Hatfields & McCoys in books

Various contemporary books describe the feud.

Current Literature, November 1888







The Inter Ocean Curiosity Shop for the year 1890




The Southwestern Reporter, 1890

Books from my childhood

I like to read. There was a story on NPR this morning about the artistry of children's picture books. That brought back some vivid memories of going to the Plattsburgh Public Library and selecting books to read. Babar. Make Way For Ducklings. Stone Soup. Mr. Popper's Penguins.

Here are three books that I also remember. Although not 'picture books' they had an influence on my reading. I've even reread two of them in the last few years.

The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall

The Teddy Bear Habit by James Lincoln Collier

Detectives In Togas by Henry Winterfeld

Today is World Book Night.

Take a moment and read. Read to your children. To your spouse. To your friend. Turn of the electronics and read. You'll feel better.

Central Street Books

About a year ago Central Street Books was birthed. It used to be The Book Eddy, located on Chapman Highway in south Knoxville. The Henley Street Bridge reconstruction project limited accessibility to that area of town, if you were coming from the north. The owners of The Book Eddy decided to go in a slightly different direction.  They thinned out their stock, refocused, and moved just north of town.  They settled at Central and Fulton with a new name, Central Street Books.

I visited them in December and they let me take some photos.

I miss The Book Eddy. But I like Central Street Books. Here's a blogpost that I did on somethings purchased at CSB.

Mini Interview With Author Jonathan Allen

I first came to know Jonathan Allen about two years ago.  I sent him some Montreal Expos baseball cards. We became casual acquaintances.  Facebook friends.  Tossing witticisms and encouragement at each other.  Well, now he's a published author.  Several weeks ago I read his novella / short story / I don't know what to call it.  Well, the title is The Kayson Cycle.  A very good read.  You can pick it up at amazon.com or at Barnes & Noble.

His latest work is The Corridors of the Dead.  I haven't actually started to read it, but I look forward to cracking it open on my Kindle.

I was able to pry a few minutes of Jonathan's time from a very busy and hectic publishing day to coerce him into a mini interview.  The parameters were I could only ask three questions and his answers could be no longer than 10 words long.  I was trying to be sensitive to his time.  So, here we go.

Q: What inspires your writing?
A: Displays of raw creativity in all forms of media.

Q: Do you set aside time each day to write or have a routine?
A: Yes, I have a daily goal of 2,000 words.

Q: What is your favorite childhood book memory? Either from your childhood or an actual book for children.
A: The Talisman by Peter Straub and Stephen King. It changed my life.

If you're good with math you'll notice that he used 12 words in that last answer.  His reasoning? "it's tough when you have two authors for a book."

I think that Jonathan has a future as a writer.  A writer needs to deal with editors, so I'll step in and help him with his answer to the third question.

A: The Talisman by Peter Straub and Stephen King. It changed my life.

We're down to 10 words.  See, it wasn't that hard.

Jonathan and I have set up a real interview in the coming weeks.  Until then you can learn more about him at his website, JonathanDAllen.com.  Or just go out and buy the The Corridors of the Dead at amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.

Author Interview - Joseph Wallace

Ruby Thomas had never seen anything as beautiful as Ebbets Field, with its brick exterior and half-moon windows that reminded her of slices of jelly candy.

This is the first line of Joesph Wallace's Diamond Ruby.

Earlier this year I was introduced to this book by way of Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf.  I picked up the sample chapters for my Kindle, devoured them quickly and then ordered a copy of the book from amazon.  I contacted the author, Joseph Wallace, and he gladly sent a Diamond Ruby baseball card my way.  I read the book, had more interaction with Joe (he lets me call him Joe).  I asked for an interview, which he agreed to.

First, my review.

Prohibition is enforced.  The Spanish Influenza epidemic is rampant.  Babe Ruth is king.  Ruby Thomas can throw a baseball.  In the pages of Diamond Ruby Joseph Wallace transported me to Brooklyn in the late 1910s and early 1920s.  His writing style is engaging and colorful.  I got sucked in early and didn't know how the title character would overcome the hardships that were placed before her.  If you're looking for a book about sugar and spice and everything nice, this isn't for you.  If you want a book that can speak to you on several levels, let me suggest this one.

