Archive for fall

Hillary Clinton faints, has concussion

Posted by Paddy 
· Saturday, December 15th, 2012 at 2:30 pm 
· No Comments 

I got worried when I heard she fell, then I remembered who she is and the kind of health care she’s had access to for 20 years and figured her bones are probably like steel beams. And how long before the usual suspects start nattering that it’s all b.s. to get out of testifying on Benghazi?

Washington (CNN) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sustained a concussion after becoming dehydrated and fainting, and will no longer testify Thursday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Clinton had been suffering from a stomach virus at the time, according to a statement on Saturday from Philippe Reines, deputy assistant secretary of state.

She is being monitored by doctors and is recovering at home. She was never hospitalized, Reines said.

“At their recommendation, she will continue to work from home next week, staying in regular contact with Department and other officials. She is looking forward to being back in the office soon,” Reines said.

Secretary Clinton had been scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill Thursday about the deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya, in September that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador.

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The Book Booth: Halloween Edition

Posted by Paddy 
· Saturday, October 27th, 2012 at 10:00 am 
· No Comments 

The Book Booth is a weekly feature at The Political Carnival, relating news, notes, and reflections from the world of books and publishing. SeattleDan, along with his wife, SeattleTammy, are operators of both an on-line bookstore, as well a brick and mortar in small town Washington State. Both have been in the book business since shortly after the Creation, or close to 6000 years now.

Time for the ghosts and goblins to wander the streets in search of sweet things! We hope the zombies aren’t out in search of brains this week. Oh, wait, there is always the GOP, and that is scary enough. And speaking of scary, we hope that for those of you in the path of Frankenstorm, that it is more of a tempest in a teapot. In any event, take care and be prepared. Our best to you all.

Onto the news from the world of books. The big story in publishing this week is that Random House and Penguin (or the Bertlesman and Pearson corporations, respectively) are looking into a possible merger. I can’t say I’m nuts about it. In an industry already dominated by five corporations, I don’t see reducing that number to four is good for either diversity of titles or for struggling writers. As it is, the smaller publishers are already on an uneven playing field, trying to get their books noticed in a bookselling world of Barnes and Noble and Amazon. The story is here.

For poetry fans, Poets.org had a good profile of the late poet, Denise Levertov. I had the good fortune of meeting her once at a reading in Seattle, where she made her home late in her life. A very pleasant woman, and still at the top of her game as a poet.

The passing of cultural historian and baseball fan, Jacques Barzun, at 104 was announced this week. The New York Times had this obit and appreciation.

Laura Miller at Salon.com posted this poignant interview with Will Schwabe about his mother and the books she wanted to read after getting a terminal cancer diagnosis.

And for fun, check out Ray Bradbury appearing on You Bet Your Life with Groucho Marx, circa 1955. Which was probably around the time Bradbury was working on the screenplay for Moby Dick.

In the department of books into movies, the Hollywood Reporter had this story about would -be actor, Stephen Colbert, who appears in a cameo in the up-coming Hobbit movie, albeit, Part Two. I suspect his part was shot before his charitable offer to Donald Trump.

And the film version of David Mitchell’s The Cloud Atlas has been released. Bob Mondello at NPR thought you would be better off reading the book. Interweaving six different story lines must be a rather daunting task. And A.O. Scott at the Gray Lady thought it had admirable qualities.

F.Scott Fitzgerald famously said that there were no second acts in America. Flavorwire has the list that proves him wrong. Here are some of the top “comeback” books by famous authors.

Finally, are you embarrassed by unsightly slips of the fingers on the keyboard? Not to worry. You’re in fine company.

So tell us what’s on your nightstand for this weekend? Anything really, really scary? Let us know and good reading to you all.

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The Book Booth: Mid-October Edition

Posted by Paddy 
· Saturday, October 20th, 2012 at 10:00 am 
· 3 Comments 

The Book Booth is a weekly feature at The Political Carnival, relating news, notes, and reflections from the world of books and publishing. SeattleDan, along with his wife, SeattleTammy, are operators of both an on-line bookstore, as well a brick and mortar in small town Washington State. Both have been in the book business since shortly after the Creation, or close to 6000 years now.


In our little town, many home are now decorated with ghouly trimmings in hopes that the Great Pumpkin will soon be here. But, wandering around the drug store today, I was taken by the aisles of Christmas stuff now on display? What’s up with that? As a retailer, I know we like to get a jump on things, but I’m hot hauling out the Christmas books and displays until Thanksgiving. Damn, I’m one noble human being.

