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*A Collection of Antiquarian Curios & Relics*

"Soon, if we are not prudent, millions of people will be watching each other starve to death through expensive television sets . . ."   --Aneurin Bevan

 FROM THE MIND OF NICK FOX

THE CREATOR OF CHICAGO P.D. & CHICAGO FIRE 

COMES THE EXCITING NEW SHOW . . .  CHICAGO LIBRARY

(Scene one:  A stereotypical Mafiaoso leans over a library desk, menacingly.)

Mafia guy:  Hey, li'l library lady, it has come to the attention of the Montague family that you are behind on your payments.  It really would be a shame if some unforeseen 'accident' happened to your card catalogue.

Library lady:  What?  Are you threatening me?

Mafia guy:  Threatening?  I'm just saying you got a nice lookin' Dewey Decimel System here.  I would hate to see them get all mixed up.  Comprende?

Library lady:  Sssssshhhh!

Mafia guy:  What!?  Are you shushin' me?  Really.  Are you #$%#@$ shushin' me?  I come in here tryin' to help you out and you're *&%$# shushin' me!  I'll burn this $#%&% place to the ground!  It'll be a %$#@& fireball!  [He notices a stack of books on the counter and begins knocking them off one by one.]   Oops, there goes Doris Kearns Goodwin's The Bully Pulpit (9781416547860) 40.00.  Looks like I just dinged a corner.  Oh no, there goes John Grisham's Sycamore Row (9780385537131) 28.95.  I am so clumsy.  Watch out below, here comes James Patterson's Cross My Heart (9780316210911) 29.00 . . .

  

Library lady:  Enough!  Get out of my library right now!

Mafia guy: (Laughing)  Head's up!  Here comes Charles Krauthammer's Things That Matter (9780385349178) 28.00 . . .

 Library lady:  That's it!  [She lays her glasses down on her desk, unties her hair bun, and in one fluid motion she leaps into the air, performs a 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' backflip in midair, and lands behind the interloper.  With one hand she begins to crush his windup and with her other one she begins to snap the fingers of his right hand in succession.  She whispers in his ear.]  Don't *snap* ever *snap* come *snap* in *snap* here again.  Comprende?

(Watch for Chicago Library on ABC-TV this Spring)

Odds & Sods

Former Detroit Red Wing Darren McCarty's My Last Fight (9781600788857) 26.95 will be delivered here on Monday.  Get your backorder in . . .

 Speaking of sports, we have a boatload of Donald Driver's Driven (9780385349147) 25.00 back in stock.  It looks like the winner of the  NFL's Norris division will come down to the final game between the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers . . .

Errata:  Malcolm Gladwell's appearance at The Michigan Theatre for David & Goliath (9780316204361) 29.00 is actually on January 27 and not on December 11 as originally announced here . . .  

Ye Olde Partners Page

*A Collection of Antiquarian Curios & Relics*

"A culture's ability to understand the world and itself is critical to its survival.  But today we are led into the public debate by seers whose main gift is their ability to compel
people to continue to watch them . . ."  --George Saunders

IT CAME UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR

Reading Jonathan Franzen while half asleep in frog pajamas, I fully awoke.  In the latest New York Times Book Review, there was a reference to an essay about Karl Kraus that Jonathan Franzen had written earlier this year, in which he addressed the dangers of technoconsumerism and the future of the human race in general. Because of this article, he has again become a lightning rod for derision by internet critics.  I get it.  Mr. Franzen is not a Luddite, which he discusses at some length in the essay, and in fact, he has no problem embracing technological advances.  Instead, he laments the ways in which twitter, texting, and the like are being used to distract us from the 'Big Problems' with our world.  I found myself generally in agreement with what he had to say.  You can read it for yourself here: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/sep/13/jonathan-franzen-wrong-modern-world .  And that's all I have to say about that . . .

Coincidentally, Jonathan Franzen, whose The Corrections (9780312421274) 16.00 was once an Oprah Book ClubTM pick, has probably just learned that Sue Monk Kidd's The Invention of Wings (9780670024780) 27.95 will be Oprah's choice for Oprah Book Club (2.0){.3}(x2+y3) = zx when it releases on January 7.  Ms. Kidd has handled her selection with a little more grace than Mr. Franzen did, and I quote, "(I am) thrilled and honored that Oprah Winfrey chose my novel as her new book club selection."  I have not read The Invention of Wings, but I am guessing it will fall somewhere on the literary scale between Brian Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret (9780439813785) 24.99 and Ricky Gervais' The Invention of Lying.  (Not that The Invention of Lying was that bad.)  Bottomline:  we should sell a lot more of this one than Oprah's last title, Ayana Mathis' The Twelve Tribes of Hattie (9780307949707) 15.95.

