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*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 . . .