I have seen reviews that say that Diamond Ruby is an essential take-to-the-beach-on-summer-vacation book.  One to laze around with.  I'm going to one up that.  Diamond Ruby is an essential book for fans of baseball, period pieces, good literature, and books in general.  Read it.  Buy a copy.  Give it to your friends.  Then buy another copy for yourself.

Joseph Wallace

Q: Diamond Ruby is set in Brooklyn. You obviously did a lot of research to be able to paint such wonderful word pictures. What sources did you use? How long did your research take before writing? Did you start writing the story line and then flesh out the details?

A: I couldn't write Diamond Ruby until I felt like I was living inside the 1920s Brooklyn world where it was set. To do this, I haunted the New York Public Library's Microfilm Room and read through at least half a dozen newspapers, day by day, one after another. By the time I was done, I'd learned so much about how people lived, what they worried about, what they did for fun. Their world did feel real to me, sometimes even more vivid than the one I was actually living in.


Q: Is your writing style more like "lock myself in a room every morning until I produce 1,000 words" or "writing at the dining room table with kids and pets running amok"? Maybe somewhere in the middle?

A: I need quiet to be able to write well. When I was writing Ruby, I'd go away for three days at a time every few weeks and stay in a motel. It was a kind of sensory deprivation, just me in that room with no distractions, and the words would come pouring out. Sometimes I'd write for fourteen hours a day. My reward would be one good meal in a local hotel.


Q: One of the characters, Helen, is blind. Were you consciously more descriptive in your writing because of that?

A: Helen, like Ruby, was modeled on a real person: a stunt diver who went blind after a tragic accident. I thought of my Helen as the kind of person--strong-willed, brave, plain-spoken--who could get past Ruby's reserve, her solitary nature. She was the kind of friend Ruby would need, so it was easy to write vividly, visually, around her.


Q: Since you weave real people (Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, Judge Landis) into the book, did you have to overcome any fears of putting the right words into their mouths?

A: I was definitely nervous about making Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey into important characters! I'm usually suspicious of writers who put words into the mouths of real historical figures. My solution was to have readers see them only through Ruby's eyes. You're never inside their heads, listening to their thoughts. You see them as Ruby does, smart and funny, but never being too wild in front of this tough young girl.


Q: As a writer, does it bring you pain or grief when one of the characters you create dies?

A: Yes, sometimes it's difficult to kill off a character, especially ones who don't deserve it. In Diamond Ruby, Ruby faces some significant tragedies; those were very hard to write because they hurt Ruby (a character I was very fond of).


Q: You've mentioned that you are working on a follow-up book with Diamond Ruby. How's that going? Do you have a publication date?

A: I hope to be done with my sequel to Diamond Ruby, to be set in Hollywood in 1927, sometime next year. Before I get back to it, though, I'm finishing a big thriller, featuring dozens of characters and locations as far-flung as Australia, Panama, Senegal...and Brooklyn!


Q: What's your favorite flavor of frozen custard?

A: I love vanilla frozen custard, but I definitely won't say no to other flavors.


I'd like to thank the author for his time and permission to use his photograph.  Yes, I asked.  For more information about Joseph Wallace, visit his official website.  To purchase a copy of Diamond Ruby go here.

Those Pesky Peskys

Chuck Whiting runs the bibliophemera blog. Yesterday he focused on the author, Rose Wilder Lane and her correspondence with Schulte's bookstore in New York.  Very interesting stuff.  I was drawn not to Mrs. Lane, but the bookseller, Mr. Philip Pesky and later, his son, Mr. Wilfred Pesky.  A quick search on ancestry.com offered up some info.

