(Jackson Street) Books on 7th is around the corner and on the internet tubes. We strive to be your full-service new and used bookstore, emphasizing good literature, progressive politics, and, of course, books about baseball. Opened in Hoquiam October 1, 2010
April is of course, National Poetry Month, as declared by Bill Clinton in 1996. I thought I'd point you at some of the delightful offerings available this year. The folks over at Poets.org will send you a poem a day, and they have a nifty book you can order directly from them Poem In Your Pocket. Carry it around on your daily errands and you can tear out a page and engage in a bit of Guerilla Poetry: Better yet, take a video of yourself reading a poem at its location of setting and submit it for their contest, Poem on The Range.
Knopf publishing also offers a Poem a Day. This is an annual tradition I'm always sorry to send end on the 30th of the month.
Of course, some people have the opinion that we need poetry everyday, not just April. Writer's Almanac brings a poem and some literary history items to your mailbox all year round. This also gives me a chance to mention our good friends John & Christine who run a bookstore devoted entirely to poetry: Open Books in Seattle. There's no better way to spend a rainy afternoon than in this cozy shop.
We'd be happy to help you select a volume from our stock. Orders placed here get our special offer bonus: I'll include a free publisher's Advance Reading Copy with your purchase. Have a poetic April!
The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon (Pocket Books $5.00) Raymond Shaw is the "kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being in the whole world", or so Captain Bennett Marco and the members of his squad in Korea all believe. And of course, they should. After all, Raymond had saved their lives in battle and had won the Congressional Medal of Honor in the process. But actually no such action ever occurred. The squad had been abducted by Chinese Communists and taken to Manchuria where all the members were "brainwashed" and Raymond himself has been turned into a political assassin. Raymond eventually returns to the States a "sleeper". And a well-connected one at that. His step-father is Senator John Iselin, who knows there are known Communists in the Defense Department. The number of Communists varies from press conference to press conference. But urged on by Raymond's mother, Senator Iselin is a risng star and headed for big things.
I read Richard Condon's The Manchurian Candidate (Pocket Books $6.99) many years ago. And in re-reading, I was reminded of how a good writer Condon, who also wrote the Prizzi novels, was. His dialogue was riveting. The descriptive passages were so good that some of it ended up as part of the screenplay (The line Frank Sinatra has, "Raymond isn't hard to like. He's impossible to like" comes from one those passages). His characaters were vivid; Raymond's mother is one of the most evil persons in literature. And the plotting is meticulous.
The Manchurian Candidate is one of the most paranoid novels of the Cold War, or any period for that matter. It is highly critical of the times wherein the action occurs and in the person of Senator Iselin, freely based on Joe McCarthy, Condon would have us believe that the Anti-Communists of the time were just as bad as the Communists they were allegedly fighting against. It is an extended metaphor for what our country had become in 1959, when the book was published, and a brave one at that. And Condon anticipates the rift between the Chinese and Russian Communists that happened in the early sixties.
I haven't seen the Jonathan Demme remake of the movie from 2004, but the 1962 film version by John Frankenheimer is fine film making. The screenplay, by George Axelrod, the playwright of "Seven Year Itch", is a faithful adaptation of the novel. (The book gives the back story of Raymond's mother,which wasn't essential for the film, and the film suggests the incest that the book makes explicit.) Frankenheimer got great performances from Frank Sinatra (who usually acted at his best with strong directors like Frankenheimer, Zinneman and Preminger), Laurence Harvey, and Janet Leigh. But the best performance, Oscar-worthy, is left to Angela Lansbury as Raymond's mother. (Incidentally Lansbury was only three years older than Harvey who played her son). The movie was shot in black and white which enhances the paranoia of both the plot and the times it portrays.
Read the book. It holds up. See the movie. It more than holds up. The Manchurian Candidate is just one fine political thriller.
As always, a book ordered from this link will have an extra freebie included: I'll find you a really cool publisher's Advance Reader Copy.
Alicia/Idella update: follow as she blogs at ShameTheBanks. She is an important voice speaking to truth.
Once a Spy by Keith Thomson (Doubleday, $25.95) This delightful satirical thriller is written by Huffington Post columnist, Keith Thomson. I'm enjoying the characters and the action-packed pace. You can get a taste of the book by reading the early chapter excerpts at HuffPo.
What happens when a spy develops Alzheimer's? Pair him with his mid-thirties son who owes the Russian mafia for his pony debts, who still thinks Dad was just an appliance salesman...
