Terry On Books Blog

I’ve been reading a series of books by Jim Butcher and his
likeable main character, Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden,
a Wizard. In fact, the only professional Wizard advertising
in the Chicago phone book:
“Harry Dresden–Wizard
Lost items found. Paranormal Investigations.
Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates.
No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or
Other Entertainment.”

Besides a few odd jobs of exorcisms, ghost removals
and finding lost objects, most of Harry’s income is derived
from work he does with  Lt. Karrin Murphy in the
Special Investigations Division of Chicago PD. Harry and
Karrin have a love-hate relationship from which they
both benefit. Karrin’s group investigates “unusual events”–
unexplainable crimes committed by non-living beings.

Susan Rodriguez is a reporter for the Midwestern “Arcane”,
a tabloid circulated widely from Chicago and specializing in
sensational, and mostly unbelievable stories. But Susan,
friend and sometime romantic interest of Harry Dresden,
believes in his powers as a Wizard and the magical world
that he represents. She’s constantly trying to get the scoop
on some of Harry’s activities so that she can document
them and acquire national syndication for her columns.

In his lab in the basement, Harry keeps a spirit inside a human
skull. Bob, the spirit, is hundreds of years old and supplies
Harry with the recipes for numerous kinds of magic potions.
Occasionally, Harry lets Bob out to seek information for
him from other spirits in Chicago and in Nevernever, the
spirit world.

The White Council, a large group of wizards that Harry is
part of, enforces a code of conduct for all practitioners.
Harry, from time to time, is forced to do things during his
investigations and exploits that put him in the bad graces
of the White Council.

There are lots of comings and goings from Nevernever by
all sorts of creatures, including demons, ghosts, vampires,
werewolves and other shapeshifters. To combat these
antagonists, Harry relies on his staff, blasting rod, a shield
bracelet, a silver pentacle on a silver chain passed down
from his mother, his ability to create “summoning circles”
and make “protective circles”, and a host of energy-creating
incantations and other devices to keep all these beings
at bay and protect his friends. Despite all this, he still
gets knocked around a lot!

I’ve never been much of a reader of horror fiction, or even
a big fan of the majority of fantasy writing, but I admit that
I’m hooked on Jim Butcher’s stories. A customer kept raving
about his books, so when we acquired some in the store,
I had to give Butcher a try. So far, I’ve read the first three
titles: “Storm Front”, “Fool Moon” and “Grave Peril” and
I’m looking forward to reading others.

The atmosphere of the books is reminiscent of the noir
detective fiction of the 1930’s and 1940’s. Dresden’s first-
person narration reminds me of the same droll delivery
of Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe. And Harry Dresden
shares some of the same traits of two of my other favourite
characters, Jack Reacher in Lee Child’s books, and
Repairman Jack in F. Paul Wilson’s books.

Altogether, a unique and enjoyable reading experience,
at least for me.

Please take some time to visit my website for
nearly 3000 quality books:
www.stillmanbooks.com

Remember, the only book purchase you’ll ever
regret will be the one you didn’t make.

Talk soon.

Where to Start?

Whatever your age, whatever your financial means,
you can begin to build a book collection.

Nearly all readers–except those people who rely
wholly on the library for their reading–buy books
that they want to actually read, mostly for pleasure,
sometimes for knowledge. If you keep these books
in a visable, accessible place in your home, you may
be inclined to say that you are a book collector,
but what you probably have is a personal “reading
library”. Building a book collection takes a little
more thought and planning.

Firstly, most book collections are composed of
books that reflect the collector’s main interest(s).
Perhaps you’re extremely interested in World War
II. Does your interest focus on aviation, land
battles, or the navies of the Allies and Axis countries,
or all three of the armed services? Perhaps World
War I, medieval warfare, the American Civil War,
the Napoleonic Wars, or even modern warfare is
more your preference.

You may have a keen interest in a hobby such
as gardening, painting, or music. Your profession
may be in science, medicine, law, architecture,
even farming and bookselling. You can collect
books on all of these subjects.

Are you enthralled by the many amazing children’s
book illustrators over the past one-hundred-and-
fifty years? Are you familiar enough yet to favour
any particular era of illustration, be it Victorian,
early 20th century, between the two Great Wars,
post-WWII and 1950’s, the ’60’s and ’70’s, or
the modern period of 1980’s to present?

