Independent Book Stores

Pictures Of Perfection. Best 100 Mysteries of All Time

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Pictures of Perfection—Reginald Hill–1994–Delacorte Press I came to Reginald Hill’s Peter Pascoe and Andy Dalziel Yorkshire detective novels late. At least 10 books worth late. For reasons that escape me now, I didn’t like his work–or put in another way, I only made it halfway through the first page of the one book I tried … Read more

Biblios–Part 2

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Biblios = Books about Books Part 1: Books about Books–Better Known as Biblios Part 2  Biblios Focusing on Booksellers/Collectors Part 3  Bibilos Focusing on Writers Part 4  Bibilos Focusing on  Writers Part 5  Biblios Focusing on Publishing Ah, so many more bookshop mysteries have come to light since I wrote the first article about biblios. And … Read more

Books about Books–Better Known as Biblios–Part 1

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Biblios = Books about Books Part 1: Books about Books–Better Known as Biblios Part 2  Bibilos Focusing on Booksellers/Collectors Part 3  Bibilos Focusing on Writers Part 4  Bibilos Focusing on Writers Part 5  Bibilos Focusing on Publishers Biblio–def.: ‘the Greek root for a variety of words referring to the book, such as bibliography, bibliomania, etc.’ I’ve often … Read more

The Black Paw. Best 100 Mysteries of All Time

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The Black Paw—Constance and Gwyneth Little-1941  Doubleday Crime Club-IP The sisters Little make this list not once, but twice. Why, because their books are that funny, that convoluted, and that smart–that makes them mandatory. LOL. If you’ve read my article on the screwball comedy novels the two sisters produced between the late 1930s to the … Read more

I Never Read a Book Twice!

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Do you? Life is too damn short! I need to move on to the next book, then the next, and on and on. To go back and reread something is almost against my religion, or  life force. Unfortunately, since creating my Best Mysteries of All Time list, I’ve had to re-read bits and pieces, and … Read more

Hypermodern and the Selling of a New Author

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One advantage of managing an independent bookstore, you meet many writers. Some established like Sara Paretsky, some real old timers like Dick Francis, some mid-list like Rhys Bowen, some best sellers, like James Patterson, and some brand spanking new faces on the scene. It was the new writers that at the time most occupied our … Read more

LOL

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I was just at ABE books looking for a particular old children’s book, and happened across this subject. I haven’t posted any of these for a long time, so I thought I’d just throw it up, for the heck of it. One novel that deserves to be on the list–Pest Control, one of the funniest … Read more

Where Do The Books You've Read Go?

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I’m asking, because I need new creative places to take them! I have long ago left behind the notion that I could keep all the books I’d read. As a teenager, it didn’t seem so difficult–stack them in a corner of the room, and let them be. By college, I didn’t want to lug them … Read more