“Utterly original, it is an adrenaline-fueled concoction of sidesplitting humor and genuine suspense. Think Carl Hiassen taking on John Le Carré and the winner is the reader. What a find! I can't imagine not loving this gem of a novel!” —Christopher Reich :: New York Times Bestselling Author
Keith will be reading and discussing his work in Second Life at Lacamas Reading Hall on Monday, March 22nd at 6pm (PDT). Stick around for some great music from Klipe Wirefly afterwards. Second Life events are, as always, over at Cafe Wellstone's ning. Our dear Second Life friend Lelani Carver introduced us to Keith, and helped twist his arm and get him to agree to be pixilated for this reading. She really did twist his arm, she's responsible for getting his avatar all fixed up. She's old friends with Keith, having followed him since 2004 from before the publication of his first book, “Gus Openshaw’s Whale-Killing Journal”.
I'm tickled pink that Keith lists the reading in his website Events. Thanks, Keith! And be sure to follow Keith on twitter: @kqthomson
The book is available for purchase at our shopping cart, and I'll be adding a freebie in each package: a publisher's Advance Reading Copy. Monday night will also be the debut of a new feature at our bookstore. We'll be opening a coffee cart serving Raven's Brew Coffee from Alaska. Not only can you enjoy a virtual cup of the finest espresso in Second Life, and get an exclusive tee shirt, you'll also be order coffee directly for delivery to your Real Life home.
Raven's Brew Coffee is a small, family-owned company dedicated to sourcing the world’s best coffee. Each batch of coffee is air roasted resulting in a distinct and superior flavor development, notably clean taste and an intense sweet, perfumey fragrance.
We started roasting coffee in Alaska in a garage over 17 years ago and now have roasteries in Alaska and Washington. Our green coffee buying strategy focuses mainly on heirloom varieties grown in shade-forest conditions and without the use of agrichemicals. We strive to offer only coffees that will be an enlightening experience for the customer, and fair and just for the small producers of our unique coffees. We roast certified organic as well as conventional specialty coffees.
Our label art is by world-famous Alaskan artist, Ray Troll. Ray’s designs adorn our coffee packaging as well as T-shirts, mugs, posters and postcards.
And, there is some good news from last week: Idella/Alicia has come out swinging. Go read all about it.
Alicia Morgan, who blogs at LastleftB4Hooterville has posted some really awful news.
The Bank Is Stealing My House THIS Monday
After writing to my friend Blue Gal, and getting my situation on paper, so to speak, I've decided to put it on my blog. This is the one of the hardest things I've ever done as a blogger. The last thing I want to do is have a pity-party for myself. I am really blessed in spite of what's happening now; I have my family, my health, my friends and my faith, and I know that I am luckier than most people in the world. Nevertheless, these criminals have to be brought into the light, and maybe the more people who speak out about how these banking institutions who have brought us to this place are using the bailout money that we taxpayers have given them, the more pressure will be put on Congress to change things.
You may not have heard much from me lately; I haven't been blogging, or writing, or doing anything politically. This is because I have been spending every ounce of physical, mental and emotional energy I possess trying to keep our family afloat and save our house. We were the victims of a predatory loan from one of the most egregiously criminal offenders, IndyMac Bank. I have not wanted to go public with our situation; partly out of pride, partly out of the hope that we would be able to get the bank to work with us. But it looks like this is not going to happen, and I am out of options........
Many of you count Alicia as a dear friend Idella Quandry in Second Life. If you haven't met her there yet, you can now listen to her inworld concerts at idella.ning.com You can tune in at 8pm PST tonight.
What else can you do? Well, you can buy a book. We're proud to carry Alicia's book, and since we purchase our copies directly from her, the money will go right to her family. The Price Of Right (Sterling & Ross Publishers, $14.95) From the publisher's catalog "Conservatism has run America into the ground, and it always will. How can it not? It's a governing philosophy based on myth, used to concentrate power in the hands of the few to the detriment of the many- exactly the opposite of what was intended by the founding fathers." Here's one reviewer: "Morgan does a terrific job of fitting the pieces together and painting a picture that has the potential to reach a lot of people. This is a book that might open some eyes. I recommend reading it and then giving it to a Republican." and here's another review from Journeys with Jood.
9am SLT Saturday morning. (yes, today!) Women in Virtual Worlds started as a business and professional women's networking group on LinkedIn.com . The purpose of in-world gatherings is networking and information exchange in a low key, chatty environment.