If you are of modest means, you may have missed
the boat in terms of buying original editions of books
illustrated by the top children’s book artists in the
late 19th and early 20th century. If you enjoy
the work of Kate Greenaway, Walter Crane,
W. Heath Robinson, Arthur Rackham, Edmund
Dulac, Kay Nielsen and their many talented
contemporaries, you may still seek out much of
their output in later printings, some published as
late as the 1980’s.

If you have considerable disposable income for
collecting illustrated books, or first-edition literature,
then your possibilities are endless.

Once you decide to collect–be it children’s
authors or artists, military books, gardening books,
sports books, art books, books on games,
whatever–the first rule should be to focus. Choose
your genre, then choose your sub-genre. It may
be first edition books by American authors of the
1920’s and 1930’s. It may be English gardening
books from the 1880’s to the first World War;
or English true crime books from 1880 to the
second World War; or American gangsterism;
or all the first editions of Edward Gorey (that
might be a sub-sub-sub-genre). Start somewhere,
but use some sensible parameters. Secondly,
think about a budget. Can you afford a hundred
dollars a month, two hundred a month, ten
thousand a month? Set some sensible financial
parameters as well.

Check in next week for Part II of the series,
“Cautionary Tips for Buying”.

Book Review of James Lee Burke

For just plain old sittin’ and sippin’ on Sunday
afternoons or pre-lights-out bedtime reading,
one of my top ten authors is James Lee Burke,
mainly because he’s such a damn fine writer.

I just finished “Last Car to Elysian Fields”,
published in hardcover in 2003 and in paperback
a year later. (By the way, don’t expect me to
review new releases…afterall, I sell used books
so I read used books!) Burke’s mileau is New
Orleans and its colourful surroundings. His
protagonist is Dave Robicheaux, sometime
policeman in New Orleans and in New Iberia.
Dave’s got issues, tends to try to solve
frustrating situations with violence, has an even more-
violent sidekick and ex-partner, Clete Purcell,
but is, nevertheless, a moral, standup guy who
you could look to for help.

As often happens in Burke novels, the solution
for current murders lies buried in the past.
Robicheaux investigates the disappearance of
R&B guitarist and song-writer Junior Crudup
who ended up a victim of the corrupt penal
system in Louisiana in the 1950’s. Officially,
Junior never died in prison and there was no
record of his release. Robicheaux suspects
that someone had him killed, and that person
figures into the more recent murders. Add
into the mix the odd and intricate relationship
building between a Catholic priest and a
New Orleans hitman, a married ex-lover of
Robicheaux, the angry father of one of the
three teenage girls killed in a car crash because
they were able to buy illicit mixed liquor at
a roadside stand (owned ultimately by
Robicheaux’s rich main suspect), a cast of
minor questionable characters, and you’ve got
another captivating Burke story that never
lets up, nor follows a straight path to its
denouement.

For those who have never read James Lee Burke,
I offer this example of his writing:

“Ordinary people sometimes do bad things. A
wrong-headed business decision, a romantic
encounter in a late-night bar, a rivalry with a
neighbour over the placement of a fence, any of
these seemingly insignificant moments can initiate
a series of events that, like a rusty nail in the
sole of the foot, can systemically poison a normal,
law-abiding person’s life and propel him into a
world he thought existed only in the perverse
imaginings of pulp novelists.”

Now, if I recall correctly Miss Forsythe’s
instruction in Grade 9 English, that’s what is called
“foreshadowing”. And, indeed, that paragraph
did foreshadow some rather black events.

Read James Lee Burke because he’s a fine
storyteller as well as an educator.

I’d appreciate it if you’d take a little time to
review the many collectible books available
for purchase on my website:
www.stillmanbooks.com

Remember, the only book purchase you’ll
ever regret is the one you didn’t make.

Talk soon.

I was talking with a retired bookseller the
other day–well, perhaps 80% retired, since
few booksellers ever fully retire–and a
subject came up that has irritated us both
over the years. The subject of the long-lost
book and the various amounts of time that
some customer has been combing bookstores
in search of it.

We have both had similar experiences on a
number of occasions: a customer comes into
the store; he or she (usually a he) may look
around a little first or come right to the point.
“I know you won’t have it”, or, the slightly more
optimistic version, “I don’t imagine you’ll have it”,
but I’ve been looking for this book that I once
had for ____ (fill in the blank: 5, 10, 20) years,
and no one seems to have it. I look in every
bookstore I come across but I just can’t find it.