I was first able to find Philip Pesky in the 1910 US Census.  His parents were Russian and he was born in New York.  He had been married to his wife Minnie for four years.  He was a salesman in the wholesale book business.  (click on the census images to view them in a larger format)

Source Citation: Year: 1910; Census Place: Manhattan Ward 12, New York, New York; Roll: T624_1017; Page: 5B; Enumeration District: 0411; Image: 1058; FHL Number: 1375030.

Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.

In 1918 Philip Pesky registered for the draft.  At this point he's moved out of New York and into New Jersy.  He's a manager and his employer is Theo. E. Schulte.  I presume that this is the Schulte's Book Store.

Source Citation: Registration Location: Hudson County, New Jersey; Roll: 1711906; Draft Board: 2.

Source Information: Ancestry.com. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.

The 1920 US Census shows the family living in New Jersey and managing a bookstore.

Source Citation: Year: 1920;Census Place: Bayonna Ward 3, Hudson, New Jersey; Roll: T625_1040; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 22; Image: 709.

Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.

The 1930 Census shows that the family had moved from Hudson county, New Jersey to Essex county, New Jersey.  Philip is still the manager of a book store.

Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Irvington, Essex, New Jersey; Roll: 1330; Page: 5B; Enumeration District: 443; Image: 655.0.

Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002.

Twelve years later Philip once again registers for the draft.  And we can see that he hasn't moved in the last decade and that he's still working for Schulte's Book Store.

Source Citation: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA);Washington, D.C.; State Headquarters: New Jersey.

Source Information: Ancestry.com. U.S. World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

On September 17, 1957, The New York Times reported that Philip Pesky, proprietor of Shulte Book Store, died at his home on Momm Court.

On September 26, 1966, The New York Times reported that Wilfred Pesky, president of Shulte's Book Store, died of a stroke on the 24th of September at Columbus Hospital in New York City.

The New York Times had a story about Book Stores of the New York are which included the following description of Shulte's Book  Store:

SCHULTE’S BOOKSTORE
1917-late 1960’s
One of the last of the great bookshops on Booksellers’ Row — the stretch of secondhand stores on Fourth Avenue just south of Union Square — Schulte’s survived labor strife, including a strike right before World War II, and prospered. “It was a huge barn of a store,” said Marvin Mondlin, co-author of “Book Row,” a history of Manhattan’s secondhand bookstores.

The store had four owners in its lifetime, among them the professedly unbookish Wilfred Pesky, who, according to Mr. Mondlin, once announced: “You don’t have to read a book to sell books. I never read a book in my life.”

I was not able to find out anything more of the Pesky family, but I'm sure that there's more out there.

Come Into My Parlor

You may find some misspelled words in this opus, but if so, overlook them or blame them on the editor's third assistant, who is supposed to take care of such things.  I can spell and I own a dictionary, but my ability to typewrite was impaired, to say the least, the night of March fifth.

That is the opening paragraph of the title story of Hugh B. Cave's Come Into My Parlor.

This is a collection of stories by Hugh B. Cave, a writer of pulp fiction.  That opening paragraph tells more about the book than just that story.  The editing of this edition had much to be desired.  Misspelled words, poor kerning, especially near punctuation.  These errors did not make the book unreadable, but they detracted from the pleasure of reading.

The stories themselves were quite enjoyable.  Short enough to polish off quickly, but each was different so that they were fresh.

No superheroes here, just policemen, detectives, thugs, and dames.  Gun play, fists, bodies, cars.  All the cool stuff to pass a few hours..

I had a friend check this copy out from the Knox County Public Library.  It seems strange to me that a library would have a signed limited edition book in circulation.

I guess that one of the downfalls of having it in circulation is that it can become damaged. In this instance, the pamphlet, Desperate Character (which I assume is another story), is no longer with this book. There is a sleeve to hold the pamphlet, but it is empty.

Worth reading, but I wish that the editing had been tighter.  I'd recommend it.

100 Largest Libraries in America

I read this on the Curled Up With A Book blog.

