Thursday, October 16, 2014

Ye Olde Partners Page

*A Collection of Antiquarian Curios & Relics*
"Living is worth the effort if only because without life
we could not read or imagine stories . . ."
                                                     --Mario Vargas Llosa

1)  DRAW THE LINE . . .  It looks like Joe Perry, guitarist from Aerosmith has the rock n' rolls again.  In the band, he is the Keith Richards to Steven Tyler's Mick Jagger, and it is a formula that has made many a band very successful.  (See: New York Dolls, Ziggy-era David Bowie, etc.)  He has written a memoir of these halcyon days, with and without his band, called Rocks: My Life In and Out of Aerosmith (9781476714547) 27.99.  I guess he is not heeding his own advice and not letting the music do the talking, which incidentally is a much better song on his first solo album than the later version on Aerosmith's Done With Mirrors.  Unfortunately, once they cleaned up, as Bill Hicks has pointed out in his stand-up bit,  they weren't nearly as creative or as exciting as a band, but hey, they're all still alive so that should count for something . . .


2)  NOBODY'S FAULT . . .  The 2014 Man Booker Prize was announced yesterday and the winner was Australian author Richard Flanagan's Narrow Road to the Deep North (9780385352857) 26.95.  It's long overdue.  Not that he was on anybody's radar back when his debut novel was released, but he probably should have won for Death of a River Guide (9780802138637) 13.00.  His latest novel deals with POWs building the Thai-Burma Death Railroad for their Japanese captors during WW II, and not so coincidentally, his father was one of those POWs.  Ironically, his father passed away the day Richard completed his manuscript.  Sorry American authors, maybe next year . . .

 

3)  BACK IN THE SADDLE . . .  Inconceivable!  Carey Elwes, who starred as Westley in The Princess Bride has actually written a book that people have been clamoring for.  Chock full of anecdotes, As You Wish (9781476764023) 26.00, is an insider's account about what it was like to star in one of the greatest and arguably, one of the most oft-quoted movies of all-time.  I already have my copy.  "Good night, Westley.  Good work.  Sleep well.  I will most likely kill you in the morning . . ."


 4)  SICK AS A DOG . . .  Kathy Reich's latest Bones book, Bones Never Lie (9780345544018) 27.00 released a couple of weeks ago, and as usual, it rocketed to the top of the charts.  That's not news.  However, we have just received autographed copies with snappy signed stickers on the front cover and they are selling well.  First come, first served . . .


 Our best wishes go out to my favourite cantankerous science fiction writer Harlan Ellison, who is recovering from a stroke.  The prognosis is good and I'm sure the doctors can't wait to get to get him out of their hair.  Good luck! 

Odds & Sods

Hockey season began last week and this would be the perfect time to crack open a copy of Gordie Howe's new autobiography, Mr. Hockey (9780399172915) 27.95.  The foreword is by his good friend and a hockey god in his own right, Bobby Orr.  Bobby's bestseller from last year, Orr (9780425277027) 17.00, is now available in tradepaper.  Mmmmm, hockey . . .



For some inexplicable reason, Minnesotans love their loons, so Linda Mazanec's new coloring book Gavia Immer Splendid Swimmer (9780982242438) 7.95 should be right up their alley.  By the way, Gavia Immer is the Latin name for the great northern loon . . .     

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