bloody wonderful

I was about to say that I was NOT swayed by others when it comes to books, but that isn't true. I have read many of Michael Dirda's books in the hope of discovering someone I had never heard of before, nor read. Through Dirda I found Dawn Powell and countless others. But I was surprised to hear R L Stine on the radio recently talk about the author Sebastian Barry's book A Long Long Way.

My grandfather had served in World War I, and while I never met him (he died seven years before I was born), his memory and his service in France is part of the family lore. So, I promptly got a copy of Barry's book on Amazon for $1.99 and have been slowly reading it since. It's a beautifully written and simply awful book. "Simply awful" in the vivid descriptions of the horrors of the trenches and the brutality of war. It's a stunning book. I absolutely recommend it. But it's not a fast read, it's too painful for that. If you absorb it, you can't help but put it down and wince at the imagery and senselessness of it all.

Fantastic book.

complaint

Went to a quite successful used bookstore in Manassas, VA over the weekend and took in their great operation and wonderful selection. I won't name the bookstore as I have an issue with the method by which they have chosen to affix the price to their book. The sticker they affix to the front cover of the books comes off with pieces of the paperback front cover. This is not good. The pricing sticker is fine on hardbound books but on paperbacks? Not so much. Either bits of the cover disappear with the removal or a sticky residue remain on the cover, needing additional cleaning.

sucks....

but as I said, the selection was good and if one were to google "used bookstores" and "Manassas", they might quickly conclude that I am writing about McKay's.

A stop in Brooklyn, and more

Last weekend I drove my family to Brooklyn to visit the Godparents of our children, and while we were there I stopped into Atlantic Book Shop on Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn. I wasn't there long, but long enough to find some extremely interesting and rare items.

Chief among the finds was a 1970 Unicorn Press chapbook by Robert Hershon, which according to the man behind the cash register (who may also have been the owner) was a book by his father. The chapbook is entitled "Atlantic Avenue" and the store is now located on Atlantic Avenue although it seems to have moved there recently from Greenwich Village.

Not that I know that, never been into the store before. It's a great space. Of course, I was looking for specific things and found a number of them. I also found an inscribed & signed copy of Jim Bishop's 1975 book of poetry published by Contraband Books, Mother Tongue. As well as The High Tower by frances horovitz, printed in Great Britain by New Departures; High Wire Man by Julian Long, published by the University of North Texas Press poetry series (my 3rd chapbook in their series); a mass market edition of Anne Dillard's 1975 Tickets for a Prayer Wheel; Reed Whittemore's 1959 The Self-Made Man. Overall, I was quite pleased with my stop there. Of course I had to run down several blocks afterwards to catch up with my family as they had walked to see the Statue of Liberty in the harbor.


Then a few days later, on Jack Kerouac's birthday in fact, I received from Finland a wonderful copy of Kerouac's Lonesome Traveller printed in Great Britain by Mayflower Books Ltd. (1968)

poetry books arriving in the mail

Since Christmas I have received 4 poetry books of note in the mail. I usually frown on getting books online since you don't know, really, what you are getting until it arrives and you open the packaging. So, it's either perpetually Christmas time or it's another sad April Fool's joke that I have paid for.

In these cases, I have been lucky to have received 4 additional Christmas presents inside of practical jokes. The first is Left Hand by Margaret Cesa. This book appears to have been self-published in 1974, with illustrations throughout by Nancie Gunkleman. The copy I got was signed by Margaret Cesa in 1974. There is no publication history nor name of Press, nor contact info listed anywhere in the book. Its pages are unnumbered. Nice clean copy.

I got this book as well as the next two through ebay, which as many people know, is on a downward spiral. I "won" an early Copper Canyon letterpress chapbook, signed, by Richard Shelton. 12" X 5 1/2". Beautifully made Tree Swenson. I had another early Copper Canyon book - Soie Sauvage by Olga Broumas - which was published in 1979. It looks more "professional" than the Shelton chapbook published three years later. Odd, that.....