On to book news. The Booker-Man Award was announced. Hilary Mantel won for her novel, Bring Up the Bodies, which is part of an on-going saga centered on Thomas Cromwell, the man behind King Henry VIII, at least for a while. Our friends at Biblio.com have the story.

I read her Place of Greater Safety, which I enjoyed very much, which told the story of the French Revolution in dramatic fashion.
And for those of us who enjoy literary gossip, the Guardian passes along this list of past “fun” at the Booker Awards.

Hey, are you bogged down in term papers? Finding it hard to find the write words in Academia? Well, the writers program at the University of Chicago is here to help!

It is a week for anniversaries.First, it was 161 years ago that Moby Dick was published to the yawns of the public and to the scathing reviews of the critics. The Christian Science Monitor offers this appreciation of Herman Melville.

And fifty years ago we had the October Missile Crisis, which for those of us who lived through it, offers some vivid memories. Again from The Guardian, we have a quiz regarding books that feature nuclear holocaust. Don’t worry if you don’t get the right answers. It’s a hard test.

In the realm of media interviews, NPR had this feature on Daniel Martinez, whose The Boy Kings of Texas has been nominated for a National Book Award.

You know who wasn’t the only guest talking to Jon Stewart. J.K. Rowling also appeared on the Daily Show to talk about her new adult novel, The Casual Vacancy.

Years ago, when I worked for the Pickwick Bookshop in Beverly HIlls, we had customers who were interior decorators, who, in fact, would buy books, lots of books, based on the jacket colors. Random House has now made it easier for those folks. H/T to the lovely SeattleTammy for finding this link.

In the Show Biz to Books department, Johnny Depp has partnered with HarperCollins with his own publishing imprint. To his credit, it looks to be an ambitious project and good luck to him.

Not so lucky was the Bookends bookstore of New Jersey, who had sixty autographed copies of Pete Townsend’s memoir, Who Am I, stolen.

For those of you who like literary biography, Publishers Weekly has a very interesting article concerning the medical problems of the Brontes, W.B.Yeats, James Joyce and George Orwell.

And we wouldn’t have a complete Book Booth without a list from Flavorwire. This week it is writers who like other writers.

Have a grand weekend. And please let us know what is on your nightstand!

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The Book Booth: Awards Edition

Posted by Paddy 
· Saturday, October 13th, 2012 at 2:30 pm 
· No Comments 

The Book Booth is a weekly feature at The Political Carnival, relating news, notes, and reflections from the world of books and publishing. SeattleDan, along with his wife, SeattleTammy, are operators of both an on-line bookstore, as well a brick and mortar in small town Washington State. Both have been in the book business since shortly after the Creation, or close to 6000 years now.


As we expected, the Nobel Prize in Literature was announced this week. What we didn’t expect was the winner. You may remember I (and most of the oddsmakers) thought Haruki Murakami of Japan would take it home. Instead a writer from a different Asian nation, Mo Yan won. I know of his work, but I cannot say I’ve ever read him. From the descriptions of his work, he does sound a bit reminiscent of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but perhaps one of our readers can talk about his novels. In any event, Arcade Publishing is rushing his novel The Garlic Ballads into print and should be available on November 1st.

My friend, sales rep extraordinaire, George Carroll also has this interesting article on Yan’s newest novel, Pow, which will be released by Seagull Books.

Not to be outdone by the folks at the Nobel Committee, the National Book Award finalists were also announced this week. Again, I can’t say I’ve read any of these books (still working on 2007 here), but the link has a nice display of the jacket art for the nominees. The winners will be announced and feted on November 14th.

And some awards need to be declined. City Lights Books tell us that their leader, Lawrence Ferlinghetti has declined the Hungarian Pen Award due to the insufferable practices of the Hungarian government which largely funds the award.

Speaking of poets, Brainpickings found some sage advice from Ezra Pound, he who nicknamed T.S. Eliot Old Possum. The end of this article also provides links to other authors, like Kerouac, Steinbeck and Sontag, who proffer their own wisdom on writing and writers.

For mystery lovers, Publishers Weekly reports on this years Bouchercon, held in Cleveland. SeattleTammy attended this event several years ago and had a wonderful time, meeting many, many of the authors in attendance. (I could only attend the drinking afterwards that year. I have some vague memories of enjoying myself.) If the convention is ever held near you, check it out.