This book gives you all the basics for growing food on that most wasted ground in America, the manicured lawn. The lawn itself is a hold over from romanticizing Colonist's desire to best the "old country". Our suburbs and cities do not have the acreage to support vistas of lawns for each household and the result is a cramped bit of yard. Why not turn it over and quit using the chemical broadleaf suppressant fertilizers? You'll mow less, and eat better.
Flores' work in Eugene has now blossomed into a global movement, and you can find many resources at foodnotlawns.com.
The community building suggestions here are quite simple, seed exchanges, offering surplus produce to neighbors and helping supply your local food bank to Superhero Bike Rides.
It's gardening season again, and even if you're still snowed in, it's never too early to dream of tender green lettuces and those late summer tomatoes. Our gardening section has many titles to help you and if we don't have what you're looking for, we'd be happy to track down a copy for you. And, every book ordered through the Book Report or Second Life gets a publisher's advance copy included as a thank you from us.
This year I'll be getting some raised beds going, and I also get to redo a large piece of the back border, thanks to a car dropping by in the middle of the night.
In an on-going series about the Paranoid Style in American politics in the American novel, this report will look at one of the classics in cold-war literature, Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II's Seven Days in May (Harper and Row, 1962, a year before the Kennedy assassination, and out-of-print).
Set sometime in the early 1970's, the book has a fairly straight forward plot. The President of the United States, Jordan Lyman, with the consent of the US Senate, has conducted a disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union. The Treaty is regarded as near-treason in Pentagon, where Colonel Martin "Jiggs" Casey works as an adjutant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, one General James Mattoon Scott. Over the course of about 24 hours, Jiggs, through such innocuous clues as a betting pool on the Preakness, an encounter with an old military friend who unwittingly discloses the existence of a secret army base outside El Paso, and discovering that his boss has been lying to him on other matters, begins to suspect that there is a military plot to take over the government of the United States. Col. Casey takes the information to President, and though his story is dismissed by other advisers to the President, an investigation ensues and over the next few days, the plot is discovered to be real and plans are made to thwart it.
One of the first of a series of political thrillers to be published, the book operates in a cold-war era. The Russians are not to be trusted. Communism is the greatest external and internal threat to the United States. And the question asked consistently is who will protect our national security when it seems that the Executive wont. At least not to the satisfaction of the Military. It was also a period of what appeared to be a highly political military. The character of General Scott appears to have been modeled on such Generals as Edwin Walker, Curtis LeMay and Douglas MacArthur. Walker,the apparent object of an assassination attempt before JFK by Lee Harvey Oswald, and LeMay, the 1968 running mate of George Wallace, were especially reactionary in their political views, though MacArthur didn't lag far behind.
Seven Days in May was released in a film version in 1964, directed by John Frankenheimer, fresh off of filming The Manchurian Candidate, with a screenplay by Rod Serling, a vehement liberal and starring Kirk Douglas as Jiggs Casey, Burt Lancaster as General Scott and Frederic March as the President. Here is a case where I think the the film may be better. (It's available off and on at the Youtubes). The opening sequence where protesters and counter-protesters to the treaty file past one another until skirmishes between them erupts into a near riot, gives great imagery to the milieu of the times. Serling's screenplay tightens up much of the books plot (Casey is a married in the book, and the family scenes tend to bog down the narrative; in the movie he is unmarried), but still uses the strong and dramatic dialogue that Knebel and Bailey wrote.
The book is, unfortunately, out-of-print. However we do have one copy available and there are, last I looked, about 195 listings for it at abebooks.com. As a political thriller, the book is a fine read; as a movie, it gives cinematic vision to a well-imagined plot. And the central issue remains with us. Should our fears for our national security ever over-ride our Constitution? What happens when megalomania of our would-be defenders becomes the source of undermining our political way of life? With each order placed through jacksonst-books.com, we'll include a freebie: a publisher's Advance Reading Copy. Mention you saw us here in the "Questions for the Bookseller"
April is of course, National Poetry Month, as declared by Bill Clinton in 1996. I thought I'd point you at some of the delightful offerings available this year. The folks over at Poets.org will send you a poem a day, and they have a nifty book you can order directly from them Poem In Your Pocket. Carry it around on your daily errands and you can tear out a page and engage in a bit of Guerilla Poetry:
This also gives me a chance to mention our good friends John & Christine who run a bookstore devoted entirely to poetry: Open Books in Seattle. There's no better way to spend a rainy afternoon than in this cozy shop.
