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*A Collection of Antiquarian Curios & Relics*

"People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do . . ."
--Isaac Asimov

1) THE SECRET OF THE UNIVERSE . . . I like to think of myself as a literary ascetic, spreading the gospel of the book to people and places both high and low. From high atop my stylite, I sermonize to the faithful about old and new titles that may slip through your store shelves like a snapped rosary necklace between your fingers. I leave the John Grishams to the big boys. The titles that I've caught, I pass on to you, and one of those books was Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies (9780805090031) 28.00 which won this year's Man Booker Prize. I'm a bit of an Anglophile, so this one was a no brainer. Hilary won in 2009 for Wolf Hall (9780312429980) 16.00, so with her win we have two books to sell for the price of one. She's still working on the third title in the trilogy, The Mirror and the Light, and hopefully, when it releases, it will bring her the Booker Prize trifecta. Can I get an Amen!

2) MURDER AT THE ABA . . . If you're a wanted man, I suggest you don't hide in a movie theatre that is screening Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged Part Deux. You won't have any other moviegoers to use as cover. The new movie based on Atlas Shrugged (9780451191144) 9.99 has bombed. So unless you're a teen white male or apparently, as I gather from today's Book Brahmin, Nelson Demille, author of The Panther (9780446580847) 27.99, you will eventually learn that Objectivism looks great on paper, but much like Communism, it wouldn't work well in the real world. However, there are some movie tie-ins that you will genuinely need to keep an eye on in the upcoming weeks, including: Antonio Mendez's Argo (9780670026227) 26.95, David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas (9780812984415) 15.00. Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower (9781451696196) 15.00 has been released, but it is still a bestseller...

3) YOUNG MONSTERS . . . And sort of cinema related. The season three debut of The Walking Dead devoured the competition this past Sunday, it had by far the highest ratings ever for a basic cable drama. The ratings may scare the hipsters away, but I must admit that I gorged myself on their gorey smorgasboard of entrails. And we got some new books. We had both the The Walking Dead Compendium V2 (9781607065968) 59.99 and The Walking Dead: The Road to Woodbury (9780312547745) 24.99 shamble in here this past week. Hopefully, this will give me something to sink my teeth into until next week's episode . . .

On this day in Byzantine History (October 18)
In 1081, the Byzantine Army was defeated at the Battle of Dyrrhachium by Normans led by Robert Guiscard.

Odds & Sods

We have some new regional titles for your perusal. For Cleveland Browns fans, we have former defensive back Handford Dixon's Day of the Dawg (9781598510928) 14.95 in stock. Handford lives in the Westlake and he does local commentary for high school football.

Speaking of football, we have yet another new Green Bay Packers title, Lombardi's Left Side (9780983695264) 26.95 by defensive linemen greats Herb Adderley and Dave Robinson. With a forward by Bill Cosby, it isn't too much of a leap to see this as a Wisconsin bestseller.

Also, we have received Gavin Schmitt's Milwaukee Mafia (9780738594439) 21.99, which is the latest offering in Arcadia Publishing's Images of America series.

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*A Collection of Antiquarian Curios & Relics*

"While we live according to race, colour or creed
While we rule by blind madness and pure greed
Our lives dictated by tradition, superstition, false religion
Through the eons, on and on . . ."
--Queen, Innuendo

THE 1ST ANNUAL HEARTLAND FALL FORUM RED CARPET

Announcer: Ladies and gentlemen, we would like to welcome you to gorgeous downtown Minneapolis for the 1st Annual Heartland Fall Forum with your celebrity host B. Traven Jr. He needs no introduction, but you may recall Mr. Traven as the star of Ancient Aliens and of course, as the host of the new In Search of . . . He's already on the red carpet, so let's send you over there.

B. Traven, Jr (holding his Bob Barker microphone): Thanks Jack. B. Traven, Jr. here. I am holding court outside the Renaissance Depot Hotel. I am literally being blinded by the flashing bulbs of the papparazzi and the attendent galaxy of stars that have congregated here for THE gala event of the book industry. (He cranes his neck and semi-whispers into the mic). Let's see who is within earshot. Ah, there's Owen Laukkenan, author of The Professionals (9780425250495) 9.99 . . . Hey Owen! Man, you look like you're really going for that professor look. You have the tweed jacket there with the patches on the elbows, blue jeans, and comfortable shoes. The only thing you're missing is the Sherlock Holme's pipe. Ha, ha! How ya doing?