Robert Atwan, editor of the Best American Essays, picks his top ten most important essays written since 1950, and I really cant argue with his choices. I remember how important Susan Sontag’s Notes on Camp was to me as a young aesthete. Also by way of Publishers Weekly.

Michael Popek talks about finding old recipes in some of the used books he has refurbished over the years as a bookseller over at The Huffington Post. It is amazing what you can find in old books. We are always finding receipts, bookmarks, and one time a good customer pointed out the marijuana leaf that was stuck between the pages of a copy of All About Horses that we had in stock. As I told her at the time, there is always a bonus in buying books from us!

We’ll wrap it up with list from the folks at Flavorwire of the top 15 scathing reviews of now classic novels. They are funny in retrospect, but Clifton Fadiman, what were you thinking when you reviewed Faulkner?

So tell us what books you have on your nightstand for your weekend reading pleasure?

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The Book Booth: Postseason Edition

Posted by Paddy 
· Saturday, October 6th, 2012 at 10:00 am 
· 2 Comments 

The Book Booth is a weekly feature at The Political Carnival, relating news, notes, and reflections from the world of books and publishing. SeattleDan, along with his wife, SeattleTammy, are operators of both an on-line bookstore, as well a brick and mortar in small town Washington State. Both have been in the book business since shortly after the Creation, or close to 6000 years now.

Fall must be here. The tell-tale signs are there. There is that nip in the air. And the baseball playoffs have begun. GO (Insert favorite baseball team here)!

This week is banned books week and our small town community is reading Fahrenheit 451. From CalPoly comes this colorful display on the significance of the week. Via the folks at City Lights Bookstore.

As we await the announcement of the Literature Nobelist for this year (I’m hoping for Murakami, but look out that poet from San Marino that not even most Europeans have heard of) we will go heavy on the lists this week. But, I promise you, they are great lists! From Publishers Weekly we have the top ten fictional narrators. I particularly liked choosing Nabokov’s Kinbote instead of Humbert Humbert.

Also from PW, we have the ten most frequently used songs in fiction. All these songs are post-1950, but I have to say, I love how Nathaniel West wove If You’re a Viper into Day of the Locust.

ABE Books had their top literary magazines and periodicals with some nice cover art. I used to read these magazines often, but the one thing our little town doesn’t have, is a source for much in the way of small magazines.

Not mentioned here, but one of my favorites is Triquarterly, which you can find here.

The Huffington Post has the list of books you should have read in High School. I may have many talents, but seeing the future is not one of them. All these books were published long after I graduated. But a good list of books, lead off by the aforementioned Haruki Murakami.

For those of you who love book jacket art, Design Observer has the top fifty books for this year.

The good folks at Flavorwire have photographs of literary characters in real life. Well, maybe not the characters themselves, but the models upon which they were based.

Finally, Anthony Horowitz of The Guardian lists his top ten Apocalyptic novels. I can recommend these titles too,, for those who are awaiting the end of the world, and was happy to see John Wyndham’s Day of the Triffids on the list. Not on the list, but fine novels are Pat Frank’s Alas, Babylon (which scared the bejesus out of me when I saw it dramatized years ago on TV), and Walter Miller’s Canticle for Leibowitz, a very, very good book.

Well, thanks to all who have consoled me on losing out, once again, on getting a MacArthur Genius award. And like my Seattle Mariners, I can say, Wait til next year! So what’s on your nightstand this weekend?

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The Book Booth: Oktoberfest Redux‏

Posted by Paddy 
· Saturday, September 29th, 2012 at 10:00 am 
· No Comments 

The Book Booth is a weekly feature at The Political Carnival, relating news, notes, and reflections from the world of books and publishing. SeattleDan, along with his wife, SeattleTammy, are operators of both an on-line bookstore, as well a brick and mortar in small town Washington State. Both have been in the book business since shortly after the Creation, or close to 6000 years now.

October approaches with its brilliant colors. Time to pull out those sweaters and head to your nearest Independent Bookstore.

And as we are civic-minded, we present to you via the Huffington Post for all our single readers out there. I think flirting in a bookstore beats the hell out of flirting in the produce aisle of the grocery store.

But, wait! We’re not finished with public service announcements. Publishers Weekly offers you James Joyce’s Ulysses in pie-chart form. It’s funny if you have read the book. And useful if you haven’t.

