On April 1, 1985, George Plimpton, a journalist for Sports Illustrated, published an article “The Curious Case of Sidd Finch.”  This article was about the unknown pitcher who was part yogi, part recluse, and threw a 165 mph fastball which knocked the catchers back, and flew by a batter before they could even see it.

And the NY Mets were keeping him hidden in St. Petersburg, Florida behind a large canvas enclosure.  He had a special catcher, and at the time the article was written, only three batters had ever seen him.

The phenomenon the three young batters faced, and about whom only Reynolds, Stottlemyre and a few members of the Mets’ front office know, is a 28-year-old, somewhat eccentric mystic named Hayden (Sidd) Finch. He may well change the course of baseball history.

In the end, “The Curious Case of Sidd Finch” turned out to be a national April Fool’s joke.

But why am I bringing this up on Old Musty Books?  Well, because Old Musty Books is based in Florida, 20 minutes from the Spring Training Camp in Port St. Lucie; and its raining today – and the game in Fort Myers was canceled due to rain across the state (I think I just heard a 30 second roll of thunder; either that or there’s a tank army rolling down my street).

Most important of reasons, though, is this was a farce  – an April Fools Joke – a short story if you will.  George Plimpton wrote this in journalistic form, but the story has every thing one might enjoy in a short story – amazement, hilarity, really good writing with excellent descriptions, and great characterization development.

A little background history: The 1984 New York Mets played 162 games, finished in second position, winning 90 games and losing 72 games. They finished the year with a .556 winning percentage. They were just beginning to come out of a decade of suckitude.  And then…possibly the greatest pitcher ever…EVER…was found – albeit in a journalist’s mind (and the Mets were going along with it).

Mets fans all over the country had to have been THRILLED!  (I was 10 at the time and not a baseball fan – I grew up with the Florida college football rivalries on t.v., but not too much in the way of other sports.)

Reading this now, its a hilarious story. Reading it then in the Sports Illustrated Magazine must have warmed the hearts of NY Mets fans all over the country (remember the internet wasn’t massively used back then). Can you imagine the punking that sports fans got that year? Except for the fear wrought, this could be the equivalent to the punking of reading War of the Worlds on the radio on Halloween night in 1938.

Without further ado, I present to you a wonderfully hopeful short story about the greatest pitcher that never was:

The Curious Case of Sidd Finch by George Plimpton

I liked the girl she used to be by David Cristofano; and to go a bit further, this is one of the better “first novels” I’ve read in a long time.  Cristofano attempts to answer questions surrounding identity by introducing two characters who are damned to live lonely lives because of the identity of their respective parents.

The main character is Melody Grace McCartney, who at the young age of six, witnessed a member of the Mafia murder a man at her favorite Italian restaurant. Her family was put into the Witness Protection Program after an anonymous tip to the Feds that they were at the scene of a murder.  For twenty years, she’d been in the program and we meet her in the very beginning of the novel as one of her aliases – a school teacher in a small, boring town. Her parents were eventually killed by “the family” and there’s also a hit still on her life apparently.

Enter Jonathan (aka, Johnny or Little Johnny).  Jonathan is a little bit older than Melody…and just happens to be the son of the guy who killed the man in the restaurant…and just happens to be the anonymous tip that led to her family being put in Witness Protection.  He is also the family blacksheep in that he hasn’t committed murder and in fact was supposed to be the one that killed Melody’s parents, but couldn’t do (his cousin was the one who pulled the trigger because he choked).

The gist of the story is that figuring she has nothing to lose, Melody joins Jonathan in a strange plan to show his father/family that she isn’t a threat to the family.  There’s running from the U.S. Marshals, as well as from the Family, and there’s some romantic interludes between two people who want a different life than what they have but really can’t ever be together.

The story in and of itself is predictable and somewhat cliche (bordering on chick lit in some areas).  That said, I thought the story was a good one to use in questioning the concept of one’s identity and what happens when you have no idea who you are because you’ve been yanked out of the life you started out living (several times).

I thought the ending was excellent, except for the cliche wedding ring scene.  I would have liked to see a bit less romance involved in the telling of the story – I believe the ending could have been achieved without having had all the romance. Jonathan could have just been someone who hated the family he was born into rather than having fallen for the target.  There was no reason why it had to go into a romantic love thing just because he saw her innocence as a child prior to her world being turned inside out.  In some ways, the romance cheapened the story and made her weaker than what I thought she was going to be. There were other ways to show the loneliness of the two characters without having to go the “I’ve fallen in love with my captor/captive” route.

