for me. On the one hand, Myers has done a great job of showing teens the utter confusion and hopelessness of a war fought by soldiers caught up in the midst of something they just don't understand. But I thought the language was watered down and the characters not as fully fleshed out as they could've been.









GRAPHIC NOVELS


Marvels (1994/2004) - Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross
Beautifully painted art combined with a well-thought premise: the world of Marvel Superheroes from the viewpoint of ordinary people. Some excellent moments. This hardcover anniversary edition includes an enormous amount of drafts, scripts and sketches (about half of the book's 400 pages) which had limited appeal to me. This new edition at 248 pages may be the way to go for more casual readers.









Torso: A True Crime Graphic Novel (2000) – Michael Bendis and Marc Andreyke
Recommended to me by my friend Kangas, this graphic novel combines stark black and white artwork with photographs to tell the story of Eliot Ness, fresh from his victory over Al Capone, as he tackles crime in Cleveland in 1935. Things get a lot tougher when a serial killer begins decapitating and dismembering his victims throughout the city. Grim and brutal, but good storytelling.


That's it for May. Now go and read something.