Friday, January 20, 2012

Neither the First Nor Last Book on WoW


The Warcraft Civilization: Social Science in a Virtual World - William Sims Bainbridge

2009 - MIT Press


 This is a brilliant book. And a brilliantly ridiculous book.  Yet despite buying this $28 “sociological” examination of a computer game, I never felt duped or cheated or thought ill of MIT Press. 


The following 4 quotes sum up the work for me – I quietly leave them for you not in an effort to give away the entire story, but as a gentle argument why the author is brilliant (but the story is not):


“I studied the World of Warcraft through ethnographic  participant observation  for two years…”


“I tabulated the major professions for 1,096 characters in [a guild:]…”


“ With more than a little shyness, I do conclude it is worth explaining how I constructed the personalities of my twenty-two WoW characters, beginning with the ones I lavished the most time on.”


“At Bohannon’s encouragement I had organized this conference to explore the potential of virtual worlds as meeting places for scientists as well as laboratories for doing scientific research.”


Amazon descriptionAn exploration of the popular online role-playing game World of Warcraft as a virtual prototype of the real human future.

Secret Rooms!

Secret Passages and Hiding Places - Jeremy Errand
1974 - David and Charles


 Great book BUT… where are the freaking pictures!? And yes, I realize that the already small book would shrivel to a pamphlet if the descriptive text were turned into illustrations or *actual* photographs of the subject matter.


Ms. Dorling Kindersley, if you can hear me, someone needs to DK this soon-to-be popular niche genre. Yes, yes, I know there are only 3 people in the world who would read the book, but who’s to say that the OED is worthless because only 1 person (Ammon Shea) read the whole thing (MAYBE, 2 - Simon Winchester, but I’m unsure if he’s actually admitted to reading the whole thing). 


Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion - Gary Vaynerchuk

Originally published in hardcover in 2009 - Harper


 Quite appropriately the author is very passionate and quite focused on his plan as he lays it out for you. I must admit, the book made me really examine my business from angles I never considered. Very engaging, very quick read.


Amazon descriptionDo you have a hobby you wish you could do all day? An obsession that keeps you up at night? Now is the perfect time to take those passions and make a living doing what you love. In CRUSH IT! Why NOW Is The Time To Cash In On Your Passion, Gary Vaynerchuk shows you how to use the power of the Internet to turn your real interests into real businesses. Gary spent years building his family business from a local wine shop into a national industry leader. Then one day he turned on a video camera, and by using the secrets revealed in this book, transformed his entire life and earning potential by building his personal brand. By the end of this book, any reader will have learned how to harness the power of the Internet to make their entrepreneurial dreams come true. Step by step, CRUSH IT! is the ultimate driver′s manual for modern business. 


Gary Vaynerchuk has captured attention with his pioneering, multi-faceted approach to personal branding and business. After primarily utilizing traditional advertising techniques to build his family′s local retail wine business into a national industry leader, Gary rapidly leveraged social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook to promote Wine Library TV, http://tv.winelibrary.com, his video blog about wine. Gary has always had an early-to-market approach, launching Wine Library′s retail website in 1997 and Wine Library TV in February of 2006. His lessons on social media, passion, transparency, and reactionary business are not to be missed!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Where Men Win Glory - John Krakauer
Originally published in hardcover in 2009 - Doubleday


 Whether you disagree with the license he takes on his usually dead subject matter, Krakauer is a great storyteller. I learned a lot about the complexity of Pat Tillman and I learned a little more about the Middle East, and more interestingly, about the US's role in all things Middle East. 


Amazon descriptionThe bestselling author of Into the WildInto Thin Air, and Under the Banner of Heaven delivers a stunning, eloquent account of a remarkable young man’s haunting journey. 

Like the men whose epic stories Jon Krakauer has told in his previous bestsellers, Pat Tillman was an irrepressible individualist and iconoclast. In May 2002, Tillman walked away from his $3.6 million NFL contract to enlist in the United States Army. He was deeply troubled by 9/11, and he felt a strong moral obligation to join the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Two years later, he died on a desolate hillside in southeastern Afghanistan. 