I really liked the concept that Melody was sick of the Witness Protection Program, didn’t feel safe knowing the U.S. Marshals were there to protect her (because her parents were in witness protection when they were killed), and so what did she have to lose by going with Jonathan – because ultimately if anyone could protect her from “the family” it would be someone from the family and mostly likely the safest person would have been the son who hated his family’s lifestyle.  Adding romance between the two of them lessened the ‘I’m f-in over it! I want a real life!’ resolve that she appeared to have in some areas of the book.

In fairness to the author though, he did try to show that love weakens not just the woman in this case but both a man and a woman. However, I think it would have been just as easy to have Jonathan a man of higher morals than the rest of his family rather than have him be the guy that couldn’t kill her because he loved her on some level that turned out to be romantic.

Despite these things, the girl i used to be was an entertaining read.  I really enjoyed the first paragraph where the author dared the reader to become involved in Melody’s story. This dare strategy worked, I read the book straight through and declared it a good book at the final word.  I didn’t contemplate the romance being a bit too much in the story while I was reading it, and frankly, I do wonder how Melody has gotten on in her new life and what exactly happened to Jonathan.  I also enjoyed the mathematical references throughout the book and the chapter titles were excellent.  The usage of math throughout the book to give readers some insight into who Melody was/had become was interesting and somewhat fascinating as a technique to help understand where the logic was in Melody’s decisions. Additionally, the author did a good job telling the story from a female perspective. I suspect its extremely difficult for an author of one gender to get it right when writing from the other gender’s perspective.

If you are looking for a bit of a mystery mixed with a little bit of romance and a splash of philosophical questions about what we want as human beings, then this book will be an enjoyable read. It also must be said, I am interested in seeing what comes next from Cristofano.  I think there’s real potential here, and as I do with all new authors, I’m hoping he doesn’t get pigeonholed and continues to produces books with interesting concepts and ideas.

The Girl She Used to Be
David Cristofano (Author)
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; 1 edition (March 10, 2010)

There’s an interesting article in this month’s Fortune Magazine titled “The Future of Reading.”  At times it seems more of an advertisement for Apple’s IPad, however, I think its possible the IPad is used as the newest piece of technology that is supposed to be better than anything else as of yet (because its Apple?).  That said, this article has still got some interesting ideas on the future of publishing in regards to magazines, books and newspapers; and the challenges the industry faces in regards to revenue-generating models and the technology possibilities and limitations on the content generators (journalists, writers).

Here are some snippets:

Book publishers, having been tortured by Amazon’s attempts to cut them out, are now running into Apple’s embrace and will soon be hawking their e-books on the iPad, which CEO Jobs unveiled in late January.

Apple’s announcement — the product will be available in late March — already seems to be helping the book business: Apple has said it will let publishers set the price of electronic books for the iPad, something Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500) has refused to do for Kindle books. Now Amazon appears to be reconsidering its pricing policy.

Josh Quittner throughout the article seeks to answer the following questions:

• Question 1: Will anyone be willing to pay for content delivered to a tablet when they can get information for free on the web?
• Question 2: But aren’t tablets just a better way to browse the web?
• Question 3: Reading? Reading is dead.
• Question 4: How will tablet-based ads work better than the web?
• Question 5: Can traditional publishing companies reorganize and move fast enough to embrace and serve new platforms?

In the middle of the article is a link for what “10 media and tech luminaries think” about the future of print.  These thoughts come from people such as Kurt Anderson (Novelist and public radio host),  Publisher, Jimmy Wales (Founder, Wikipedia, the collaborative online encyclopedia), Paul LeClerc (President and CEO, New York Public Library), Kevin Rose (Founder, Digg), Matt Mullenweg (Founding developer, WordPress).

Jeannette Walls (Author, The Glass Castle and Half Broke Horses) said in her interview:

For those of us who produce words and have ownership over those words, there’s a big question about how we stay in business, but I believe that will work itself out. For those who love access to information and trading information, these new outlets and devices are great. More people than ever will have efficient access to the written word.

