On Getting Mugged by Half Price Books

I love shopping at my local Half Price Books bookstore because I never know what I might find.  I have to say, though, that the selection was much more surprising and exciting ten years ago than it is today because Half Price Books seems to concentrate now more on current fiction than it did in the chain's earlier days.  Too, "collector books," and to Half Price that's anything published before 1960 regardless of condition, have been granted a section of their own - where they are most often overpriced and underwhelming.

But that's not why I am irked at Half Price today.

No, what I find hard to understand is why anyone wants to sell anything TO Half Price because the chain's cash offers generally come in somewhere between ludicrous and insulting.  Case in point: I brought 35 hardcovers and a couple of large paperbacks to the store today to see what they would pay for them and the offer I received pegs out the "Insulting" end of their offer scale.

Are you ready for this?  The offer was for $4.00...total...as in all in. That, friends, is just a hair over ten cents a book, twenty or so of which the clerk admitted would be placed on their shelves at prices ranging from $4 to $7 dollars each.  The others they say would be donated to a charity of some sort.  

I have a bad foot at the moment and cannot walk without a good bit of pain, so I just could not see packing the books out to my car and lugging them to the local hospital (which is where I should have gone in the first place).  So I took the petty change and walked out with an attitude.  Thanks for making my day Half Price Books.

I simply don't understand why anyone would sell to Half Price Books...ever.  And for me, "ever" has now turned into "never."  As in never again will I be ripped off by a major book chain like Half Price Books.

Post # 2,513

For the Dead

For the Dead is Timothy Hallinan’s sixth Poke Rafferty novel, and the series just keeps getting better and better.  Maybe that’s because readers have grown so comfortable now with the Rafferty family (Poke; his ex-Thai bargirl wife, Rose; and Miaow, the little homeless girl they adopted as their own) or maybe it’s because Hallinan’s stories are just getting better and better – maybe it’s a bit of both.  Whichever it is, every time I finish a Poke Rafferty novel, I can’t wait to get my hands on the next one.

Interestingly, the fourth book in the series (The Queen of Patpong) can be said to be Rose’s book, and this sixth one is most definitely Miaow’s.  Miaow has come a long way since she was plucked off the streets by Poke and taken into his home.  The bright, but socially insecure, little girl is doing well in the private school she attends, and has recently discovered that she has both a love, and a real talent, for the stage.  Things are going so well for Miaow, in fact, that she also has her first serious boyfriend, a Vietnamese boy who calls himself Andrew.

That relationship, though, is about to make life very interesting for the Rafferty clan because when the kids get hold of a used iPhone to replace the one Andrew lost, they get more than they bargained for.  They also get all the pictures placed there by the phone’s previous owner – and someone in those pictures wants very badly to make sure that no one ever sees them.

Tim Hallinan

Poke Rafferty, ever the protective husband and father, will really have to scramble this time if he is to save his family from the powerful people desperately trying to retrieve the lost iPhone before Andrew and Miaow can show the pictures to the right policemen.  Before this one is over, Poke will have called for help from some expected and from some unexpected sources.  And for the first time in memory, his longtime friend with the Thai police, Arthit, will actually be on the same side as the corrupt cop to whom he reports.

Timothy Hallinan’s Poke Rafferty books never disappoint, and For the Dead is no exception.  If the subgenre of “literary thriller” does not already exist, it should be created immediately because that is exactly what the Poke Rafferty books are.  Although Hallinan’s plots are as intricate and exciting as those of any good thriller, what makes the Rafferty books special is the steady development and evolution of the author’s main characters.  Poke, Rose, Miaow, and Arthit are wonderfully sympathetic and real to those who have already been reading the series for a while.  But the lucky ones just might be those readers for whom the series is a new one because, come October 2015 and the publication of The Hot Countries, they will have seven terrific books to binge-read. 


post #2,512

Harper Lee's Hometown Celebrates Go Set a Watchman

Old Courthouse, Monroeville 

Monroeville (Alabama) today is home to approximately 6,500 people and the surrounding county adds maybe another 23,000 souls to the area population.  It is a relatively sleepy little town these days and I can only imagine what it must have been like when Harper Lee and Truman Capote were spending their summers together there.  Just the fact that two writers of such stature could come from such a small place - much less that they were friends from childhood - is mind-boggling.  

But they did.  And the world celebrated one of them again as the clock struck twelve midnight on the evening of May 13.  That hour marked the official release of what is already being called by some "the biggest book of the decade," Harper Lee's new novel Go Set a Watchman.  And in Monroeville, along with a few hundred locals, the rest of the world was watching.  Within a few minutes of my arrival at the old county courthouse (sometimes called Atticus's courthouse), I had already spoken to representatives from CNN, the AP, and people from the Netherlands and England about what was planned for the evening and where it was all going to happen.  

Ol' Curiosities and Bookshoppe

Later in the evening when I arrived at Ol' Curiosities and Bookshoppe, a small crowd had already gathered in front of the little bookstore to await delivery of the books that most everyone around me had pre-ordered weeks earlier.   Remember what I said about the number of people living in and around Monroeville: 30,000 people in all of Monroe County, max.  Well, this little bookstore managed to pre-sell 7,499 of the 7,500 copies of the book it received for sale.  And, although I had decided to wait in line to purchase a copy, I found out very quickly that they were all gone - resulting in total gross sales (based on the price I paid for a copy at the old courthouse the next morning) of $228,869.48.  That is astounding.  (I don't know for certain whether or not those who pre-ordered were given a discounted price, so I've used the $30.52 price I paid for my own copy, including sales tax of 9%.)

