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*A Collection of Antiquarian Curios & Relics*

"And everybody praised the Duke
who this great fight did win."
"But what good came of it at last?"
Quoth little Peterkin.
"Why that I cannot tell," said he,
"But 'twas a famous victory."
--Robert Southey, After Blenheim

1) THE OLD MAN'S COMFORTS AND HOW HE GAINED THEM . . . With the recent success of 11/23/63 (9781451627282) 35.00, one could say that Stephen King is experiencing a bit of a renaissance in regards to his writing, from both critics and fans alike. He now seems far removed from the dark days of Tommyknockers (9780451156600) 7.99, and has become a well-respected man of letters. Now he returns to the land of Mid-World from The Dark Tower series with the release of Wind Through the Keyhole (9781451658903) 27.00. The Clint Eastwoodesque Roland Deschain elaborates on his past in this stand-alone novel that should excite fans of the original series. And hey, it's only 320 pages, which is a slim volume for Stephen King these days, and it should help you sell this title to the casual reader . . .

2) THE INCHCAPE ROCK . . . Ellen Airgood, author and proprietress of the West Bay Diner, is one of our favourite people and her first novel, South of Superior (9781594485763) 16.00, is now available in tradepaper. Her novel was voted a Michigan Notable Book for this year and she will be in the Lansing area this weekend to accept her award. Ellen's first middle reader Prairie Evers (9780399256912) 15.99 has been moved up from its original August release to May 24. Originally homeschooled, Prairie Evers finds the transition to public school difficult until another girl, Ivy, becomes her best friend. She eventually learns that home may not be the best place for Ivy, and she concocts a plan to help her. Ellen tackles every situation with her implacable pluck and determination . . .

3) "AN EPIDEMICAL RAGE FOR AUTOBIOGRAPHY . . . "One of the funniest writers alive and bookseller darling, A.J. Jacobs, has returned with Drop Dead Healthy (9781416599074) 26.00, in which he chronicles his attempt to, well, stay alive. From extreme chewing to Finger Fitness sessions, he shares his litany of diets and exercises in an attempt to transform his 45-year-old middle-aged body from 'a python who swallowed a goat' to the healthiest human specimen to ever tread our planet. I hope this means that A.J. will be healthy enough to entertain us for many years to come . . .

* UPDATE* E.L. Smith's Fifty Shades of Grey (9780345803481) 15.95 is shipping from the publisher today, and our stock should be here on Friday (4/27).

Odds & Sods

Hot titles back in stock:

Christopher Moore's Sacre Bleu (9780061779749) 26.99

Adriana Trigiani's The Shoemaker's Wife (9780061257094) 26.99

Charlotte Rogan's The Lifeboat (9780316185905) 24.99

Vanessa Diffenbaugh's The Language of Flowers (9780345525550) 15.00

Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games Trilogy (Boxed Set) (9780545265355) 53.97

And have at it . . .

Ye Olde Partners Page

*A Collection of Antiquarian Curios & Relics*

"There are books of which the backs and the covers are by far the best parts . . ."
--Charles Dickens

My Dear E.A. Poe--

I hear that Hollywood is once again digging up another of your corpses and has created a celluloid monstrosity from its well-picked bones. Up here in Author's Heaven we get a lot of our news second hand, but I believe Mr. Twain mentioned that the title of the movie is The Raven. Sorry, old boy, not terribly original I'm afraid. I do find it exceedingly tiring trying to keep up with all this new technology. I guess it could be worse, the movie moguls could be working on their umpteenth production of Oliver Twist.

It is a shame there is no fiction winner for the Pulitzer Prize this year. I see David Foster Wallace's The Pale King (9780316074223) 16.99, Karen Russell's Swamplandia (9780307276681) 14.95, and Denis Johnson's Train Dreams (9780374281144) 18.00 were all nominated. But apparently, none of them were 'well written enough' to make the cut.

I asked DFW about it and he said, " . . . . "

The other winners were The Swerve (9780393064476) 26.95 by Stephen Greenblatt for General Non-Fiction. John Lewis Gaddis' George F. Keenan (9781594203121) 39.95 won for Biography. Manning Marable's Malcolm X (9780143120322) 18.00 was posthumously awarded the History prize. And they announced a Drama and a Poetry winner, too.

Speaking of technology, Charles Babbage had once told me that some day there would be a difference engine that would allow us to communicate worldwide. He told me to not only copyright my titles, but my name as well. He also suggested that I should purchase possible domain names like 'Dickensmore' and 'Pippinmore'. He said there's an author named J.K. Rowling who has a place called 'Pottermore' which will allow you to send a book to your portable difference engine. He mentioned that this J.K. has made millions of pounds selling books this way.

As to the future, I am confounded by the success of E. L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey (9780345803481) 15.95, and its sequels Fifty Shades Darker (9780345803498) 15.95 and Fifty Shades Freed (9780345803504) 15.95. These are so poorly written that they would never have made it past my editor, but I suppose you must give the people what they want, eh? In regards to 35 Shades of Grey, Mr. Babbage sent me what he called a link to show me what some scoundrels are up to: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/04/16/amazon-knock-off-bestsellers/?iid=HP_LN

Affectionately Yours Ever,

Charlie Dickens


Odds & Sods

Not since the cover of the 2012 Partners Great Lakes & Midwest Catalog have I seen a lighthouse as big as the one on the cover of the Michigan History Directory 13th Edition (9781880311103) 19.95. Of course, the history locations inside this book are even bigger. Vacation season is right around the corner, and this title will help you plan your adventure . . .