 

 

Finally, the latest updates on hard-to-find titles:

We are only getting one shipment of a small quantity of Joss Whedon's, whoops, I mean J.J. Abram's S (9780316201643) 35.00 before the end of the holidays.  Backorders are recommended . . .

 Also, it looks like we are only receiving one more shipment of 400 copies of Suzanne Collin's Mockingjay (9780439023511) 18.99 before Christmas, which is inexplictably available as a tradepaper in the Hunger Games Box Set (9780545626385) 40.00.  Again, backorders are starting to pile up . . .            

 

Odds & Sods

Congrats to our friends at Nicola's Books, who were one of the winners in the Malcolm Gladwell sweepstakes.  He will be signing copies of David & Goliath (9780316204361) 29.00 at the Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor on December 11.  Ticket packages range from $150 to $15 (in the balcony) and are available at all TicketmasterTM outlets.

I am surprised that of all the Duck CommanderTM books Miss Kay's Duck Commander Kitchen (9781476745121) 22.99 has sold the best by far.  We are expecting one more slurp before the end.  You might want to backorder . . .

Ye Olde Partners Page

*A Collection of Antiquarian Curios & Relics*

"Let the bees make honey, Let the poor find money Take away their sorrow, Give them sunshine tomorrow . . ."--Brian Wilson / Mike Love

 1)  STUDENT DEMONSTRATION TIME . . .  Our favourite Rand, Johnathan Rand, is back with not one, but two new titles for the holidays.  The kiddies love this guy.  First of all, we have the latest in his American Chillers series, #38: The Wicked Waterpark of Wyoming (9781893699526) 5.99.  Initially, I was afraid he was stealing the plot from the greatest David Hasselhoff movie of all-time, Piranha 3DD.  Fortunately, it appears the baddies aren't bloodthirsty fish, but instead, rejects from the Cthulhu mythos.  Good clean fun.  The other one is the oft-delayed entry in his series for younger readers, Freddie Fernortner #12: Frankenfreddie! (9781893699649) 4.99.  In Mr. Rand's homage to Mary Shelley's much beloved monster, Freddie tries on a Halloween costume and literally becomes the reincarantion of Frankenstein.  Hilarity ensues . . .

 

2)  CABINESSENCE . . .  I have a guilty pleasure.  Much to the chagrin of my coworkers, I am hooked on the song What Does the Fox Say by Norwegian pop sensations Ylvis.  Ylvis, the pride of Bergen, have taken YouTubeTM by storm with their video, which now has over 250 million hits and has since spawned a skulk of parodies.  Simon & Schuster has decided to get in on the action with a new children's picture book based on their lyrics called What Does the Fox Say (9781481422239) 17.99.  Illustrated by Svein Nyhus, a Partners' employee likened this book's illustrations to art on acid.  And hey, why not, most of the video looks like it takes place at a rave in the middle of the forest.  Against my better judgement, here is the video. Please forgive me . . .

 

 3)  SAIL ON, SAILOR . . .  Our favourite Calhounian, Kelley, has been remarkably prescient this holiday season.  Granted, she wasn't really going out on a limb to predict that Karen Melvin's Great Houses of Summit Avenue and the Hill District (9780989262705) 54.95 would be big in the Minneapolis area.  And it is.  However,  I was more than a bit skeptical when she said that Humans of New York (9781250038821) 29.99 by Brandon Stanton would be huge a couple of months ago.  I was wrong.  We are expecting more stock by next Monday . . .

 

 4)  OUR PRAYER . . .  Instead of buying a toy that will invariably be broken before it leaves the box, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's new autobiography  Unintimidated (9781595231079) 28.95 would be the perfect gift for your children this Christmas.  This is satire.  Here's the real deal:  http://nation.time.com/2013/12/03/this-politician-asked-parents-to-give-him-campaign-cash-instead-of-buying-their-kids-christmas-gifts .  You can't even make this stuff up .  . . 

        

Odds & Sods

And it continues . . .

Darren McCarty's My Last Fight (9781600788857) 26.95 is out of stock at the publisher until 12/20...  Also, the reprint for Aleksandra Mizielinska's Maps (9780763668969) 35.00 isn't due until 12/20 . . .

 

Finally, The Oatmeal's How to Tell if Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You (9781449410247) 14.99 is out of stock until January . . .

 Speaking of guilty pleasures, I enjoy Downton Abbey and I love a good parody.  And the new title Downton Tabby (9781476765938) 10.00 by Chris Kelly has a bit of both . . .