Ye Olde Partners Page
*A Collection of
Antiquarian Curios & Relics*
" 'The Man
in the High Castle is one of [Philip K.] Dick's most imaginative
and captivating
works, and certainly one of my favourites . . ."
--Ridley
Scott
1) A GOOD YEAR . .
. Mrs.
Mick and I went to see Jurassic World over the weekend, and if you like
dinosaurs and Chris Pratt (and I like both), it was well worth the $21.50 we
spent on two 3D tickets. I had my Archimedes' Eureka! moment as I watched
the upcoming movie trailers. Of course, we weren't in the bathtub like
the Greek mathematician, but I have to admit the faux leather lounge seats at
the theatre were almost as comfortable. Someone recently questioned me
why there was a huge sales bump in The Martian (9780553418026) 15.00 by
Andy Weir. And there it was on the big screen -- the trailer for the Matt
Damon movie. Eureka! Mrs. Mick's response, "Why is Matt Damon
always stranded in space?" (We just watched Interstellar.)
I'm sure I said something insightful like, "Yeah, that's just what he
does." By the way, the sales on Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park (9780345538987)
9.99 have picked up, too.
2) KINGDOM OF HEAVEN . . .
We were saddened to learn that James Salter passed away earlier this
week. A writer's writer, he wrote well whether it was poetry, short
stories, screenplays, memoirs or novels. His most recent novel was All
That Is (9781400078424) 15.95. I was watching an old Charlie Rose the
other day, and the author he had on (whose name eludes me) said that writing is
basically a series of choices. Whether it was word choices or sentence
structure choices, Mr. Salter always chose the right one. Coincidentally,
I finished Mary Norris' Between You & Me (9780393240184) 24.95,
which is a great book if you're interested in punctuation or the history of
pencil making (I know, I know, why not both?), and one of her first
acknowledgments is to James Salter, who allowed her to use their correspondence
in her book. Ms. Norris is impeccable in her writing choices.
Me? Not so much. I am not a 'ruggedly handsome landscape
architect,' but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night. As Jill
pointed out when I referenced Elin Hilderbrand's The Rumor (9780316334525)
28.00, I made a poor choice when I said, '[It] would appeal to romance
readers.' Jill's suggestion of 'women's fiction' was a more apt
description, and after hearing her well-reasoned argument, I agreed. I am
not a presidential candidate; I have no problem admitting when I make mistakes .
. .
3) SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME
. . . A new title Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to
Forget (9781455554591) 26.00 by Sarah Hepola has been getting some
buzz. ( I don't know about you, but when I saw her name and what the book
was about, I was immediately reminded of the Winnie-the-Pooh dream sequence
with Heffalumps and Woozles.) I have some words of advice for Ms. Hepola,
you really don't want to know what you did when you blacked out.
Odds
& Sods
This time of
year people ask me questions like, "Hey Mick, what are the hot Great Lakes
ship titles right now?" And I'd respond, "Well, Bob Campbell's Classic
Ships of the Great Lakes (9781933272504) 24.95 has been selling. The
new 40th Anniversary of Frederick Stonehouse's The Wreck of the Edmund
Fitzgerald (9781892384737) 17.95 will continue to sell through
November. And finally, Know Your Ships 2015 (9781891849206) 18.95
has been moving faster than any time in recent memory . . ."
I saw an ad
yesterday which said, 'Discover Ideal (9780451473172) 16.00-- Ayn
Rand's lost novel.' And I thought, 'How about No?'
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