No Second Guessing

Sale-ing Along
30% off with a minimum $50 purchase.

New Arrivals
Algimantas Stoskus by Anhtnmahtac Ctowkyc, First Edition, 1989, Art, $250

History of Greek Art, 2 Volumes, by Martin Robertson, First Edition, 1975, Art, $150

Divine Average by Elithe Hamilton Kirkland, Signed, 1984, Texana Fiction, $40

Mishomis Book: The Voice of the Ojinway by Edward Benton-Banai, 1988, Texana, $25

Echogee: Little Blue Deer by Acee Blue Eagle, Limited First Edition #3909/5000, 1971, Texana, $50

Fredericksburg Home Kitchen Cook Book, by the Ladies Auxiliary, First Edition, 1916, Texana/Fredericksburg, $400

Building the Earth by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Signed, 1965, $80

Hiding on the Shelf
Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism by T.S. Eliot, First American Edition, 1921, Poetry, $140

Insect Tracks and Whispers of God by Helen Major. “Active in a number of religious and humanitarian groups, Mrs. Major has also had many speaking engagements on devotional subjects. Having embarked, one summer, on an extensive study of the behavior of insects, she was immediately struck by the devotional significance of even these tiny participants in God’s Creation. The present book is the delightful outcome of this summer’s fruitful study.” First Edition, 1967, $75

Lost Plays of Eugene O’Neill by Eugene O’Neill, First Edition, 1950, Drama, $50

Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald, First Edition Reset, 1951, First Edition/Collectables, $250

Ring and the Book, 3 Volumes, by Robert Browning, 1889, Poetry, $65

A Few Happy Ones by Judy Van Der Veer, First Edition, 1943, Nature, $60

Emmet Fox: The Man and His Work by Harry Gaze, First Edition, 1952, Religion, $60

Centenary Cameos 1784-1884 by O.P. Fitzgerald, First Edition, 1885, Religion, $70

Literary Birthday – Sidney Sheldon

One of the most popular authors of all time, Sheldon is best known for his sweeping blockbuster novels, including The Doomsday Conspiracy, Memories of Midnight, The Sands of Time, Windmills of the Gods, and The Other Side of Midnight. Almost all have been number-one international bestsellers. His first book, The Naked Face, was acclaimed by the New York Times as "the best first mystery of the year" and received an Edgar Award.

Born in Chicago on Feb. 11, 1917, Sheldon won a scholarship to Northwestern University after high school, but he was forced to drop out for financial reasons at the onset of the Great Depression. He went to work to help support his family, first writing jokes for radio and then as a movie-house usher. He tried several jobs before growing discouraged and finally moving to New York City to begin a songwriting career, but that, too, failed.

Six months later, broke but determined, Sheldon moved to Hollywood to become a screenwriter. Universal Studios hired him for $17 a week to review incoming scripts and write summaries of them, and he began turning in some of his own work, which he wrote in his spare time.

After spending a year on active duty in the U.S. Air Force, Sheldon returned to Hollywood in 1941 where he began writing ‘B’ movies with collaborator, Ben Roberts. His first screen-writing credit came that year with the films, Mr. District Attorney and The Carter Case, although it was in scripting musicals that he found his greatest early successes.

In 1948, Sheldon won an Academy Award for best screenplay for the Cary Grant vehicle, The Bachelor and Bobby Soxer, as well as a Screen Writers’ Guild Award for Best Musical for Easter Parade, starring Fred Astaire and Judy Garland. In 1953, he made his directorial debut with Dream Wife.

He went on to write the screenplays for twenty-three motion pictures, including Easter Parade (with Judy Garland) and Annie Get Your Gun. In addition, he penned six other Broadway hits and created three long-running television series.

In 1959, Sheldon won a Tony Award for Best Musical with Redhead. He also created the two comedy series, I Dream of Jeannie and Patty Duke. He produced both shows and wrote most of the scripts himself under a pseudonym. He also created the popular Robert Wagner series, Hart to Hart.

Sheldon's first published novel, The Naked Face, was the first in a seemingly endless production of bestsellers that include The Other Side of Midnight (1974), on the Times' bestseller list for a year, and The Best Laid Plans (1997).

He is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the single most translated author in the world. His publishers, William Morris, estimate that he has some 275 million books in circulation throughout 80 countries in 50 different languages. Most of his novels have become major feature films or TV miniseries. Sheldon died on January 30, 2007 from complications arising from pneumonia in Rancho Mirage, California.

(Source: American Society of Authors and Writers http://www.amsaw.org/)

"Movies are a collaborative medium, and everyone is second-guessing you. When you do a novel you're on your own. It's a freedom that doesn't exist in any other medium."

No Second Guessing Here,
Lucy and David

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"Mansions"

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What About Kindle?
Kindle is “New Media”.  Yes, I am intrigued and would like to try one out.  I can understand the convenience of a light weight medium, especially for reading in bed and travel.  I don’t feel like a traitor to the printed word or anything like that.  It is still reading and that is what is important.
I think there is room for new media and books in this world.  It is an easy observation for me and here’s why:
Art Books, Children's Books, Rare Books, and Collectible Texas Books. Books signed by your favorite author, a set of Nancy Drew, Tom Swift or Dr. Seuss on the shelf to remind you of youth, the book that brings back a flood of memories about the time and place surrounding that book.  The poetry book your husband gave you when you dated (I actually know someone this happened to).
Then there is the gauge, the bookmark.  As I turn the book on its edge all kinds of thoughts cross my mind.
"How much of this book have I read? What, I’m only a pinkys worth into a 300 page book?"
"I’ve read two thirds of this thing, when is something going to happen?"
"Wow, I already read half of this book and I can’t put it down.”
"There, I’m done.  Up you go on the shelf with my other good reads.  I’ll look at you and remember what I learned or where I went, why I laughed or cried.”
"Whatever, your getting donated to the library, or even better, I’ll take you down to Berkman Books and get some store credit towards a book I‘ll really like."

