Thursday, June 26, 2014

Ye Olde Partners Page

*A Collection of Antiquarian Curios & Relics*
"My professional aspirations were simple --
I wanted to be an intergalactic princess . . ."
                                             --Janet Evanovich, author of Top Secret Twenty-One                                                                                    (9780345542922) $28.00


Dearest Mick--

Chip, my loyal servant, and I had just returned from my private compound in St. Barts to find your latest parcel teetering on our expansive front porch.  I am not sure how the delivery man was able to negotiate not only our security fence, but also our pack of guard dogs as well as several fully staffed guard towers without incident.  Chip will have to look into this situation.  It is unacceptable.  At any rate, I ran into one of your authors, a Mister James Patterson, who was dining at one of my favourite local eateries.  What a wonderful fellow!  Not only is he donating some of his pocket cash to struggling English and Irish bookstores, but he also personally signed a copy of his latest books Invisible (9780316405348) 28.00 and Middle School: Save Rafe (9780316322126) 13.99 to me.  Did you know that he has a personal sherpa who lugs around cases of his books so he can sign them for friends and new acquaintances at a moment's notice?  I found it quite refreshing.

 

  I also thought you might be interested to learn that I was recently knighted by the Queen of England, and prior to the ceremonies I spent some time with Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall (9780312429980) 16.00 and Bring Up the Bodies (9781250024176) 16.00.  She was there to join the ranks of the Dame Commanders of the British Empire.  With her Wolf Hall series in the process of being filmed, she did ask me if I knew any good directors, so I gave her Steven Spielberg's phone number.  I suppose he could use the work.

 

  But enough about me, Chip and I cracked open a bottle of Chateaux Lafite-Rothschild 1869 and delved into your most recent care package.  I was excited to see Chip pull out a copy of The Vacationers (9781594631573) 26.95 by Emma Straub, but then I realized that I had confused her with her father Peter Straub.  His Ghost Story (9780671685638) 6.99 scared me so much that Chip had to ply me with hot toddies for nearly a week just to get me to sleep.

 

  Since I knew them well, I was exceptionally intrigued with The Romanov Sisters (9781250020208) 27.99 by Helen Rappaport.  Long before the unpleasantness in Russia, I had played with young Sasha at the Summer Palace whenever my father was on business.  Sasha loved his toy soldiers and we would play with them for hours on end.  Even at that young age, I found his sisters to be quite fetching and beguiling.  Unfortunately, that Rasputin character was even more beguiling, and I still blame him for much of what ensued.  Thank you for your care package.        


                                                                             Warmest Regards,
                                                                           Charles Edmund Wilson III     
  
Odds & Sods

British historian Antony Beevor had a nice payday.  He was announced as the winner of the $100,000 2014 Pritzker Military Museum and Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing.  Our friends, Double D and Stoner Bill will not be attending this year's Museum and Library gala event in Chicago, as they have been banned for life after last year's incident at the awards.  Antony Beevor's latest title was a little thing called The Second World War (9780316023757) 20.00.


Correction:  Diana Gabaldon's TV show based on her Outlander series debuts on August 9 on Starz and not August 3 as erroneously stated here . . . 

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