The Thin Red Line

Some books are really specialized.    If you need them they are hugely important and if you don’t you’ll probably never notice them.   At the library I see them all and when one of them applies to me or my family I snatch up the right books so we can learn more.

It is Ron, my partner, rather than me who is going to be having bypass surgery sometime in the next two months or so.   This concise and very readable guide will enable anyone who will be undergoing this operation and their family to understand just what is going to happen and why.  It’s a book that I honestly hope you willl never need to read.   But if, sad to say you find yourself of a loved one in this situation, So You’re Having Heart Bypass Surgery is Highly Recommended.

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I have to confess that I have been a fan of The Price Is Right since   a small child.   I remember when there used to be "four numbers in the price of the car".   (I feel SO old.)  When I recently came across a copy of Come On Down!  I knew immediately I would have to bring it home and write it up.   Sad to Stan Blits is a better game show producer than he is a book author.   Moderately to Very Interested fans of the show will appreciate the first third or so of the book when Blits shares information about the shows history and reveals some of the details of just how it is produced.    The latter two thirds of the book come across as filler not worth the relatively high grade of paper its printed on.    Not Recommended.

I’ve recently been tagged by bookcalendar with the Six Word Memoir meme.  You can read the meme instructions here.

My Six Word Memoir:

Library Guy That Writes About Books

Since this is a writng meme I feel I have to tag  Tiffany, Dawn, Jamie, Claire and Vienne.

Thanks again to bookcalendar for the tag.

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Happy Friday!   Just a Short Take Today on a very funny book  that is sure to brighten your day.   Leo Cullum is a cartoonist for the New Yorker magazine and this 2003 collection of his dog cartoons is a real treat.   Cullum’s dogs engaged in very human conversations are both genuinely witty and laugh out loud funny.    Go ahead and click the cover image and request it from your library.   A guaranteed day brightener,  Highly Recommended to dog lovers and fans of witty cartooning.

LAST CHANCE!    The Chain Drop contest for 3,000 Entrecard credits ends at midnight Pacific time tonight.    Since this blog is actually hosted and time-stamps in Eastern time,   all entries timestamped before 3:01 am on March 1, 2009  will be counted.    The winner will be announced on Chain Drop next week.    All you have to do is leave a comment here with a few sentences about how you use social networking.     If you haven’t already, click  here and leave your comment before time runs out.

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I try to keep to a Monday–Friday posting schedule and for a time had been doing well with that, even if some posts were post-dated or pre-written to achieve that schedule.   The past few weeks my life off-line has been Very hectic and I have just not had the time and intellectual energy to update regularly. 

While the off-line crisis has not passed, I have found a bit of a extended time to get back to blogging about books and will try to keep up with posting each weekday going forward and as time permits, filling in the missed days with back-dated posts.   There will be lots of book reviews and new and interesting titles, so please check back frequently.

Today I decided to share with you a few of the books that did not make the cut.    Each title pictured represents a book I checked out and brought home, but decided Not to read and blog about.    How To Catch A Fairies  is a delicately illustrated compendium of myths surrounding various types of fairies.   The title certainly caught my eye but I am busy finishing Untapped–The Scramble For Africa’s Oil and am about 150 pages into Rhett Butler’s People and just am not going to get to this one.

I brought home How to Change Anybody but did not read it when my spouse helpfully pointed out I am already very good an manipulation and need no further training in that direction.

The Afterword caught my attention while shelving in Adult Fiction because it is such an oddly tiny hardcover book.   It is also a short and very odd little novel by Mike Bryan that takes the form of an "Afterword" and appendix written by the author of a mega-best selling novel that explains his process of  writing the novel.    It hooked me for about  50 Pages before I lost interest and could not continue.

Johann Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press sparked an information revolution by making books widely avaialable as they previously had never been.    This biography caught my eye while shelving but I will not get around to reading it I’m afraid.

At Large and At Small is a book of "familiar essays" by Anne Fadiman.    I honestly can’t recall why I picked it up and didn’t read a single word of it.

And finally, the novel The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon caught my eye for it’s striking cover which is designed to look like an antique photo pasted to an old, leather bound book.   As with the essays,  I never cracked it at all.    As always,   the book covers are linked to Worldcat, which will guide you to getting a copy from your library if any of these catch your eye or strike your fancy.

