An adventure in books, a slight diatribe, and other ramblings...

Me and Anne Rice

Kind of a slow reading week. Unfortunately the week was pretty jam packed with things to do thus there are no new book reviews to discuss. Instead, I thought I would give you some of the highlights from the week.....

Sunday: Sunday was Super Bowl Sunday and I did not feel well. As such, instead of heading out to Mike and Melinda's annual party, we crashed at home and watched the game. I do enjoy football and was happy that it was on but I really could not have cared which team won. Having said that, I was very excited to see the Black Eyed Peas perform during halftime as they are one of my favorite bands of all time. Their performance was hindered by the obvious audio problems the stadium was having and the fact they were trying to do a medley of 10 years of songs in 30 seconds bits so though it was not the best show in the world, it still was pretty good in my opinion. Sadly, the internet folks and others I spoke to during the week did not feel the same way and thought it was awful. They are wrong and it is sad that they don't know that they are wrong. Bad taste is such a problem in our country and people should seek help about that issue.

Monday: Bumming rides to and from work (again) because the truck decided to break on Friday (again) and it was at the mechanic (again). Fun times

Tuesday: See Monday because it was pretty much the same as Monday, but on a Tuesday

Wednesday: YAY Truck is fixed finally! I was so happy. I wanted to drive and drive in celebration however gas is now a dollar more than the price of gold so I refrained from that plan. Seriously, why didn't we just keep Iraq? Oh and it was the season premiere for "Justified" on FX - perhaps my favorite show ever. Why you ask? Well, that's easy - because I want to be a US Marshall and shoot people. This is why I would make a bad cop. Let me give some examples:

Suspect runs away from me: He's getting shot
Suspect will not answer questions: He is getting shot in the leg until he talks
Suspect has an attitude: He is getting shot until his attitude improves or he dies
Suspect lies to me: He gets shot
Suspect is ugly: He gets shot
Gun runs out of bullets: Suspect gets pistol whipped until desired behavior is obtained. The exception is if he runs and gun is out of bullets. He'll probably get a away in this case.
Anyway, you should watch "Justified". It's on FX. You all have cable so you have no reason not to. Plus if it gets canceled because no one is watching it, I may have to go become a cop to fill out my free time.

Thursday: Still happy truck was revived from the dead. It's getting warmer out and I have to now seriously consider the possibility that I am going to have to do yard work in the very near future. Stupid global warming! Other than that, nothing really happened per se.

And then there was Friday which began my literature adventure!

Prior to that however, I spent 3 hours grading scholarship essays for the national MENSA scholarship program. I volunteered for this so I cannot complain however I will say that most students are not very original or interesting. This scholarship program is open to any student, in any program, enrolled in any accredited post-secondary degree program. I would highly suggest that if you are in school or know someone who is in college that you check it out next year. It is a pretty easy essay (500 words) and, like I said, the competition is not that difficult.

So there is a local bookstore in Tempe that has been there for like 40 years. It is called "Changing Hands Bookstore" and they are those hippie, anti-corporate types who think that Wal-Mart and Barnes & Noble are the worst institutions ever invented. They probably even support their local libraries. Anyway, despite the fact that they are communists, they do have a pretty good in with national authors. On Friday, they had the Queen Vampire herself signing books: Anne Rice! Yeah of course I went! I got there at 6 and did not get home until ten but I did get the following books signed (first editions of course because I am a snob):

Taltos
Blackwood Farm
Blood Canticle
Of Love and Evil

I even have pictures to share! Take a look:

After 4 hours I was determined to take a picture that I was almost at the front of the line in case she died or something. Actually after standing for four hours, I would have made her sign the books anyway

Me and Anne Rice - She was so cool. I would have been a complete ass if I had to sign books for four hours but she was happy and nice even at 10 o'clock at night

Furthermore, there was a video shot by one of Anne Rice's assistants of the book signing event. It is quite boring (mainly because I am not in it) but here is the link for your viewing pleasure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtJnq6o5UuQ

Like I said, fun times and I am very happy that I got the opportunity to attend.

Saturday: Saturday started off by having to go deliver and haggle over the MENSA scholarship with the other members of the scholarship committee. Oddly, that went pretty smooth except for the fact it was up in North Phoenix. The advantage to this was that I got out early enough to stop by the VSNA book sale. VSNA stands for Volunteer Non-Profit Service Association and this is their big fundraiser for the year. All through the valley there are drop box containers for people to drop off their unwanted books and once a year (for the past 55 years in fact), VSNA holds a big sale of the books collected at the state fairgrounds. I have never attended this event but it is a huge deal for people who like to read and whatnot. I got to the fairgrounds and good God almighty it was packed with people! Here is a picture of the line to get in:

If I had to estimate I would say that there were at least 1000 people in line to get in. Good thing was that they were letting 250 people in at a time (I counted) every 10 minutes or so therefore it went pretty quick. Here are a few shots of the chaos once you got inside:


As you can see the place is jam packed with people. A lot carrying actual luggage (which I thought "oh how nice that they packed for their trip to Hell"). Anyway, it was a madhouse! They have a bazillion books, most of which were hardcover books (a lot first editions and some signed by the authors), and all on the dirt cheap - which is just my price point!

So, I got some books for the kids and I picked up two books about outdoor projects - you know the kind that you see at Home Depot and you look at but no one ever buys. They were two bucks each and I have quite a few of overdue building projects so it was a good deal. I also found a first edition of a Jimmy Buffett book that I had to have for one dollar. Then I went to the rare and unusual section...

The rare and unusual section is where they put the really old, expensive, and special books at. Since these are all donations, it is kind of hit or miss I would guess on what they have from one year to the next. I walked through and really did not see anything that awesome until I found it. "It" in this case is a 1922 copy of "This Side of Paradise" by F. Scott Fitzgerald in near perfect condition. Pages are completely undamaged, corners on the cover are not rounded, Spine is in exceptional condition for being 90 years old. Here are some pictures:

Sorry the image is not great on this one. It is the publishing page that shows it was published in April 1922.

Of course, the MBA in me wanted to know how much it was worth. Best guess that I based on internet comparables is about 500 dollars. Nice right? Even better still is that...

I paid 8 dollars for it.

Keeper!

Anyway, that was the week. Hopefully there is an actual book review before the end of next week. Go Team!