I still can’t help but wonder how long before you can only get new books in digital format only.  I suspect from the author’s point of view, publishing in e-book format only will be a much less expensive venture than it is to print in book format.  I do not know how this will translate into revenue for the publishing houses, but I certainly think it will be interesting to see how the book publishing industry stands up to the challenge.

Let’s play a little word association game for a minute: If I say the word Siberia, what do you think of?  For me, the words would be Cold, Desolate, Punishment.  I suspect for most of us, that’s what we conjure in our minds when we hear the word.

Not for the sixty year old narrator of To Siberia by Per Petterson (translated by Anne Born).  To “Sistermine” (as she is called by her brother, Jesper), Siberia is a place better than where she grew up.  Her dream is to get on the Trans-Siberian rail all the way through, to experience this new place where people know how to be warm even in the coldest of times, a place where people are friendly and peaceful:

“And besides I shall sit on the train and look out of the window and talk to people, and they will tell me what their lives are like and what their thoughts are and ask me why I have come all the long way from Denmark.  Then I will answer them: ‘I have read about you in a book.’ And then we’ll drink hot tea from the samovar and be quiet together just looking.”

Our narrator comes from a loveless family.  Her grandfather and grandmother are almost never in the same room together. Her grandfather appears to be extremely disappointed in her father for being a Master Joiner, not a farmer:

“Now, Master Joiner,” he said, and I could not understand what was wrong with my father’s name that it could not be spoken aloud, his name was Magnus, Grandfather knew that well enough, but his voice sounded different from the one I was used to: “Why don’t you go home if you won’t drink with your own father?  You were never like the others, were you?  You have never known why, born in pain and begotten in more than pain, a thorn in the flesh from the start.  Go home to your warm house and leave the boy with me.”

How harsh is that?!  This statement is said in public during a scuttle between father and grandfather in a bar. And further evidence of this is grandfather leaving father nothing in his will after he died.

Her mom and dad aren’t much warmer towards each other:

“My mother is velvet, my mother is iron.  My father often stays silent and sometimes over dinner he picks up the burning hot pan by its iron handle and holds it until I have filled my plate, and when he puts it back I can see the red marks on his hand.”

We learn a great deal about mother, but she’s not really a central part of this story.  Mother says very few things, but we get the sense she wears the pants in the family.  Father tries his very best to provide for the family, but times are tough, and he ends up losing the business.

There is a stark difference between mother and father, and while I don’t recall if the book mentions how they met, there appears to be a class difference.  Father is from a family of farmers and (I think) mother fancies she is from a family of fishermen.  Though apparently, this is not accurate.  Mother, I would say, wishes she were somewhere else and is extremely disappointed with the way her life has turned out.

For the most part, To Siberia is about the narrator’s recollection of the loveless childhood she had.  We follow her memories through the years before WWII to the end of the war and then two years in her twenties.  The book is touted to be about this great bond between sister and brother. While there was a lot of memories that encompassed the things she did with her brother, I got the feeling it was the type of bond you’d find between any younger sibling and his/her older sibling who realized family life was pretty lacking in the affection and they had to stick together to find some semblance of love and understanding.  Our narrator idolized her brother.  He looked after her and tried to include her in most everything he did.  I don’t think the book is about the bond as much as it tells of the things that made her life not so full of despair.

Interestingly, her childhood story is basically over when she is almost fifteen and Jesper (her brother) goes away because he is part of a resistance movement against Nazi occupation.  It is also at this point in the story, when there’s some questions about the sexuality of brother and sister which leaves the reader to wonder what has happened previously between the two children that shared a small bedroom.  I did find this an interesting segment – wondering why it was put in the storyline at all. I believe the narrator’s budding sexuality was a metaphor for the end of childhood, coinciding with Jesper leaving and the end of this time period of the story.  Life would never be the same with Jesper leaving AND the ‘age of innocence’ was over.

She’s twenty-two the next time we see her (Part III).  She’s lived in Amsterdam previous to this. Now she’s living with an old Aunt, working in her Aunt’s coffee shop.  Over the years, she’s kept in touch with Jesper via letters every few weeks.  He’s in Morocco (his childhood dream), and they are planning on seeing each other when he comes home. She meets a man in the coffee shop who is smitten with her and though she fights it, she begins to warm up to him.  But, not in the way we think.  She becomes pregnant and shortly after that, she has a letter from Jesper and decides it time to go home.