You might want to check out your bookshelves to see if you happen to have a first edition of The Great Gatsby slotted in them. We recently observed Fitzgerald’s birthday. And Gatsby remains a timeless treasure of American Literature. ABE Books will tell you how much your first edition may be worth.

J.R. Moehringer, author of the memoir The Tender Bar, has recently published a novel entitled Sutton. It is a fictionalized account of bank robber Willie Sutton, who famously answered the question of why he robbed bands by replying, “Because that’s where they keep the money”. Here is a short book trailer with him discussing his reasons for writing the novel.
Terry Gross had an in-depth interview with Moehringer on Fresh Air which you can listen to here.

With October comes thoughts of Halloween and scary stuff. (Well, many retailers have been thinking about Halloween since Flag Day, considering how early they put their displays up). Flavorwire has good list of famous ghosts in literature. The one I think they forgot, or didn’t think was creepy enough, was Cathy in Wuthering Heights, who scared the heck out of me when I read. If you haven’t heard Kate Bush’s eponymous song, I promise it condenses the novel into about four more minutes of music that is chilling…and beautiful.

Publishers Weekly also had its own list of scary stories that you may want to check out.

Again from Flavorwire comes a list of cocktails you may enjoy while perusing some great books. Remember, please don’t read and drive, though.

I finally finished Dennis Lehane’s wonderful historical novel about Boston, The Given Day. I have now embarked on James Lincoln Colliers biography of the sublime Duke Ellington. Tell us what’s on your nightstand this weekend! And please enjoy some fine reading.

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The Book Booth: Autumn Leaves Edition

Posted by Paddy 
· Saturday, September 22nd, 2012 at 10:00 am 
· 6 Comments 

The Book Booth is a weekly feature at The Political Carnival, relating news, notes, and reflections from the world of books and publishing. SeattleDan, along with his wife, SeattleTammy, are operators of both an on-line bookstore, as well a brick and mortar in small town Washington State. Both have been in the book business since shortly after the Creation, or close to 6000 years now.

We have the official changing of the seasons and summer has passed into Fall. The leaves on the trees here in our little town are changing colors, and beginning to slip off the limbs. Soon it’ll be time to break out the rakes. And with Fall comes the most important time in the book biz: the new Fall titles hitting the stores for your perusing pleasure.

The folks at Goodreads offer up a couple of interesting interviews with good authors with new books arriving this Fall. Michael Chabon talks about his new novel, Telegraph Avenue, here. If you’ve never read him, go out now to a fine independent bookstore and buy one. I heartily recommend The Yiddish Policeman’s Union.

Goodreads also talked to Zadie Smith, whose new novel NW looks to be a fine read. White Teeth and On Beauty are very good novels, also highly recommended.

One of my all-time favorite rockers has a memoir arriving soon. Neil Young has written Waging Heavy Peace, a series of vignettes from his life. The New York Times Magazine profiles him here.

It has now been 24 years since Salman Rushdie published his novel, The Satanic Verses. He has now published a memoir about the years he spent in hiding after the infamous fatwa was issued against him, Joseph Anton, a pseudonym he used at the time, combining the first names of Conrad and Chekov. NPR offers this discussion with him.

Rushdie was kind enough to also write a thank you to all the independent booksellers that prominently featured The Satanic Verses in their stores. Via Publishers Weekly.

Next week, beginning on September 30th, will mark the 30th anniversary of Banned Books Week. Events marking the occasion can be found here.
And the folks at Bookmans.com produced this little video about how important and vigilante we must be to keep ideas alive. Again, via Publishers Weekly.

Ever wanted to write a non-fiction book? Max Linsky at Slate magazine proffers up advice from masters like Truman Capote and George Orwell to help you along.

From the lists this week comes from our friends at Flavorwire, ten underrated novels you should read. I have to admit that I haven’t read any of them, though Petersburg and the Woodrell novel are high on my list of things I intend to get to.

With the political campaigns in full swing, the LA Times lists 12 essential books about running for office. Two of the titles are about the 1972 election, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail and Boys on the Bus. Read them if you haven’t; re-read them if you have!

And finally, one of the great subgenres of American literature is the Southern Gothic novel. AbeBooks has a fine list with some really good jacket art.

So, tell us, what books are on your nightstand? A great weekend to everyone!

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