Monday, March 16, 2015

Charles Edmund Wilson III

Ye Olde Partners Page
*A Collection of Antiquarian Curios & Relics*
"Each night, when I go to sleep, I die.  The next morning,
when I wake up, I am reborn . . ."
                                                                                     --Mahatma Gandhi

Dearest Mick--

  Chip, my loyal manservant, and I had just returned from the Walton family's secret compound when we found your care package outside my villa's security gate.  It certainly looked enticing with titles like Clive Cussler's The Assassin (9780399171758) 28.95, Kazuo Ishiguro's The Buried Giant (9780307271037) 26.95, and David Axelrod's Believer (9781594205873) 35.00, which, mind you, had Chip singing to the tune of the Monkee's 'Daydream Believer': "Oh, what could it mean to a Daydream Belieber? He's the homecoming queen . . ."

  

  But we put all that aside.  I had already asked Chip to invite two newsmen, Bill O'Reilly and Brian Williams, who I had mentored many years ago over a nightcap.  I had taken Bill under my wing when I owned WFAA-TV in Dallas, and he was merely an up and coming reporter.  My words of advice to Bill:  Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.  As for Brian, I met him in the 80s when we were at an undisclosed island for an Exxon shareholders party.  I will share a snippet of our conversation with you:
  I asked, "So, Brian, what brings you to Napoli?"
 "I was on a sabbatical, and you know how I just loooove southern Italy."
  Bill sniffed, "You mean an enforced sabbatical.  Does a helicopter trip in the Iraq War ring a bell?"
  Brian bristled, "Oh, you're really one to talk, Mr. Bill 'I was at the door when the Russian friend of Lee Harvey Oswald shot himself' O'Reilly!  You claim to be a historian, but you've been caught in a lie in your book, Killing Kennedy (9780805096668) 28.00."


  "Wrong!  I never claimed to be a historian.  Hampton Sides in his review of Erik Larsen's Dead Wake (9780307408860) 28.00 described the author as 'a modern master of popular narrative non-fiction' and that's what I do too."


  I added, "Oh, the book about the Lusitania. Did you know that I was on the Lusitania when it sank in 1915?"
  Brian sniped, "Oh yeah and I bet Bill was on it too.  Ha, ha!"
  Bill was starting to turn purple, "That's it!  You're off my show!  Cut his mic!
  "Bill, you're overreacting . . ."
  "Why am I still hearing you?  Frank!  Cut his mic or you're fired!" O'Reilly screamed as veins began to pop out of his neck.
  Sadly, it went rapidly downhill after that.  Eventually, I had to have Chip physically throw them out.  C'est la vie . . .           
                                                                                    Warmest Regards,
                                                                             Charles Edmund Wilson III

 
Odds & Sods

Spring is right around the corner.  *Knocks on wood*  And the spring titles are starting to hit the docks.  For everyone in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan who loves their loons and wants to pass that loony love on to their children, we have Gene Klco's Loon Chick's First Flight (9781933272511) 17.95 in stock . . .


We have also received a nifty little hardcover book for the youngsters called The Colors of Mackinac Island (9781933272498) 10.95 by Jennifer Powell.  This one is sure to be a fan favourite for Mackinac Island visitors for years to come . . .



The Caldecott winner, Dan Santat's The Adventures of Beekle (9780316199988) 17.00 is here  . . .

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