When she gets home, she finds Jesper is not there. And nothing has changed.

“How dare you come into the house of sorrow in this way? Have you no shame?” Her hands were clasped in front of her, and I saw the flaming sword.
I turned to my father.  He still sat in his chair looking down at his lap.  I stared at him until he had to raise his eyes, and he shook his head like an old man and turned away and looked into the wall.  He had nothing to give, and I would not beg.”

The story ends with her living in a different town, at twenty-three years old, pregnant, helping on a farm with a childhood friend’s uncle and his family.  Sadly, we never know if she gets to Siberia, or if she every feels the warmth she so desperately desires.

This 245 page novel is sad and dark.  There is striking symbolism throughout the book.  The most prevalent is the temperature.  Its always cold to our narrator.  She lives in a physically cold world, but also an emotionally cold world.  And she has become numb.  We see it in the few references to sex and the words she uses to describe her own child’s conception.  We see it in the way she describes her mother, and the scene setting surrounding where her mother is at any given moment.  The only place she finds warmth and solace are in cows and her dream of going to Siberia.

The story is told in a matter-of-fact way, and I was astounded by the honesty of the narrator fifty-something years later, beginning the story from the eyes of her six or seven year old self. There aren’t many authors that can translate memories over decades to include the innocent thoughts and interpretations of events and situations of a seven year old and make his/her reader believe them.  And as the narrator grew so did her interpretations of different events.

I don’t know if I would classify this book as one of the best I’ve read, but technically, its a winner. The most interesting thing I realized after finishing the book was, in a strange way, I was detached from the story.  I didn’t love or hate any of the characters. Its striking to me, actually, how detached I am to the narrator or any of the characters. If this is what the author was striving for, then he succeeded.  And I’m not sure I’ve ever enjoyed a book where I felt nothing, but I did enjoy To Siberia.

If you are someone who likes metaphors and symbolism more than having the thoughts and feelings of the characters spelled out to you; or if you want to experience a well-written book where you may feel nothing for the characters (a rare occurance to be sure), I highly recommend To Siberia by Per Petterson.

According to Reuters, a Paris court found Google guilty of violating copyright by digitizing books and putting extracts online.

This decision came following a legal challenge by major French publishers. The legal challenge argued that publishers and authors were losing out in the latest stage of the digital revolution.

Google has been ordered to pay $431,700 U.S. dollars (300,000 euros) which is less than the 15 million euro saught by the plaintiffs.  Google must also stop reproducing any copyrighted material by French publishers it has not contracted with.  Google will be appealing the decision, though the ruling will be enforced immediately.

Here’s the full story from Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE5BH1AI20091218

Additionally, Google reached a settlement in the United States, which includes measures to track down and compensate authors, and only covers books published in the U.S., Britain and Australia, and any books registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. However, the settlement still has to be approved by the U.S. court.

There is so much discussion right now going regarding digitizing books – how to make it happen on a large scale without copyright infringement? and how do you protect the author and the publisher yet still make the books accessible without piracy issues coming into play?  I think it will be interesting how this and other issues I suspect will arise plays out in the years to come, not just in with U.S. authors and publishers, but throughout the world.

Today is the day I get to announce the winners of the Holidays Book Giveaway. Figuring out who the winners are was a tough process. So many of you have wonderful traditions which reminded me of my own growing up; and some of you had things that made you extremely happy to be able to do for others; and some of you were interested in a set which fell into a category different than the holiday you celebrate.  So, I picked one of each.

Thank you to all who participated.  As always, I wish I could send each and every one of you a set a books.

Below are the three winners and why I chose them:

Kay: Christmas books
“My favourite tradition is leaving PJ’s from Santa on Christmas Eve for my kidlets – it started when my oldest was small & we were living away from home, so a note was sent by Santa with the PJ’s saying visiting your cousins overseas, will be back later – continues to this day- even though they are all grown up!! Would love to share the Christmas Books with the family.”