I got A Kind of Glory published in 1982. It reminds me of chapbooks created by Toothpaste Press and the Perishable Press Limited. Handmade paper, letterpress text. Uniquely made books. However, this little story had a strange twist in it; the seller initially sent me the wrong book. I was sent James Laughlin (with Vanessa Jackson) book The House of Light, published by The Grenfell Press, New York, in 1986. This book is astounding in its production. I had not heard of Grenfell Press before but this is an incredible book that I was only too happy to receive, even by accident. I was able to keep this book in addition to receiving the Shelton chapbook. Fantastic.

But one can not expect too many "happy accidents" to come. Indeed, shortly afterwards I "won" a signed Theodore Weiss collection of poetry which was returned to the seller in an mangled condition by the USPS. While I was refunded fully, I wonder what the rate increases actually PAY FOR since improved service is not evident. And postal employees are generally an unhappy bunch. Just grinds my socks that they increase rates while volume declines and service fails. If the USPS was a stand-alone company, it would likely be forced under.

The final book I received was Pieces of Sissy Lee by Kathryn Burkett. This coffee-table sized self-published book is a hodge podge of art book styles and broken poetics. Glossy cover. Unnumbered pages. Visually interesting.

out and about

I went out this past Saturday and did some booking, unloading more than I came home with (which is, in fact, the idea) and I was able to find Clotheslines, a nice Harry Abrams produced HB with DJ, fine first edition, edited by Stan Tymorek. It's a collection of poetry & art dealing with the subject of clothing. Very good indeed.

Then on the CBS Sunday Morning program, they had a piece about books in the city of Paris and spoke with John Baxter who is, among other things, author of A Pound of Paper. I really like this book and the writing style of Mr. Baxter. I looked for the piece online and it isn't anywhere, yet. The reporter, stationed in Paris, was discussing the nature of the printed word in the city of lights and featured a gentleman who is more than a bit of a bibliomaniac. His apartment in Paris was floor to ceiling books, I can't imagine he is lucky with the ladies - there wouldn't be room for them in his apartment.

The piece also showed a book scout in action in Paris and mentioned the number of used book experts who have shops in Paris, I am thinking of moving to Paris (okay, maybe just visit)

jan 26 2009

catching up with myself

My wife and I went to Robin's Bookstore in Philadelphia right after Christmas 2008. We did so to gather up our chapbooks from their shelves as they are closing as a bookstore after 73 years and also to see what treasures we might find lingering as the bookstore winds down and discounts deepen along the way. My wife, Katy, found "a thin sliver of nothing" as I call them, a tiny chapbook, actually a booklet (all of 4 pages). It had been in the basement (catacombs) of Robins since the late 1970's. "Playing the Game" was printed at Moore College in Philadelphia back in 1976. It was a single poet by John De Witt and was designed by Keith Newhouse. The publisher is listed as Cold Chair Books.

As it happened, I decided to write about this booklet on one of my other blogs, chap*books, and before doing so I wanted to do a bit of research on this "thin sliver". I asked around and discovered that John De Witt could be teaching at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, which I checked and can confirm, and that De Witt had been working with a Bill Walton (not the basketball player) at Moore College as Cold Chair Books. De Witt listed the handful of chapbooks that Cold Chair had produced including a chapbook that I discovered on a bookshelf at the Free Library of Philadelphia, Alexandra Grilikhes' City Poems. I must say that I was tempted to steal the chapbook. I was a good citizen though and returned it before it's due date.

Among the other treasures we found that day were a Git Ott chapbook, a piece of short fiction published by Meridian Writers Coop, a story by Francis Davis who has gone on to write several books on jazz, as well as chapbooks that may not have seen the light of day in 3 decades. Bookstores can be large Xs on the treasure map of discovery for book collectors, and scouts (of course). Bookstores have their basements the way old movie theaters had their vaults, their secret films - their own unknown treasures. So, maybe there is an upside to Robins ending it's long run as a functioning bookstore in Philadelphia. The material in their basement will bubble up to the surface again.

At the same time, I feel for Larry Robin who had to make the painful decision to change course and bring things to closure. I worked with Larry earlier this decade and I know the struggles he endured to keep his independent bookstore afloat in a city where the corporate bookstores had muscled their way in. In the end, it was Amazon and online booksellers that did him in. A cautionary tale for the times.