Blaine Harden tells North Korean Shin Dong-hyuk's remarkable and harrowing story in Escape From Camp 14 (9780670023325) 26.95. Shin is the only escapee born into a North Korean work camp who has survived to tell his story. It makes you realize how lucky you really are . . .

Ye Olde Partners Page

*A Collection of Antiquarian Curios & Relics*

"Unless you love someone,
nothing else makes any sense . . ."
--e.e. cummings

1) i am so glad and very . . . big news out of ypsilanti, gabriel's trading post of plenty, the Great Lakes Great Reads Choices for the spring season have been announced. hear ye! hear ye! spring is multi-colored memories of children, twirling tongues, and rabid beasts in sheep's clothing. those we revere:

FICTION
Elmore Leonard's Raylan (9780062119469) 26.99
"bullets and slouched hats"

NONFICTION
Jeffrey Zaslow's The Magic Room (9781592406616) 27.00
"loves angles sharpened"

YOUNG ADULT FICTION
John Green's The Fault in Our Stars (9780525478812) 17.99
"hearts melt into crayons"

CHILDREN'S PICTURE BOOK
Kelly DiPucchio's Crafty Chloe (9781442421233) 16.99
"beyond clever cool or classic"

i don't understand. winters all. kelly dipucchio! an undead celluloid dog laughs and says, I should have said dimaggio.

2) in time of daffodils . . . banned books, banned books, we must ban books. won't someone think of the children. nestled in their cars beneath piles of torn and frayed blankets. protect us, protect us from their feather stuffed teddy bears. this is the OIF's Top 10 List of Frequently Challenged Books for 2011:

ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series) by Lauren Myracle
The Color of Earth (series) by Kim Dong Hwa
The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins
My Mom's Having A Baby! by Dori Hillestad Butler
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Alice (series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones
Gossip Girl (series) by Cecily Von Ziegesar
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Owen's Oubliette

Owen Laukkanen is becoming a regular fixture in the Partners Page, so I'm giving him his own header for this week. Mr. Laukkanen stopped in last Wednesday and signed copies of his first book, The Professionals (9780399157899) 25.95. We talked alot about the Montreal Canadiens, the Toronto Blue Jays, and Canadian football. He also lamented the fact that he hadn't written any Twilight Saga fan fiction. I assured him that there is still time . . .

Speaking of Twilight Saga fan fiction, on next Tuesday the last two titles in the Fifty Shades Trilogy go on-sale:
Fifty Shades Darker (9780345803498) 15.95
Fifty Shades Freed (9780345803504) 15.95.
And backorders are piling up . . .

Ye Olde Partners Page

*A Collection of Antiquarian Curios & Relics*

"Nothing escapes the vigilance of the New South Wales police; their reputation is known the world over . . ."
--Joshua Slocum, First man to single-handedly circumnavigate the world

B. TRAVEN JR. -- CONSPIRACY THEORIST AT LARGE

B. Traven Jr. here. If you hear this on my trusty Sony ICD-BX700 Digital Voice Recorder (Because Sony is one of my sponsors, I am contractually obligated to mention this), I am already dead. I had made a foolish bet with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, former NBA superstar and author of What Color is My World?: The Lost History of African-American Inventors (9780763645649) 17.99, that I could penetrate Rupert Murdoch's security system at his Fox News World Headquarters and retrieve the Holy Grail of the book industry, the original notebook with the handwritten text of E.L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey (9780345803481) 15.95. It was merely a gentlemen's bet, but much like Phineas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days, I take all of my bets very seriously. I left for New York immediately, easily avoided his electronic detection devices, and gained access through the roof. I eventually arrived in front of Mr. Murdoch's safe, which was nearly two miles underground. It seemed as easy as pie. But then nobody had told me about the raptors!

Yes, raptors. I thought the whole Crichton Jurassic Park (9780345370778) 7.99 thing was purely fiction, but apparently, Michael Crichton was writing from experience. Only, instead of the raptors living on a remote island, Rupert Murdoch was using them in New York to guard his most valuable treasures. It was so obvious now that his scientists had the ability to clone living creatures. Take one look at his blonde female co-anchors on every Fox newscast over the past ten years; they were clearly cloned. Hey, hang on for a second . . .

Okay, I thought I heard something. I've locked myself in a janitorial closet to escape the roaming raptors. I realize now that I should have stuck to exploring and left the espionage stuff to guys like Alex Hawke in Ted Bell's Phantom (9780061859304) 27.99 or Mitch Rapp in Kill Shot (9781416595205) 27.99 by Vince Flynn. If I had played my cards right, I should have been lounging at my palatial estate in Mozambique, sipping a scotch on the rocks and reading Hank Haney's exposé on Tiger Woods, The Big Miss (9780307985989) 26.00.

I hear the lock tumblers on the door click, and I look up to see Rupert Murdoch standing above me. He has two raptors in tow on steel link leashes. He laughs maniacally and says, "So, B. Traven Jr., we meet again. And unfortunately for you . . . This will be for the last time. Feast my pretties!"

He moves out of the doorway and drops their leashes.

"Nooooooooooooo!"

Odds & Sods

Brandon Mull popped in here last week and we talked about everything from Orson Scott Card to A Game of Thrones. He also signed copies of Fablehaven (9781416947202) 7.99, Beyonders: A World Without Heroes (9781416997931) 7.99, and Beyonders: Seeds of Rebellion (9781416997948) 19.99. As usual, it's first come, first served . . .

Stephanie Nielson's Heaven is Here (9781401341794) 23.99 could be a potential sleeper. Stephanie is a wife and mother of four children, who is a well-known inspirational blogger. She was almost killed with her husband in a plane crash. This is the story of her battle back from the brink of death. Powerful . . .