Kindle and other new media will wiggle their way into everyday life. Our aim is to still be here as a refuge in 3D. Come take in the experience you can only get in a bookstore. Smell the pulp, feel the paper, absorb the colors of book covers and the fusion of old and new in the shop itself.  Hear a creaky wood floor and cat paws galloping across the store. Taste the anticipation of what the next chapter will reveal. Encounter a book written 400 years ago assembled with velum and sinew. Better than all this put together, share a book with a child. Interface with another sentient being, kindle a passion.

New Arrivals

Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates, First Edition, 1924, childrens, $40

Tales from the Arabian Nights, Illustrated by Jiri Tinka, 1960, children’s, $20

Lion and Blue, by Robert Vavra, paintings by Fleur Cowles, 1974, children’s, $45

 

 

Home University Bookshelf, 9 volume set, 1927, children’s, $100

 

  

 

Sometimes Like a Legend, William Stafford, Signed First Edition, 1 of 290, poetry, $150

Sophie's Choice by William Styron, Signed Limited Edition, #410 of 500, 1979, novel, $275.

Black Hills by William Everson, Signed Limited Edition, #149 of 285, 1973, poetry, $150

Hiding on the Shelf

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, 1957, novel, $50 Count Belisarius by Robert Graves, first British Edition, 1938, $75

Deep Submersible by Richard Terry, U.S. Naval Underwater Weapons Research and Engineering Station, 1966, $100

Anthropology and Sociology in Relating to Criminal Procedure by Maurice Parmelee, 1912, $50

Great West by C.W. Dana, 1861, history, $60

Conquest of Granada by Fray Antonio Agapida, 2 vols. 1840, history, $110

The Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen by Thomas Curtis Van Cleve, First Edition, history, 1972. $80

A Familiar History of Birds by Stanley, 1920, science, $20

Literary Birthday – James Michener

According to history, when newly born James entered the world via Doylestown, Pennsylvania, in 1907, the child's parents showed anything but the typical new-parent pride in their son.  According to one story, they abandoned him at birth, and he was adopted by a poor young widow named Mabel Michener.

Other stories cite Mabel as Michener's biological mother who adopted the abandonment story because she'd given birth out of wedlock and wanted to protect her young son from social repercussions.

Whatever the reason, Michener grew up poor, often wearing second-hand clothes and tattered shoes to school.  But that didn't mean he was unhappy.  His mother cared for orphaned children as a living, so there was always a houseful of love and activity.

"I grew up in a bundle of love, always seven or eight kids around," Michener recalled. "Great yakkity-yakking and laughter all the time.  I grew up maybe the best way a kid could if he wanted to be a writer, just surrounded by excitement."

Because he had always been poor, he became obsessed with traveling around the country from the time he was a young teenager.  He took various jobs in traveling carnivals and theater companies.  He rode the rails as a hobo and hitchhiked cross country--sometimes with a friend; sometimes alone.  By the time he was 20 years old, he had already seen most of the lower 48 states.

    "Those were years of wonder and enchantment,...some of the best years I would know.  I kept meeting American citizens of all levels who took me into their cars, their confidence and often their homes." from The World Is My Home (1992)

From these early experiences grew Michener's lifelong insatiable curiosity about people, cultures, and faraway lands.

Michener had planned to go to college to get a PhD so that he could become a history teacher.  But when World War II broke out, he joined the Navy.  Although he had done some nonfiction writing, he began experimenting for the first time with the world of make believe.  While stationed in the South Pacific, he wrote a fictional tale of a military man.  His first book, called Tales of the South Pacific, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948.  It wasn't much of a money maker, but it was optioned off and turned into the Broadway musical, South Pacific, and the proceeds from that and the spin-off movie made him financially comfortable enough to devote the rest of his life to writing.

He went on to write a series of sprawling historical novels, most of them about places, including Hawaii (1959), Chesapeake (1978), Alaska (1988), and Texas (1985).  He loaded his stories with historical facts, geographical details, and gripping fiction.  When asked how he did his research he said, "What I need is very simple.  A good library and access to an airport."  He believed he couldn't write effectively until he had visited the setting for his book, listened to the weather forecasts, and viewed the local sporting events.  He also read a lot.  For his book about Texas alone, he read more than 400 books.

Most of Michener's novels turned into bestsellers.  With total sales of more than 75 million copies worldwide, his books appealed to a wide range of people.  Even though he made a lot of money, Michener lived an extremely frugal life.  He never bought shaving cream, for instance, because he learned that he could shave with leftover slivers of soap.

Living an uncomplicated life, Michener gave away most of his money.  During his lifetime, he donated $117 million to various institutions, including the University of Texas.

James A. Michener died on October 16, 1997
(Source: American Society of Authors and Writers amsaw.org )

“If a man happens to find himself, he has a mansion which he can inhabit with dignity all the days of his life.”
James Michener

Living in a mansion,
Lucy, David, and Emily (mansion cat)