Interesting Book of the Day

Book: Flickan Som Lekte Med Elden - Girl Who Played with Fire - Swedish Language) by Stieg Larsson

Wikipedia background:

The Girl Who Played with Fire (Swedish: Flickan som lekte med elden) is the second novel in the best-selling "Millennium series" by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson. It was published posthumously in Swedish in 2006 and in English in January 2009.

The book features many of the characters that appeared in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, among them the title character, Lisbeth Salander, a social misfit, and Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative journalist and publisher of Millennium magazine.

Widely seen as a critical success, The Girl Who Played with Fire was also (according to The Bookseller magazine) the first and only translated novel to be number one in the UK hardback chart.

Nancy Grace

Item: Bookmark


With the Casey Anthony saga winding down, it seems Nancy Grace has picked up some extra work as a bookmark model/watchdog. As you can see, will keep a watchful eye over where you left off in your latest paranormal romance paperback.

Anyone who dares to touch your werewolf/vampire novel without your permission will be on the receiving end of a snap rush to judgement and a cacophony of calls for incarceration.

Book: Stolen: A Novel (Women of the Otherworld) by Kelley Armstrong.

Amazon review:

Elena Michaels, the only known female werewolf, cavorts on a more fully cultivated supernatural playing field in this sure-footed follow-up to Bitten (2001). While investigating a suspicious notice advertising information for sale about werewolves, Elena meets witches Paige and Ruth Winterbourne-and, to her misfortune, a team of mortal and supernatural commandos who abduct Elena and Ruth to a remote underground bunker in the wilds of Maine. There Ty Winsloe, "billionaire and computer geek extraordinaire," is collecting a menagerie representing all the supernatural species that coexist anonymously with humanity (vampires, werewolves, witches, etc.).

Radio Flyer

Item: Photograph

They see me rollin'...they hatin'.



Book: The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World by Paul H. Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson.

Amazon.com Review: Cultural Creative is a term coined by Ray and Anderson to describe people whose values embrace a curiosity and concern for the world, its ecosystem, and its peoples; an awareness of and activism for peace and social justice; and an openness to self-actualization through spirituality, psychotherapy, and holistic practices. Cultural Creatives do not just take the money and run; they don't want to defund the National Endowment for the Arts; and they do want women to get a fairer shake--not only in the United States, but around the globe.

World Travelers

Item: Photograph


These ladies seem pretty excited. Their guide, however, has seen it all before.


Book: Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History by Stephen Jay Gould

Amazon.com Review:
The Burgess Shale of British Columbia "is the most precious and important of all fossil localities," writes Stephen Jay Gould. These 600-million-year-old rocks preserve the soft parts of a collection of animals unlike any other. Just how unlike is the subject of Gould's book.

The Muse; or the Inspiration of the Eagle's Eye

When this bookmark fell out of its temporary paged prison; and the intense, piercing stare of this noble eagle met mine, I knew that I must share it with as many people as possible. And with that impulse, this blog began to form in my mind's eye.

Item: Bookmark

Frankly, there is just a lot happening on this small sliver of laminated paper stock. Where to begin? Let's see...the previously mentioned eagle is featured prominently, while the young reader (ostensibly the true subject of the piece) seems to be a mere afterthought, cut-and-pasted in a thought-bubble near the top of the frame.

One might be led to believe that the featured young lady is simply an eagle/yucca plant/mountain-biking/desert/American-Southwest aficionado. I, however, am getting a distinct impression that the whole scene might be a mescaline induced hallucination, perhaps experienced by the eagle himself.

Adding to the prominence of our eagle friend, we cannot escape his gaze as it follows us to the reverse...intently monitoring the conspicuously empty "List of Books to Read". Lest we not forget...Reading IS Fundamental.

Also as meta-feature of the item, the small chew marks suggest the young reader is a pet-lover, or perhaps a repressed nail-biter.

Book: Zen of Seeing: Seeing/Drawing as Meditation by Frederick Franck

From the Inside Flap:
A Dutch artist offers his concept of seeing and drawing as a discipline by which the world may be rediscovered, a way of experiencing Zen.

Origins

This blog will chronicle a wide range of items that I find in used books. As of this post, I have been a used bookseller for about two years and have thus examined tens of thousands of books. In hindsight, I wish I had kept some of the past items I have stumbled across and since discarded. They ranged from the mundane (hundreds of common bookmarks and grocery lists), humorous (items seemingly unrelated to the genre of book), poignant (hand written letters dealing with heavy loss), valuable (one dollar), to the truly bizarre (the polaroid of a completely nude african-american gentleman posing quite nonchalantly - complete with a pair of pink-laced rollerskates). But what's gone is gone (perhaps for the best) and I can only pledge from now on to share the most interesting with you here.

The next post will highlight my inspiration for this blog.

Enjoy.