Today's quiz is to see which of these libraries I've been to.  Two in the top 10.  A couple of others.  I've been on the campus of several of the institutions, but not their libraries.

via the TravelInsurance Blog

A Pickle For The Knowing Ones

Lord Timothy Dexter

Timothy Dexter was born in 1748 and died in 1806. He was an odd nut, to say the least, but he seemed to be in the right place at the right time. He sent Bibles to the East Indies, coal to Newcastle, mittens and warming pans to the West Indies. It is reported that he made a profit on them all. He married a wealthy widow. He wrote a book, A Pickle For The Knowing Ones. About 8,850 words. No punctuation and an interesting smattering of capital letters.

You can read his tome, courtesy of Google Books. There's a website devoted to him. And a nice blog post about him from last year from The Public "I", a blog I will now be following. I suggest that you do as well.

Jim Reed Books

On Thursday afternoon, I had some time to kill before registering for the Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference in Birmingham. I had looked for some baseball card shops, but didn't know the area that well, even using the GPS. I looked online for some bookstores and up popped Jim Reed Books. It was close enough to the Convention Center that I decided to venture my way there.

I was able to park on the street, across and just down from the store on Third Avenue North.


I arrived at about 4:30pm, so I had enough time to do a quick scouting trip. I was looking for a copy of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. Edison needs to read it for school.


I asked if they had it and the female employee helped me find the Fiction section. Nothing. Then she guided me to the School Reading List section. Nope. Jim looked it up and found that they had a copy in the back warehouse. I can only assume that it is similar to the storage units that are at Area 51.


He sold me this copy for a mere $5. That's about a third of what a new copy costs at a retail bookstore chain.


This is the back room. There is a Sci/Fi section as well as a Sports section under the miscellany. There are other sections as well, I've just forgotten what they were.


Two of the titles from the Sports section. I really like the artwork on The Easy Out. And the title, Base Burglar? Love it.


Jim, behind his desk/counter, eagerly waiting to answer questions and talk shop.


What? A long playing record in a book store? That's nothing.There is a lot of stuff that doesn't quite fit. Press kit photos. VHS and Beta tapes. Trade cards and advertising. Mannequins. Santas galore.


The exit. A way out of the magical land that is a used bookstore and back into the reality of life. A way out of Jim Reed's Oasis for the Mind. I didn't want to go out. I wanted to stay for a few more hours.

North! Or Be Eaten - a review

"Pencils down." That is a phrase that I heard often in school. The time for the test was over. The teacher's pet would walk about and collect them to be graded. It didn't matter if you were actually finished with the test. The time was up.

I have been watching the calendar slip by at a very fast pace this last month. I just heard the teacher say, "Pencils down." My time was up. My review was due.

I did not finish reading the wonderfully written North! Or Be Eaten. But I read enough of it to form some opinions and I gather them here.

North! Or Be Eaten is the second book in the Wingfeather Saga. I don't know if the Saga is a trilogy. Surely it must be, for it is a fantasy story. (Oh, be quiet Mr. Lewis. You, too, Mr. Jordan.)

One of the problems when one starts to read a Saga from the middle is that one doesn't really know what's going on. I caught on soon enough, but I probably should have read book one (On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness) first.

The author, Andrew Peterson, paints on a wide open canvas with his brush and colors. The central characters, Janner, Tink and Leeli Igiby, travel with their family and friends towards the Ice Prairies to the North. They are outrunning the Fangs of Dang and trolls. Hence, the title of the book.

There is action in each chapter, suspense in every other chapter, wonderful word pictures on each page. Describing the sea dragons that Janner encounters ...

They were as beautiful as they were fearsome. Their bodies shimmered with metallic scales that swirled with color. The dragon closest to him glittered orange and gold, like the strikes of a thousand matchsticks, but its winglike fins cycled between shades of blue.

Oskar is the character I identified with most. The bookseller was more of a booklover. One that cherished the pages between the covers. I think that Oskar would have liked to have read this book.

I sometimes heard another phrase in school. "Pencils down. It is time for recess."

My recess will be finishing North! Or Be Eaten. A time to set my busy schedule aside and relax without care.