When I was a little girl, my mom’s friend who lived in Ohio would send us each a gift to be opened on Christmas Eve.  Every year, the gift was some really nice nightgown (for me and my sister) or pajamas (for my brother). There were two exciting things about this gift from my mom’s friend.  One was we got to open a present before Christmas.  The second thing (and this one took us years to figure out) was we had nice new nighties for christmas morning pictures.  My mom never had to worry about what the heck we’d be wearing to bed on Christmas eve and how that would translate to Christmas morning pictures when we got our first glimpses at what Santa brought. I was an adult before I realized this was the true purpose of being allowed to open up the present on Christmas eve; and it was only because I was looking at Christmas pictures through the ages and realized how great we looked in our new nighties on Christmas morning. I immediately understood how brilliant this gift really was.

Sharon Walling: Hanukkah books
“I have to say, my favorite holiday tradition is working so that my staff can celebrate the holiday with their families.
My choice is the Hanukkah books.”

I really enjoyed this answer.  Working so your staff could have off for a holiday they celebrate is a selfless act that has turned into a tradition for Sharon.  I never understood (and still don’t), why it is that Christmas is a holiday from work in most industries, but the other holidays are not; and I’ve seen it cause issues within a workplace.  I think Sharon’s point of view is admirable.

ikkinlala: Kwanzaa books
“My favourite holiday tradition is playing crokinole with my family after Christmas dinner.
I don’t celebrate it, but I’d like to enter for the Kwanzaa set, please – I’m intrigued by that book of folktales.”

I just liked that ikkinlala wanted a set not related to her own celebrations.

Congratulations to the three winners! Please check your email.  I’ve sent out emails to each of you.  If you do not receive them in your inbox, please check your junk/bulk mail.

I wish for everyone, participants and winners alike, a happy and healthy holiday season!

Who is Ted Kennedy? To be completely frank, I knew of him only as the younger brother of Jack and Bobby, senator of Massachusetts, and the guy in the Chappaquiddick “thing.”  I use the word “thing” because I didn’t really know what happened other than some girl died and he was driving. When Ted Kennedy died, I was struck by the amount of people who paid their respects during the memorial and the funeral.  I was intrigued by what people were saying about this man, friends and foes, on the news channels.

Who was this man?

I wanted to know the answer to this question.  I requested True Compass for review, not really expecting to receive it, due to its popularity.  However, Twelve Books sent it.  When it arrived, I got out my pencils and went to work trying to understand who this man was.

Memoirs are written to tell the story the subject wants you to know about his or her life.  I am fully aware of this. I am not sure what I expected when I began reading True Compass, but I was thrilled with its easy, conversational tone. I am not sure there is any politician out there who doesn’t use a ghost writer and if you pay close attention, you can figure out which voice is which in a memoir. I have no idea what Ted Kennedy’s written voice is. However, I thought it was difficult to tell where his voice ended and Ron Powers voice began.

In reading True Compass, one thing that struck me is he never really expands on others reasons or failures during the events he tells about.  He mentioned his sister Rosemary’s “operation” and the role his father played, but never used the word lobotomy and never tried to offer conjecture on what Joe Sr. felt about this horrible event.  Many events are described this way.  He discribes events from his perspective and nothing more.  The above-mentioned event happened when he was a child and that’s the perspective he gave.

When he is discussing his own role in certain events, he states the equivalent to:

I regret my failings and accept responsibility for them and will leave it at that. (specifically, this was in regards to his relationship with Joan, his first wife).

Another striking aspect of this memoir is how interlaced family was to his life. Over the course of the book, he will tell about time he spent as an adult with his brothers, and then end with something like, ‘to this day, I still miss Jack’s smile.’

When I closed True Compass, I thought what a social tragedy that the Kennedy’s were put on a pedestal.  Sure, they had LOTS of money, and sure three of the boys went into the very public life of politics; but, they were a regular family.  They weren’t just a rich family that sat in their home in Hyannis Port; they all tried to help those less fortunate than they were.  And regardless of your politics, you have to admire that.

Ted Kennedy’s memoir is written in a matter-of-fact tone and gives away no family secrets. If a reader is looking for the deep dark secrets of the Kennedy family, he or she will be sorely disappointed.

He says of the Warren Commission that Bobby “did not want to continue to investigate Jack’s death.” Ted was satisfied with the findings and and, Bobby was too. And he says:

I was satisfied then, and satisfied now.

and in regard to Bobby’s satisfaction with the Commission report:

I’m always reluctant to speak for my brother, but I know how strongly Bobby felt that it was imperative that this inquiry be thorough and accurate.  In all my subsequent conversations with him, when all was said and done, I believe that Bobby accepted the Warren Commission findings too.