Though obvious to most of the two dozen soldiers on the scene that a ranger in Tillman’s own platoon had fired the fatal shots, the Army aggressively maneuvered to keep this information from Tillman’s wife, other family members, and the American public for five weeks following his death. During this time, President Bush repeatedly invoked Tillman’s name to promote his administration’s foreign policy. Long after Tillman’s nationally televised memorial service, the Army grudgingly notified his closest relatives that he had “probably” been killed by friendly fire while it continued to dissemble about the details of his death and who was responsible. 

In Where Men Win Glory, Jon Krakauer draws on Tillman’s journals and letters, interviews with his wife and friends, conversations with the soldiers who served alongside him, and extensive research on the ground in Afghanistan to render an intricate mosaic of this driven, complex, and uncommonly compelling figure as well as the definitive account of the events and actions that led to his death. Before he enlisted in the army, Tillman was familiar to sports aficionados as an undersized, overachieving Arizona Cardinals safety whose virtuosity in the defensive backfield was spellbinding. With his shoulder-length hair, outspoken views, and boundless intellectual curiosity, Tillman was considered a maverick. America was fascinated when he traded the bright lights and riches of the NFL for boot camp and a buzz cut. Sent first to Iraq—a war he would openly declare was “illegal as hell” —and eventually to Afghanistan, Tillman was driven by complicated, emotionally charged, sometimes contradictory notions of duty, honor, justice, patriotism, and masculine pride, and he was determined to serve his entire three-year commitment. But on April 22, 2004, his life would end in a barrage of bullets fired by his fellow soldiers. 

Krakauer chronicles Tillman’s riveting, tragic odyssey in engrossing detail highlighting his remarkable character and personality while closely examining the murky, heartbreaking circumstances of his death. Infused with the power and authenticity readers have come to expect from Krakauer’s storytelling, Where Men Win Glory exposes shattering truths about men and war. 

An Atypically Great Fantasy Series

The Crown Conspiracy - Michael J Sullivan
2010 - Ridan Publishing


 I enjoyed this series immensely. I am still amazed how Sullivan creates such a range of characters and intriguing plots without the seemingly requisite and usual 600 page fantasy books. I like this book also because it was seemingly self-published - so score one for the little guy here.


(Book collector's side note - A lot of time in the SciFi/Fantasy genre books come out first in softcover, as is the case with this series. But, Sullivan/Ridan did publish a limited run of numbered and signed hardcovers (very limited - 100 copies). Also, the Science Fiction Book Club picked up the series and slapped the books together in twos. In hardcover. Which actually works really well. Click here to view the various copies for sale mentioned.)


Amazon descriptionTHEY KILLED THE KING. THEY PINNED IT ON TWO MEN. THEY CHOSE POORLY
There is no ancient evil to defeat, no orphan destined for greatness, just two guys in the wrong place at the wrong time. Royce Melborn, a skilled thief, and his mercenary partner, Hadrian Blackwater make a profitable living carrying out dangerous assignments for conspiring nobles until they become the unwitting scapegoats in a plot to murder the king. Sentenced to death, they have only one way out...and so begins this tale of treachery and adventure, sword fighting and magic, myth and legend.

ABOUT THE SERIES
The Crown Conspiracy is the first book in the captivating Riyria Revelations. Instead of a string of sequels this six-book fantasy series was conceived as a single epic tale divided into individual episodes. All were written before the first was released so that plot elements are intertwined, yet each book has its only story and conclusion.

Originally indie published, the series was purchased by Orbit (fantasy imprint of Hachette Book Group) and will be released as a trilogy in three consecutive months starting in November 2011. The original books are now out of print, but you can get The Crown Conspiracy by purchasing Theft of Swords.

A King Worth Reading

Under the Dome - Stephen King
Originally published in hardcover in 2009 - Scribner


 I havent read a King book in ages but this one really hit the spot. The book had that The Stand heft to it and even the full scope of the dust jacket was a really cool illustration of the essential opening of the book. 