Find a copy of this book. Better yet, find a copy of the first book. Read it. And then find and read this one. Be taken to another place.

---

North! Or Be Eaten
Written and Illustrated by Andrew Peterson
Published by WaterBrook Press in 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4000-7387-0

My Day is Complete

Yes, the Weekly World News has been added by Google Books.

Read it here.

Actually, my week is complete because I have a wonderful wife, two beautiful children and a job.

This is just the icing on that cake.

A year and a half later...

So, I'm following up on a post from a year and a half ago. Tonight I scanned in a color photocopy of 4 different covers of Louis L'Amour's The Tall Stranger. Here are two of them.

The quality isn't great. Many, many moons ago I used a color photocopier. Since then, it has hung in my office, having the opportunity to be faded by the sun, bad lighting, etc.

I dug around on the 'net and found a few other covers. Rather than have another long entry full of photos, I decided to upload them to a Picasa web folder. There's another site, LouisLAmourCollector.com, that has some great info about all things Louis. This link is for The Tall Stranger.

Remember, books aren't just for looking at. This one is a decent read, as are most of his titles.

A Book Geek Test

From the FoggyGates -A Bookish Blog come a Book Geek Test.


Yes, I passed. Or failed, depending which way you score it.

My father scored more than I did, I'm sure.

Misc, update

Just a couple of items to blog about...

I've added photos to the Autograph Day post. And I finished some books recently.

• Ellis Peters' A Morbid Taste For Bones
• Paul L. Maier's The First Easter
• Marilyn vos Savant's More Marilyn
• Bob Newhart's I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This!
• Louis Phillips and Burnham Holmes' The TV Almanac

I mooched a Brother Cadfael book today. I'm trying to catch up on some of the titles that I'm part way through before starting anything new. We'll see.

Edison has been playing with an online game called linerider. Here's what can be done...


Line Rider 'Transcendental™' HD by TechDawg from TechDawg on Vimeo.

Bookman's

Bookman's is a used book/music/game/magazine/jewelry/dvd/etc store in Tucson (and other locations in Arizona). I went to the Speedway store during my visit.

It is mostly known as a bookstore. Well, I think of it as a bookstore. They have mostly books...


and magazines...


and some kids books. Lots of kids books and places to sit...


and more places to sit...


Where else can you get some Luther and Billy side by side?


This is the listening pod room. I didn't approach too closely. Pod people.


Well, there's books. Books galore. I didn't hang out in the romance or biography section, so I can't tell you how those are. But I did peruse the Science Fiction and Mystery areas, as well as the Sports and Misc. sections. A nice collection and variety. All of the copies of books were very clean. No mashed up, covers torn copies here.

Plenty of room to move around, good service people, maps and BIG signs.

I didn't look too much in the music section. Edison 'complained' that he couldn't find any Beatles LPs. I tried to explain to him that most of their LPs came out in the 1960s and probably wouldn't be in the open bins at Booksmans. I don't think he quite understood it, but hey, at least he knows what LPs are.

They have a nice selection of magazines. Some rather obscure titles and a boatload of Arizona Highways. Always nice to see.

Music is always playing over the loudspeakers. I guess an employee decides what to play. Some of it I found not to be "Let's get the customers to relax and buy books" music. Even one of the employees I talked to thought the same thing.

The other employees I talked to, actually talked back. Some other bookstores I've been to (no, I won't name names), the employees seem to treat you like you are a nuisance and not the customer that would make the biggest purchase of the day. Bookman's' employees didn't quite go that far, but at least they engaged me in conversation. That means a lot to me.

I'm not sure of their trade-in policy, but I do know that Thursdays is Senior Citizen discount day.
Next time I'm in Tucson, I'll go back.

I'd like to thank the day supervisor (Chris, was it?) for giving me permission to take some photos. And the night supervisor for asking me why I was taking photos and then being cool when I described the day supervisor.

And I'd like to thank Boyd, a knitted interpretation of Cthulhu for its recommendations.


Go visit them just for that. It is worth it.