Of Chappaquiddick he says this (after telling the events as he remembers them):

I am not proud of these hours.  My actions were inexcusable.  Perhaps I have not made my acknowledgment of this clear enough over the years.

and then:

Atonement is a process that never ends.  I believe that.  Maybe it’s a New England thing, or an Irish thing, or a Catholic thing.  Maybe all of those things.  But it’s as it should be.

On the emotional front, Ted Kennedy strays from the matter-of fact tone only when talking of his own grief and the role the ocean played in his healing. Its no secret being on the water soothed the Lion of the Senate.  He tells of the first time being in a boat offered him solace. The news that Joe, jr.  had died had just come to his brothers, sisters and mother.  The family let the news sink in for about 15 minutes before Jack said, “Joe wouldn’t want us sitting here crying.  He would want us to go sailing.”

And Ted says of this moment:

My countless hours upon the sea have mostly been happy ones.  this was the first of the many times when taking the tiller has steered me away from nearly unendurable grief across the healing waters on the long, hard course toward renewal and hope.

Of Jack’s death and how he coped with the grief, he says:

It was in these moments, when I was out of sight of anyone else, just the sea on one side of me and the sand on the other, that I would let go of my self-control.

It never occurred to me to seek professional help or grief counseling of any kind.  The times were different then.  But I prayed and I thought and I prayed some more.

Of Bobby’s death he says:

Life and politics, went on.  But not in the same way.  Not for me.  I was shaken to my core.

and

The months following Bobby’s death are a blur in my memory…I got into my car and drove toward Capital Hill.  Whne the Senate Office Building came into view, I began breathing heavily.  I turned the car around and went home.

And again, he would go sailing.  The chapter titled Bobby ends with,

I surrendered myself to the sea and the wind and the sun and the stars on these voyages.”

“And on these nights in particular, my grieving was subsumed into the sense of oneness with the sky and the sea.”

“I gazed at the night sky often on those voyages, and thought of Bobby.

Throughout the book, he talks a great deal about the love he had for his brothers. His whole life he wanted to be like them.  He was the youngest brother of a family of nine and early on his father told Ted if he wasn’t useful, he wouldn’t have the time for him, because there were people in the family who would have need of their father’s time.  Little Ted Kennedy doted on his older brothers and from what I could tell, had an everlasting love for them even long after they’d gone.

And the only cuss word Ted uses in the whole book comes in this passage:

Let me acknowledge here that a loyal and loving brother cannot provide a dispassionate view of John Kennedy’s presidency.  Much has been written about his personal life.  A lot of it is bullshit.  All of it is beyond my scope of my direct experience.

On the political front, as one would expect from a Ted Kennedy memoir, a great deal of time is spent discussing health care and his own introduction to our society’s health care institution. By no means, does this mean, health care is all he discusses politically.  There are some intriguing bits and pieces about each Presidents’ decision over the course of Kennedy’s time in the Senate.

I preface this next part with I am not a student of political science.  I have only recently really started trying to get to the crux of what is going on in American politics.  And have given myself the personal challenge of reading more political-centric books in 2010.  That said, I am intrigued by the trends in political discourse and the way the different parties use the exact same tactics every few years.  One can easily see the same tactics used today in Congress, as were used during the Nixon, Reagan, and Clinton eras. It was actually astounding as as I went back and looked at the notes I took while reading True Compass, the associations I made between Vietnam and Iraq/Afghanistan, and health care legislation today and medicare legislation.

After reading True Compass, I am reminded of that age old question, if you could have five people from history at a social gathering, which people would you choose?  I would choose Ted Kennedy – not the politician, but the man.  True Compass, in my humble opinion, is a book written by the man about the man.  He was not one to ever put his feelings on his sleeve; though I believe with the tragedy he faced throughout his life, this would have been perfectly acceptable to some extent.  He was a man living in the shadows of his family, until very late in life when Vicky helped him realize he didn’t have to anymore. And he was a man who despite the horrific tragedy, learned from his grandfather Honey Fitzgerald to “Love life, and believe in it.” And he tried, I think.