Just a reminder– It’s Not Too Late to Enter to Win 3,000 Entrecard credits in the Chain Drop Writing Contest.   3,000 EC just for leaving a comment on the post.   But hurry,  contest ends at midnight, Pacific Time on 2/29/2008.

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I’ve mentioned before that since going to work for a large library system, I’ve pretty much stopped buying books, having as I do such a huge selection of books ever at hand, and like most library employees I make great use of my library card.  But I have to confess that Rod L Evans’  The Gilded Tongue–Overly Eloquent Words For Everyday Things is a book I would dearly love to own.   The rich purple velvet cover with the title and design embossed in thick gilding would look perfect on my eclectically filled bookshelf.   And who wouldn’t want to own a volume featuring words such as jackanapes (a conceited or impudent person), monomochy (a duel) or whiffler (one who clears the way for a procession)?     Highly Recommended.

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This one is for all of my bibliophile friends, regardless of their taste in genres and subjects.  Alan Powers has written a guide for those of us who want to get the maximum enjoyment out of Living With Books.  Filled with spectacular photographs and incisive advise, Living  With Books covers everything from selecting and acquiring a collection to many beautiful and unique designs that incorporate book shelves and other book storage into beautifully decorated rooms, book plates and advice for book collectors to the practicalities of caring for fine books and the rudiments of constructing a variety of book cases DIY.   If you desire to live stylishly surrounded,  Powers’ Living With Books is Highly Recommended.

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I’ve previously written about Tilt,  a book about the famous leaning tower of Pisa, Italy that is cut on an angle so that the spine of the book slants back towards the rear of the shelf rather than standing up straight.    And when I recently came across The Slant Book by Peter Newell, which has the same angled spine, I knew immediately I would have to blog about it.    Originally published in 1910 when novelty books of this sort were a popular amusement, it was re-published in the 1960’s by Tuttle Publishing Company and as of the edition owned by my library was in its fifteenth printing.   The story of an old fashioned baby carriage that slips away from the baby’s nurse on a steep slope and slides all over town has charming illustrations evocative of its period and the slant of book cleverly contributes to the illusion of the pram rolling downhill out of control.    Recommended both as a children’s book and for those interested in novelty books and popular art from the early 1900’s.

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Time was, I  was a huge fan of Gary Trudeau’s Doonesbury, which I largely credit with enabling me to survive the Raygun Years with my sanity and ability to laugh relatively intact.   (Who knew Presidential advisers of a sort that would some years hence make Nancy’s astrologer seem relatively professional and qualified would be our lot under Bush 43?!?)      And when the Raygun Years gave way to the Clinton Era,  I was thrilled to learn that Trudeau could skewer and lambaste Bill and Hill as hilariously and effectively as he had Nancy and Ron.  

And then came Bush America.   It was, at first, a veritable feast for political humorists like Trudeau, but after 8 years of breath-taking ignorance and arrogance and enough humorous copy about Junior’s storied ineptitude and insensitivity,  I opened this book length collection of the latest Doonesbury comics,   read three very funny, very on-target jokes about  the current Administration,   sighed deeply and put the book down having found I can no longer laugh at this tragedy.

By much the same token,  New York Times columnist Frank Rich’s eloquent and highly readable account of how the second Bush Administration has played fast and loose with the truth, co-opting the formerly free press and manipulating the public’s access to information for its own nefarious ends is an excellent book and one I can honestly Recommend,  IF by some miracle you still have the heart and the stomach to read Stilll More about the already well documented criminal malfeasance of our current government.    I find I am burned out on the whole thing and just can’t bring myself to read books like this anymore.

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I am Way over due to give some link love to Claire. I has noticed that her simple but very clever cartoons reminded me of Eric Carle’s work and had intended to dedicate a review of Carle’s newest board book, but that was the day the computer and Earthlink ate my post three times and I ended up posting only a hastily written note describing how difficult it had been to post that day. So when Claire teamed up with Chelle on their newest photo contest– What Was Willy Reading? , I just knew this library drone would Have to provide some insight into Willy’s reading list….