Owen Laukkenan: Hey B., good to see you. My head's still spinning. I just flew in from a mystery convention in Cleveland. I'm doing the awards today and then I fly back to Cleveland for the last day of their convention.

B. Traven Jr: And boy, will your arms be tired. Ha, ha! Well, I'm glad you could make it. Hey, have you seen Chad Harbach, author of The Art of Fielding (9780316126670) 14.99 or Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild (9780307592736) 25.95? They're the big winners of this year's MIBA Awards. No? Well heck, I'd even settle for Garrison Keillor. I could use some of his folksy witticisms right about now. Ha, ha! Oh, there's Mick from Partners. Mick, over here!

Mick: Hello, Mr. Traven. It's great to be here. I don't know if you know this . . . and I'm giving you an exclusive. The Partners East web site is up and running. The address is http://www.partners-east.com . After you get your user name and password, you can look up books by author, subject, and title. You can create lists in these categories and best of all, you can order your books on-line. In fact, if you order 25 or more confimed books, you'll get a 42% discount. It's the best of all worlds.

Odds & Sods

Our good friend Cory Doctorow popped in here Monday to sign copies of his new YA title, Pirate Cinema (9780765329080) 19.99. As per usual, it's first come, first served . . .

Budd Lynch, voice of the Detroit Red Wings passed away yesterday. We still have copies of his autobiography My Life: From Normandy to Hockeytown (9780966412086) 19.95 in stock. We have also received a new book he would have treasured. Rob Simpson's The Winged Wheel (9781118144282) 34.95 is chock full of full-color glossies from cover to cover. Budd you will be sorely missed . . .

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*A Collection of Antiquarian Curios & Relics*

"Put down that weapon or we'll all be gone
I must know something to know it's so wrong
And it happens to be an emergency
Some things aren't meant to be
Some things don't come for free . . ."
--Midnight Oil, Put Down That Weapon

1) SOMEBODY'S TRYING TO TELL ME SOMETHING . . . "To the choppah!" Let's face it, no matter how you feel about Arnold Schwarzenegger (and I must admit I am no longer much of a fan), we all love to quote his movies in a thick pseudo-Germanic accent. Total Recall (9781451662436) 35.00 is his new autobiography. From the mean streets of Thal to his philandering days as the Govunator, his book recounts how he finally attained Horatio Alger's Austrian dream. I'm not sure who is buying this title, but it is selling well. Now, Neil Young is on the opposite end of the spectrum for me. Neil is someone I have always admired and respected, and his new one is called Waging Heavy Peace (9780399159466) 30.00. I just received my reading copy, and I can't wait to crank up a Crazy Horse album, burn some incense, and dive right into it. Finally, on the autobiography front, we have chicken franchise entrepeneur Kenny Rogers' Luck or Something Like It (9780062071811) 27.99. I don't know much about Kenny, except for snippets from the song The Gambler, his ill-fated liposuction, and his short-lived variety show (which by the way, did feature the band Badfinger lip-synching Baby Blue). All in all, he seems like a fairly amiable fellow, and of course, he's brushed elbows with some of country music's greatest stars. I'm sure he has some interesting stories to tell and it should be a decent seller . . .

2) SOMEONE ELSE TO BLAME . . . GLiBA has announced its Fall 2012 Great Lakes Great Reads titles. They are as follows:

Fiction: Jami Attenberg's The Middlesteins (9781455507214) 24.99
Nonfiction: Hans Weyandt's Read This: Handpicked Favouites from America's Indie Bookstores (9781566893138) 12.00
YA / Independent Readers: Gary D. Schmidt's What Came From the Stars (9780547612133) 16.99
Picture Book #1A: Sarah Stewart's The Quiet Place (9780374325657) 16.99
Picture Book #1B: Philip & Erin Stead's Bear Has a Story to Tell (9781596437456) 16.99

And so it goes . . .

On this day in Byzantine Empire History (October 5)
In 610 A.D., Emperor Heraclius was crowned for a second time, this time in the Chapel of St. Stephen, and at the same ceremony he married Fabia.

Odds & Sods

So far this season, Denard Robinson and the Michigan Wolverines football team have been underwhelming. However, Jill thought I should mention Michigan Football: The History of the Nation's Winningest Program (9781600787652) 24.95 by The Michigan Daily. And they should still be in the hunt for the Big Ten championship . . .

The beautiful and vivacious young adult author Maggie Stiefvater dropped in on Friday to sign our copies of The Raven Boys (9780545424929) 18.99. As usual, with autographed books, it's first come, first served.

"I'll be back."