On page 480 of True Compass, he says:

What binds us together across our differences in religion or politics or economic theory is that when each one of us is cut, our blood flows red.  Mine does and yours does too.

That is a man I’d like to have at a social gathering – not to ask him questions about his life and his politics, but to instead watch him infuse a room full of people with the spirit of warmth and understanding that we are all equal.

This Giveaway is Now Closed.  Thank you to all who participated.  Click here for the Announcement of the Winners.

Its the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!  On behalf of Hachette Book Group, I would like to announce the Holidays Book Giveaway.  This is my absolute favorite time of the year, because I can give three people a set of books.  They aren’t just the usual one set though.  This is my opportunity to give away a set for Christmas, Hannukkah, and Kwanzaa.

This year, in an effort to help us understand each others traditions and beliefs, the only thing you have to do to enter this giveaway is tell me your favorite Holiday tradition and the set of books you’d like to have.  I will pick three winners – one winner for each set of books – on December 16, 2009.  Please, no P.O. Boxes and only residents of the United States and Canada.

1. Angels By Chuck Fischer ISBN: 0316039705
2. Miracles By Karen Kingsbury ISBN: 0446557951
3. The Gift of an Ordinary Day By Katrina Kenison ISBN: 0446409480
4. Christmas Memories By Susan Branch ISBN: 0316106488
5. The Paper Bag Christmas By Kevin Alan Milne ISBN: 1599950731

1. Start-up Nation By Dan Senor , Saul Singer ISBN: 044654146X
2. The Monuments Men By Robert M. Edsel , Bret Witter ISBN: 1599951495
3. Sex, Drugs & Gefilte Fish By Shana Liebman ISBN: 0446504629
4. The Woman Who Named God By Charlotte Gordon ISBN: 031611474X
5. A Lucky Child By Thomas Buergenthal , Elie Wiesel ISBN: 0316043400

1. The Boy Next Door By Irene Sabatini ISBN: 031604993X
2. Mrs. O By Mary Tomer ISBN: 1599952580
3. Role of a Lifetime By James Brown , Nathan Whitaker , Tony Dungy ISBN: 0446541176
4. On the Line By Serena Williams , Daniel Paisner ISBN: 0446553662
5. Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales By Nelson Mandela ISBN: 1600246664

Book sales tracked by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) for the month of September increased by 12.3 percent at $1.26 billion and were up by 3.6 percent for the year.

The Adult Hardcover category jumped up by 74.1 percent in September with sales of $302.4 million; year-to-date sales were up by 2.9 percent. Adult Paperback sales decreased 1.7 percent for the month ($132.4 million) and were down by 8.2 percent for the year. The Adult Mass Market category was up 33.3 percent for September with sales totaling $89.9 million; sales were down by 0.2 percent year-to-date. The Children’s/YA Hardcover category decreased by 24.3 percent for the month with sales of $92.7 million, but sales for year-to-date were up by 5.1 percent. The Children’s/YA Paperback category increased by 8.6 percent in September with sales totaling $54.2 million; sales were also up by 2.5 percent for the year.

Audio Book sales posted an increase of 2.9 percent in September with sales totaling $22.0 million; sales to-date decreased by 21.2 percent. E-books sales reached $15.9 million, reflecting a 170.7 percent increase for September and a 176.1 percent increase year to-date. Religious Books saw a decrease of 18.4 percent for the month with sales totaling $67.4 million; sales were down by 10.6 percent for the year.

Sales of University Press Hardcover books reflected a 3.6 percent decrease in September with sales of $5.7 million; sales decreased by 7.3 percent for the year. University Press Paperback sales posted an increase of 5.0 percent for the month with sales totaling $6.4 million; sales were down 3.0 percent for the year. Sales in the Professional and Scholarly category were down by 3.7 percent in September ($58.7 million) and decreased by 4.6 percent for the year.

Higher Education publishing sales rose by 5.8 percent for the month ($408.3 million) and increased 13.1 percent for the year. Finally, the net El-Hi (elementary/high school) basal and supplemental K-12 category posted an increase of 1.0 percent in September with sales of $335.6 million; the category was down by 19.4 percent for the year.

