Thursday, April 11, 2013

Ye Olde Partners Page

*A Collection of Antiquarian Curios & Relics*

"What have we done, Maggie what have we done?
What have we done to England?
Should we shout, should we scream
'What happened to the postwar dream?'
Oh Maggie, Maggie what have we done?"
--Roger Waters, The Postwar Dream
1) PARANOID EYES . . . Joseph King, er, Joe Hill's new one NOS4A2 (9780062200570) 26.99 (Nosferatu), which has a laydown date of April 30, has already been getting starred reviews in various publications. Not to go all English Lit on you, but I was intrigued by a review that said, "[He has] well defined characters." And maybe it's my penchant for post-modernism literature, but I thought to myself, 'Is this good? Do I know people in the real world who are well defined characters? Aren't we all a bit amophorous?' Whatever. In further King clan news, not only do we have Papa King's Under The Dome (9781439149034) 19.99, which releases as a CBS 13-part (!) mini-series on June 24, but his first book Carrie (9780307743664) 7.99 will also debut as a new movie on October 18. As Mel Brooks once said, "It's good to be the King!"



2) ONE OF THE FEW . . . When I think back to Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kittredge (9780812971835) 15.00 as a paperback, I believe I could have retired if I had received a dollar for every copy we sold. So imagine my surprise a couple of weeks ago when I realized, 'Hey, nobody put in big initial buys for The Burgess Boys (9781400067688) 26.00.' Granted, the hardcover of Olive Kittredge didn't burn up the charts, but she did win The Pulitzer Prize for that title, so you would suspect her next title to do well. Just sayin'. Also, along the same lines, Kate Atkinson's Life After Life (9780316176484) 27.99 could be this year's Olive Kittredge. The word on the street is that the other wholeasalers are out of stock on this one. Now we need to find this year's Fifty Shades Of Gray . . .



3) THE HERO'S RETURN . . . For some reason I keep picturing Tom Cruise driving a race car when I see this title, but The Detroit Free Press' Days Of Roar (9781600788994) 14.95 has everything to do with the Detroit Tigers' incredible playoff run last year, and nothing at all to do with NASCAR. This is your opportunity to join in the Tigers' hunt for the World Series and relive the intoxicating excitement of Miguel Cabrera's quest for the Triple Crown. Sure they didn't win it all, but the ride was fun, and they certainly exceeded any of my expectations . . .



4) YOUR POSSIBLE PASTS . . . There are so many Sylvia Plath biographies out there that I could tell you, if I did the research, what she was doing every day of her life at, say, 9:45 AM. It may be overkill, but what this tells me is that there is a market for Plath books, and American Isis (9780312640248) 29.99 by Carl Rollyson is the latest entrant. This one should be cooking . . .



Odds & Sods

After a long bout with cancer, Roger Ebert, everyone's favourite cantankerous movie reviewer passed away last week. His memoir Life Itself (9780446584968) 15.99 sold out upon news of his death, but we should have more stock next week. He is still my most beloved Bloodhoung Gang reference . . .


And finally, the commercials for Leonardo DiCrapio's The Great Gatsby (9780743273565) 15.00 are starting to run at a feverish pace. I'm sorry, but this movie will be big blockbuster whether we like it or not. The movie cover is (9781451689433) 15.00 and will release on April 23 . . .

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