Monroeville Library

The big events actually took place a few hours later on the morning of May 14th.  The town library provided volunteer guides to accompany visitors on walking tours of the area surrounding the old courthouse and the courthouse and its museum displays were open for viewing.  Inside the courtroom (a replica of which was used in the movie version of To Kill a Mockingbird) a marathon reading of Go Set a Watchman was taking place where volunteer readers sat on the judge's chair and read to those seated in the courtroom.

Outside Old Courthouse

 By the time I made it upstairs to the courtroom, a British-accented reader was just finishing up "Part 1" of the novel (ending on page 39 of this 278 page book).  I listened as she began "Part II," took a few pictures and moved on to the library to join about 25 others for one of the walking tours.

Tribute to Atticus Finch, the Lawyer

Thankfully, bottles of water were provided at the beginning of the walk because the temperature was well up into the nineties as we began.  Along the way, we saw things like the monument to the image of Atticus Finch, the sculpture representing the three children of To Kill a Mockingbird, the office building in which Harper Lee's sister practiced law for decades, and we met two young actors from the stage play version of Mockingbird that the city of Monroeville presents every year.  

Boo's Tree

All in all, my decision to drive from Houston to Monroeville was a good one and I'm happy to have been there.  The people of Monroeville are open and friendly and they were happy to talk about their city's most famous resident - all the while noticeably trying not to infringe on Miss Lee's privacy.  They shared stories about growing up with her and around her legacy and, for the most part, they seem proud of her and her little friend Truman.  But, of course, there are

always one or two skeptics, such as the old farmer I met in McDonald's (breakfast opportunities are limited in Monroeville) who said all that Harper Lee did "was write about life in the old days."  According to him, "most anyone could have done it; she was just writing about the way things were back then."

Well...if you say so, man.


Post #2,511

Scout Finch, Dave Robicheaux, Richard Wright...and More

This will be brief, but just wanted to let you guys know that I arrived back in Houston this afternoon and I have a few things to tell you about. 

I'll probably start with my experience in Monroeville, Alabama (hometown of Harper Lee), because that's where I was for the official launching of Lee's "new" book last week.  I got there in time to participate in the midnight unveiling at the only bookstore in town...and it was interesting.

I also spent a bit of time in New Iberia, Louisiana,  which is, as fans of James Lee Burke will know, the home of Dave Robicheaux, Burke's fictional Cajun detective.  

And I hit some other bookish spots (bookstores and literary landmarks) in Mississippi that I want to share with everyone.  In my week on the road, I covered about 1700 miles and came home with lots of pictures, memories...and nine books.  

Now, to get some rest for my ailing left foot (I can barely walk at the moment) so that I can get a fresh start tomorrow. 

See you then.


Post # 2,510

James Lee Burke, Harper Lee, and Mr. Faulkner Are Calling Me

Plans have changed again.

If I don't head out of here this afternoon, July and most of August are looking iffy, so I'm out of here.

I hope to post about my quick road trip while I'm out there, but it might have to wait until I return.  Right now I'm packing the car - and planning to be somewhere in Louisiana by the end of the day.  James Lee Burke and New Iberia are calling me...

Southern Lit Tour on the Fly

Looks like I might soon have a small window of opportunity to hit the road for a few days.  The schedule around here is so unpredictable that these "windows" appear and disappear again very quickly, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the moment.

I mentioned a week or so ago that my recent car wreck is, at least in the short term, grounding me from some of my favorite activities: live music, professional baseball games, eating in certain restaurants, etc. - all of those things rattle my ears painfully and set off the screeching tinnitus I'm still battling some three weeks after the accident.  That's the bad news.  The good news is that Civil War battle sites, bookstores, historic authors' homes, and libraries are nice and quiet (well unless someone fires a cannon at one of the battleground sites, that is).  

Anyway...looks like I might be able to sneak out of town around July 16.  If so, I'll probably head east so that I can focus on three or four states in that direction: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and maybe Georgia (if time allows).  The research is going very slowly at this point, and a lot of it will have to be done on the fly, I'm afraid.  And that scares me because, without even realizing it, I'm liable to drive past some of the exact things I want to see.

Towns on my list so far include:
Monroeville, AL (Harper Lee, Truman Capote)
Demopolis, AL (Lillian Hellman)
Mobile, AL (William March, Eugene Wallace, Albert Murray)
Jackson, MS (Eudora Welty, Richard Wright)
Greenville, MS (Walker Percy, Shelby Foote)
Clarksdale, MS (Tennessee Williams)
Columbus, GA (Carson McCullers)
Moreland, GA (Erskine Caldwell)
Savannah, GA (Flannery O'Conor)
New Orleans, LA - possibly (John Kennedy Toole, Walker Percy, Anne Rice, among others)
Oscar, LA (Ernest J. Gaines)
New Iberia, LA (James Lee Burke settings)


In addition, I hope to spot some interesting bookstores, libraries, and book festivals along the way.  But it's mid-July, and I doubt there will be many festivals scheduled for this time of year.  

I know it's very short notice here (and, frankly, it might all fall apart next week), but I would love to hear from people living in the states I've mentioned.  Tell me your favorite stops and things I simply should not miss while passing through.

Thanks to all.