The Association of American Publishers is the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry. AAP’s more than 300 members include most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies—small and large. AAP members publish hardcover and paperback books in every field, educational materials for the elementary, secondary, postsecondary, and professional markets, scholarly journals, computer software, and electronic products and services. The protection of intellectual property rights in all media, the defense of the freedom to read and the freedom to publish at home and abroad, and the promotion of reading and literacy are among the Association’s highest priorities.

For more information, contact Jasmine Zick at (202) 220-4550 or Tina Jordan at (212) 255-0200 ext. 263

NOTE: All sales figures cited in this release are domestic net sales

(source: reposted from Publishers.org: http://www.publishers.org/main/PressCenter/Archicves/2009_November/BookPublishingSalesPostGainsinSeptember.htm)

As Amazon so eloquently put it, “ranking books is crazy.” At Old Musty Books, there may be the occasional “this is probably one of the best books I’ve read this year,” but ranking any of the books read and reviewed would be incredibly difficult.

One reason for not ranking books on Old Musty Books is one year I read the complete list of top 10 books from two sources and I rather disliked most of them. This experience was pre-Old Musty Books and had a lasting effect on me and the books that wind up in my bookstacks. I realized then so many people probably only read the books on the best seller and top picks lists. On the one hand, Yay! People are reading; on the other hand, what about all the other really great obscure books out there that will never get a reading by a majority because they didn’t make it on a list?

After that experience, I sought out the oldest, musty-est (used) bookstores and started a journey into buying used books that weren’t on the bestseller lists. I would pick out 10 books, leaf through them and look for the telltale signs that someone had poured through the books, meticulously. Ink marks, worn away unrecognizable words written in pencil, dog eared pages and the ever faithful coffee and tea stains. Though not very scientific, these were the requirements and I was almost never ever disappointed. I would leave a used bookstore with five books, spending less than $30.00 and have enough reading to last me about three weeks.

When I was given the opportunity to start Old Musty Books, I made a personal promise to readers that I would never rank the books I’ve reviewed throughout a year. I truly felt, and still feel, I did not want to be responsible for just one person wasting their money because I ranked the top 10 books of the Old Musty Books year. Book ranking is subjective, and is based on the views and opinions of a specific reader, which may or may not be inline with other readers’ views and opinions. Or they are reflective, in some cases, of the best sold books of the year. I’m VERY cynical about these books, because I feel how well a book sells is reflective on the publisher and the marketing firm and not the author’s ability to write a good book. As an example, the NY Times best-seller lists are tabulated from rankings reflecting sales at almost 4,000 bookstores plus wholesalers serving 50,000 other retailers (gift shops, department stores, newsstands, supermarkets), statistically weighted to represent all such outlets nationwide.

At Old Musty Books, reviews are done on books that fall into niche markets – the new author, the obscure genre, and as is somewhat the case this year, foreign or mostly unknown authors. Occasionally, I read the “long awaited” or a “specifically recommended” or a “specific request.” I choose books based on whether the story sounds interesting. Before deciding to read and possibly review a book, I read about the author; I take a look at reviews of other books written by the author; or I read an excerpt of the author’s writing (if available) or an excerpt of the book; and I read the synopsis on the publishers website. I am looking for something interesting in the author’s life that may or may not shape the author’s writing and the story he or she will tell.

I write this today because its almost the end of the year, and the “best of 2009″ lists will be coming out.  Amazon’s best of 2009 is already out. I looked through the list – I’ve read one book on the Editor’s Picks; and on the Customer Favorite list, I’ve read and reviewed one and reading another now. The NY Times also already has the Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2009 out.

After looking at these, I decided to go out on a limb and make a list. I know, I know, I just said, in a rather long narrative, I dislike these “best of…” lists. We will call this the “Most Enjoyable Books of 2009 for Reasons Other than the Story” list.  The nine books below were my most exciting books for one of two reasons:

1. I enjoyed the reading process, not to be confused with the “story.”
2. I enjoyed the process of writing the review.

Some fall into only one category, some fall into both. Some of these would not come close to a “best of…” list if I were to do one; and some of the books that would, aren’t on the list.

Falling Leaves Review

Don’t Call Me a Crook Review

The Book Thief Review

The Thirteenth Tale Review

The Alchemist Review

The Housekeeper and the Professor Review

To Siberia Review

Deviations Review

Between Me and the River Review

I know I have a month and a half left in the year. If any books left on my 2009 bookstack make it into one of these categories, I will revise and repost.