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Yes, I know that we are fully half a year away from Independence Day when a book celebrating the United States flag might be most appropriate, but I came across this lavishly illustrated, Very Over-Sized coffee table book the other day and just Had to share it. Long May She Wave is a history of Old Glory that is loaded with pictures of every depicition of the flag imagineable from actual flags to knitted and crotcheted rugs and matts to products like a cell phone and an airplance, completely wrapped in stars and stripes. At a USD 60.00 cover price I can’t really recommend buying it, but it is sure worth a visit to 929.9209 at the library to check it out. Recommended.

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Recently Tiffany created a Blog Catalog discussion decrying the over-use of terms like "censorship" to the point they become meaningless and useless (in a ‘boy who cried wolf’-sort-of-way) and I was inclined to agree. I suspect taht Peter Phillips and the folks at Project Censored would agree as well. If you, too, think that terms like censorship should apply to things like a well written book detailing the 25 most important stories affecting our planet and its peoples that you are Not hearing about on the news or on the nets, head to the 900’s* and check out Censored 2007: The Top 25 Censored Stories. Recommended.

*at my library this book can be found at 909.83

Jenn’s blog, The Thriftshop Romantic is a treasure trove of wonderful vintage "stuff" that Jenn finds and rescues from thrift shops. I don’t specifically recall Jenn doing a piece on old magazine advertisements, but this very visual identification and price guide for Old Magazine Advertisements, somehow made me think of Jenn’s blog immediately. Many of the featured ads reminded me a great deal of the tin advertising signs Joel used to collect. Recommended.

Even though Google backed away from the change that removed the ability to leave backlinks in blog comment signatures on blogspot, I continue to see a numbe of my old Blogger buddies migrate to Word Press. For those who are not as fortunate as I am in having a host who is also a friend and an IT hotshot who nurses along all my techno-dweebishness, may I suggest Maria Langer and Jordan Miraz’s Visual Quickstart Guide to WordPress 2. If you’re not a techie and just need a book that shows you where the controls are and how to use them, this one will fit the bill just fine. Recommended.

And finally today a huge Thank You to Will who recommended the offline composter program Blog Desk. My DSL again today went down just as I finished composing and was ready to publish this entry, but with Blog Desk my work was not lost and I was able to simply wait and publish when the DSL conneciton came back up.

 

 

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The powers that be are conspiring to prevent me from posting today.    I spent over an hour on a long post about Herb Boyd’s We Shall Overcome and Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s favorite words.   My DSL failed at the moment I pressed publish and the post disppaered  into the ether.

The DSL came back up after a bit and I wrote a new post about my problem with the disappearing post and how hard it is to write an article a second time when you have no access to your first draft.    It wasn’t Really a book review but I did include all the links.    Then I clicked publish, the connection failed and the computer ate my post.   Again.

Clearly the powers that be do NOT want me to promote these two books today.    Want to join me in thwarting them?  Go over to Worldcat and order these books from your library, even though I have included NO links.    Or type the titles in the Powell’s search box and buy the new Carle cuz it’s so cool and to show those powers that be that didn’t let me put a link for your to do so in this space.

The gods willing, The Thin Red Line will return to regular publication tomorrow.

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This one is for Chelle, who lives where it’s cold and snowy, the sort of weather that makes a steaming mug of cocoa seem like the perfect idea.   Michael Turback has penned a delicious collection of recipes for a number of gourmet versions of  Hot Chocolate and a variety of cookies and sweets that go well with a cup of rich cocoa.    The Midnight Cowboy, made from Mexican chocolate, milk, Meyers Dark Rum, Kahlua and Jack Daniels  (a Very adult version) caught my eye and I swooned when reading the recipe for Black Bottom Hot Chocolate,  which first calls for making fudge and pouring it in mugs then pouring a rich hot chocolate over the fudge.   If you are a chocolate lover or live in a cold, snowy climate, Hot Chocolate is Highly Recommended.

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Today’s book review was generously contributed by my partner Ron.   If you like it,  please leave him a comment and let him know.

When Alan looks at books coming through to be scanned sometimes he finds stuff for me. And with Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laura Viera Rigler he hit the Jackpot.  He knows that I reread Jane Austen’s six novels at least once a year. And he knows how much I love her work.

