The Book Shopper

Oddities at Destination Books

Prep work continues for my pop-up booth Destination Books at the Decatur Book Festival’s Georgia Book and Paper Fair this weekend. This curation can become time-consuming when I run into book oddities that generate memories of days past. Here are some examples:

Carma: A Super-Simple Automotive Manual written by David Rosenblum. This was originally purchased in 1975 --  a time in my life when I thought I would try to maintain my own car – a 1961 Buick Electra followed by a 1973 Chevy Malibu. I was terrible at car repairs, but at least I take some solace that I soon realized I would save time and money if I just hired someone else to do the work. Still I have always valued auto maintenance, and stuck inside the book includes repair records and my Sears tire warranty. I will have this yellowing, disintegrating gem with the Courier typeface and homemade drawings of carburetors on display. But can I part with it? Probably won't have to.

Mark Bennett’s TV Sets: Fantasy Blueprints of Classic TV Homes (1996). Bennett has re-imagined and drawn blueprints of famous TV homes of a bygone era: Lucy and Ricky’s New York apartment and Connecticut home, The Clampetts Mansion in Beverly Hills and The Flintstones stone sided suburban ranch house to name but a few.

The Vanishing American Outhouse. Ronald S. Barlow’s 1989 paean to crescent-moon outdoor facilities will be at Destination Books for examination. No white gloves necessary.

Baseball Techniques Illustrated the 1951 instructional book by Ethan Allen and Tyler Micoleau.  This classic has all the fundamentals for any baseball player who wants to improve his or her game. The authors spend an entire chapter on situational hitting. Somebody needs to buy this book and send it to the 2019 Chicago Cubs.

Down & Outbound: A Mass Transit Satire. This  quirky book I published myself because I wanted the format to reflect function. The book is designed for the commuter who can read the book with one hand and hold on to the “Oh-shit” straps while riding a bus or train. “In the subterranean world of mass transit there are two separate, yet equally marginalized groups: the riders who use public transportation and the city officials who routinely persecute them.” The video below explains.

 

 

 

 

Paul Dry Books Visits Atlanta

Prep work continues for my pop-up booth Destination Books at the Decatur Book Festival’s Georgia Book and Paper Fair this weekend.

One bookshelf is dedicated to publisher Paul Dry Books in Philadelphia who – in the spirit of Destination Books – has provided numerous travel books about India, Syria, Turkey, Greece, Rome and Crete, which will be available at discounted prices. Another destination aspect of this collection is the topic of books themselves. As we know, good books have a reputation to take us to new places. With this in mind, the booth has copies of Gabriel Zaid’s tidy little book of thirteen essays So Many Books: Reading and Publishing in the Age of Abundance (2003) which questions the necessity of publishing so much material (but then there wouldn’t be a need for book festivals). Copies of this blog’s namesake The Book Shopper: A Life in Review (2009), which was also published by Paul Dry Books will be there in abundance along with its author working feverishly behind the counter.

Believer Magazine at Destination Books

I have been a Believer magazine subscriber-reader for a dozen years. Each issue has surprised me with an interview with some  writer, musician, actor or artist who I knew little or nothing about being added to my cultural radar. Rebecca Solnit comes most to mind because ever since I read a Believer interview with her back in 2009, I’ve read about a half a dozen of her books.

Also, The Believer is fun to peruse while on public transportation, as fellow commuters think I am reading some religious periodical like the Jehovah Witness' The Watchtower. People keep their distance like I am ready to proselytize.

Because of their fine mix of design, printing and writing I refuse to commit the magazine to the recycle shredder, so I am trying to find them some good homes. I even found this special magazine carousel to smartly display them at my Destination: Books popup booth at Georgia Book and Paper Art Show at the Decatur Book Festival on Saturday, August 31st and Sunday, September 1st.  These issues are $1 each.   If you purchase $10 worth of Believer magazines you have your choice of a tattered Charles Burns poster, or a copy of former Believer music columnist Greil Marcus 2014 book , The History of Rock 'N' Roll in Ten Songs, which I wrote about in previous blog posting several years ago.

Book Shopper to Bookseller

On Labor Day weekend, the Book Shopper becomes bookseller as part of the Decatur Book Festival. I will be setting up a popup book booth called Destination: Books at The Georgia Book and Paper Fair, which is organized in part by the Georgia Antiquarian Booksellers Association. 

Over 20 vendors from all over the Southeast are there and it is being held inside the AIR CONDITIONED, spacious Ebster Recreation Center, 105 Electric Avenue in Decatur. Think of it as a big book superstore where you can browse among all kinds of curated collections. Hours are 10 to 6, Saturday, August 31st and Noon to 5 on Sunday, September 1st.

Destination: Books ("for the adventurous") will be there stocked with an eclectic mix of books and magazines that I have acquired over the past 40 years. I am also getting some help from some book friends and booth designer friends. More details will follow, but rest assured that I will have on hand plenty of copies of my books: The Book Shopper: A Life in Review and the Down & Outbound: A Mass Transit Satire, a book that strikes fear into the hearts of Atlanta area public transportation professionals while amusing those who ride buses and trains.

 

Algerian Hiatus

For the past six weeks I have been spending my blogging and book time on one of my favorite historians Alistair Horne.  Previously, I've written about two of his other books on this blog,The Price of Glory, Verdun 1916 (1960)and his 2015 book Hubris: The Tragedy of War in the Twentieth Century. 

My latest Horne read is his Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 written in 1977 and later revised in 1996.  I also selected it for my annual contribution Dog Day Classics a late summer offering from the Tropics of Meta: Historiography for the Masses. ToM explained:

Tropics of Meta aims to offer a fresh perspective on history, current events, popular culture, and issues in the academic world. Founded in 2010, ToM has published over 900 essays by historians, social scientists, artists, activists, and creative writers both within and outside the academy, giving voice to communities across the United States and the world.  

The Horne book was somewhat a beast to read and write about, but it is the kind of history that leaves you wanting to vacation in Algeria (not really, but you are left fascinated with the story - albeit a tragic one -  and the scholarship it took to write it ).  For a better explanation of my whereabouts, just go to the essay "Distant Lessons from Algeria, 1954-1962" itself at ToM.  Check the other Dog Day Classics as well.

* The photo comes from the 1966 film, The Battle of Algiers.