Once in a while, I was able to just walk a few
steps, pluck a book off the shelf, hand it to the
customer, and say “You mean this book?”.
Or, I may say, “I know the book and I can
probably get a copy for you if you want to
leave your name and phone number.” Quite
often, I was able to phone the customer in a
few days or a couple of weeks and tell him
that I had located a copy of his book for him.

Now here’s the disappointing, and sometimes
incredulous part for a bookseller: the customer
looks at the book in awe, says something like
“Well I’ll be” or, “I can’t believe it”, or, “I never
thought I’d ever see this book again”. He flips
through the book. If there are illustrations, he’ll
stop and look at a couple. He may check the
publication date and say “This is the very
same edition I had”. Then, he gets to the front
endpaper and sees the price, ___ (fill in the
blank: $5, $10, $20, $30). “Is this how much
you want for the book?”

“Yes”.

“Oh”, he replies as he hands the book back
to me, ” I’ll have to think about it.” Then the
customer starts to walk towards the door,
saying over his shoulder, “I’ll call you if I
decide to take it.”

Now, what the hell was that all about?
Either the customer was only using the long-
lost book line as an excuse so he could look
around unhindered and not be expected to
buy anything; or, he was just plain cheap.

My bookseller friend leans toward the cheap
theory. He once had a regular customer ask him
for a book that he’d had great difficulty in
finding. My friend produced the book within
a few days and the customer exclaimed how
happy he was to see the book again. The
bookseller priced the book at six dollars,
although the going price was eight to ten
dollars. Still, when the customer noticed the
price, he asked “So, you want six dollars for
this book? What kind of a special price can
I have it for?”

The bookseller looked at the guy for a few
seconds (in amazement); then he says “How
much do you want to pay?”

Without hesitation, the customer replied
“Three dollars.”

The bookseller took the book back from
the customer, opened it halfway and tore it
in half. He handed it back to the customer
and said “There. Now it’s a three-dollar book.”
The customer stomped away in a rage, never
to return. The bookseller said “Good riddance!”

There can’t be a bookseller out there who
hasn’t experienced at least a few of these
long-lost book customers who failed to purchase
once the treasured book appeared. However,
I’m sure all booksellers have also had good
experiences with customers who were elated
to get the book in question, no matter the price…
some even going so far as to say “Is that all you
want for it? Here’s an extra ten dollars for your
trouble. I’m just so thrilled to get this book.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

The happy, appreciative customers are part
of the reason we continue to buy and sell
books. For you beginning booksellers, when
a customer asks for a book you don’t have in
stock, be sure to get his or her personal
information so you can call when you get the
book. Chances are that you will find a good
number of the books that customers request
and most customers will be glad you did, even
if it’s a year or so later. If it’s an expensive book,
you may want to give the customer an idea of
price in advance. If it’s an inexpensive book,
you may have the fun of ripping it up.

Book Review

I’ve just read John Dunning’s book “The Sign
of the Book”, another in the bibliophile detective
series featuring bookselling ex-cop Cliff Janeway.
Dunning is not a great writer, but he’s a good
writer with an easy-to-read, engaging style. In
this story, Janeway is asked to do a little investigating
after a childhood friend of his lawyer girlfriend is
jailed for murdering her husband. One of the things
he’s asked to look at is the deceased man’s library
to determine if it is enough of an asset to help pay
the legal bills. At first glance, it’s a very ordinary-
looking collection of about a thousand books. On
closer inspection, the books become more interesting
since each one appears to be signed by the author
or the person who is the subject of the book.

Dunning manages to offer up a couple of candidates
for the murder, gives us a peek into the inner workings
of the collectible books field, shows us the opportunities
for illegal and unethical profits in the book business,
then provides a couple of interesting twists at the
end to wrap everything up neatly–albeit with a slightly
bitter taste on the subject of signed books.

Another good read, but I hope the hints in this book
and others that Cliff Janeway may give up his bookstore
and go back to fighting crime full time are just
speculative thoughts in the mind of Janeway and
don’t come to fruition. Janeway as strictly a head-
basher wouldn’t be nearly as interesting.

Please take a few minutes to check out the fine
books on my website:
www.stillmanbooks.com

Remember, the only book purchase you’ll
ever regret is the one you didn’t make.

Talk soon.