If you too like Jane Austen, or just ever wondered how life really was back then, get this book.
I can’t recommend it any higher…

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A question that I have addressed before is "How Do You Pick All of These Books?". Simple really. I go about my job at the library, where I am literally, constantly handling books. Any and all books that catch my eye get set aside, checked out, brought home and piled up on my couch. Over time the best of them get read and blogged about here on The Thin Red Line. And every so often I realize that there are more books here than I will ever get around to writing about and I take a big stack of them back to the library.

Sometimes, after I get it home and examine it more closely I find that the book is not what I thought it would be from just glancing at the cover. Other times I simply come to a realization that I am just not going to get around to some of them. So I pile them up and drag them back to the library where undoubtedly other patrons will find these books more to their liking and will read them.

I really like cookbooks that provide me with ideas for dishes that are different from any that I have made and that offer simple preparations that are not overly complex. The cookbooks I reject generally end up being those that give overly labor intensive directions for dishes that will look better than they taste.

I love reading biographies but all too often these books are either puff pieces that read as though they author was on the payroll of the subject’s publicity firm (and who knows maybe he was?) or else they read like somebody had an axe to grind and I find myself thinking that either way the book would not be a good choice for someone who is a fan and wants to know more, but doesn’t want to spend the time or money on a book that is just a puff piece of a hatchet job.

Sometimes my reason for not featuring a book is even simpler. If the book cover image is not available, for instance, that is usually enough to eliminate it from my consideration.

As always on this blog, I have linked each book cover image to the book’s page on Worldcat, the international meta search engine for public libraries. If any of the titles catch your eye, just click on the cover image and Worldcat will guide you to the nearest library. So that you can add the book to the stack on your own couch. Since the mere fact that I have considered a book and then decided not to write about it hardly constitutes a glowing endorsement, I have spared myself the chore of typing in the the book titles and linking them to Powell’s. If the mere fact that I just couldn’t get around to it makes you want to buy one of these, please do use the Powell’s search box at the upper right of the page to place your order.

And please do give a holler and let me know if you should decide to add any of these to your own stack. I am working on a much more serious and in depth review of a Very important book for tomorrow, and hope very much to see you again then, here on The Thin Red Line.

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This one is for Claire who asked for a book about hiking.   I realize that Journeys of a Lifetime is probably not what she had in mind,  but wait until you hear about the hikes I am recommending to her.

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Happy New Year!   Now that the holidays are over, and having indulged in an orgy of spending and consumption to commemorate the birth of a long ago moral philosopher,  most folks who don’t have WWJD bumperstickers on their cars will feel free to forget about that philosopher and the morality he preached for another year or at least until Easter rolls around, and focus on important things like the Presidential election campaign.   So I decided today to feature a couple of books that might otherwise fall through the crack between faith and politics.

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I don’t usually post about books that are not in English but this Spanish language children’s book I came across today is so unusual and a lot of fun even if you do not comprehend Spanish at all.   Animalario Universal  is spiral bound at the top rather than on the side and except for a few introductory and concluding pages, each page is cut in two places, creating three ‘mini pages’ or frames which can each be flipped independently.   The first image shown is an elephant.   As you flip each of the three segments over one by one the elephant becomes a pig, then the pig becomes an armadillo and so on until finally after the last three flips a camel becomes a fish.   The Spanish words for each animal are displayed beneath the pictures and as best I can tell the book is intended as a fun vocabulary/animal names lesson for the Easy books crowd.   Though it will certainly also appeal to anyone who admires clever and artistic books.  Even it they no hablo Espanol.

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This one is for everyone who laughs at funny cat pictures.  Mario Garza, proprietor of the website stuffonmycat.com has put together a unique collection of pictures of, well, stuff on cats.   Most of the photos were submitted by visitors to the web site, though some are of Garza’s own cat.    The kitty sleeping peacefully beneath a plate of sausage, eggs and potatoes is quite striking as is the cover image of the red-eyed cat with whipped cream on top.   The kitty kicking back with a can of Bud and the tv remote is a hoot as is the cat who prefers the game controller and a bottle of Stoli.   And the cat beneath the bumper of the bus who appears to be straining to hold the whole thing up is priceless. Stuff On My Cat    Recommended.

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Merry Christmas!   Today on Christmas Eve I feature the twelfth and final of my Twelve Books For Christmas.   Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is arguably the essential and true Christmas story in English.   Christmas Carol has been a lifelong favorite for me and re-reading it each December something of a rite of the season.

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