Amazon descriptionOn an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester's Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener's hand is severed as "the dome" comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when -- or if -- it will go away.


Dale Barbara, Iraq vet and now a short-order cook, finds himself teamed with a few intrepid citizens -- town newspaper owner Julia Shumway, a physician's assistant at the hospital, a select-woman, and three brave kids. Against them stands Big Jim Rennie, a politician who will stop at nothing -- even murder -- to hold the reins of power, and his son, who is keeping a horrible secret in a dark pantry. But their main adversary is the Dome itself. Because time isn't just short. It's running out.

What a Cute Little Medieval Book

Good Masters, Sweet Ladies! - Laura Amy Schlitz
Originally published in hardcover in 2007 - Candlewick Press


 While I enjoyed this book quite a bit (eg, the different medieval characters, the illustrations), I kept wondering if children actually enjoy the pedagogic poem that is this "children's" book. But to reiterate, I really, really enjoyed this book.


Amazon descriptionStep back to an English village in 1255, where life plays out in dramatic vignettes illuminating twenty-two unforgettable characters.

Maidens, monks, and millers’ sons — in these pages, readers will meet them all. There’s Hugo, the lord’s nephew, forced to prove his manhood by hunting a wild boar; sharp-tongued Nelly, who supports her family by selling live eels; and the peasant’s daughter, Mogg, who gets a clever lesson in how to save a cow from a greedy landlord. There’s also mud-slinging Barbary (and her noble victim); Jack, the compassionate half-wit; Alice, the singing shepherdess; and many more. With a deep appreciation for the period and a grand affection for both characters and audience, Laura Amy Schlitz creates twenty-two riveting portraits and linguistic gems equally suited to silent reading or performance. Illustrated with pen-and-ink drawings by Robert Byrd — inspired by the Munich-Nuremberg manuscript, an illuminated poem from thirteenth-century Germany — this witty, historically accurate, and utterly human collection forms an exquisite bridge to the people and places of medieval England.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Yet Another Great YA Series


The Demon King (Seven Realms, Book 1) - Cinda Williams Chima

Originally published in hardcover in 2009 - Hyperion


 I know I've used that posting title before, "Yet Another Great Young Adult Series" - but it's true. I never would have picked this up but a friend recommended it and I'm glad I listened. It's a very decent young adult series opener with great characters and decent world structure. I have already started the second book.


Amazon descriptionTimes are hard in the mountain city of Fellsmarch. Reformed thief Han Alister will do almost anything to eke out a living for himself, his mother, and his sister Mari.  Ironically, the only thing of value he has is something he can’t sell.  For as long as Han can remember, he’s worn thick silver cuffs engraved with runes.  They’re clearly magicked—as he grows, they grow, and he’s never been able to get them off.  

While out hunting one day, Han and his Clan friend, Dancer catch three young wizards setting fire to the sacred mountain of Hanalea.   After a confrontation, Han takes an amulet from Micah Bayar, son of the High Wizard, to ensure the boy won't use it against them.  Han soon learns that the amulet has an evil history—it once belonged to the Demon King, the wizard who nearly destroyed the world a millennium ago.  With a magical piece that powerful at stake, Han knows that the Bayars will stop at nothing to get it back.  

Meanwhile, Raisa ana’Marianna, Princess Heir of the Fells, has her own battles to fight.  She’s just returned to court after three years of relative freedom with her father’s family at Demonai camp – riding, hunting, and working the famous Clan markets.  Although Raisa will become eligible for marriage after her sixteenth name-day, she isn't looking forward to trading in her common sense and new skills for etiquette tutors and stuffy parties.  

Raisa wants to be more than an ornament in a glittering cage. She aspires to be like Hanalea—the legendary warrior queen who killed the Demon King and saved the world. But it seems like her mother has other plans for her--plans that include a suitor who goes against everything the Queendom stands for. 

The Seven Realms will tremble when the lives of Han and Raisa collide in this stunning new page-turner from bestselling author Cinda Williams Chima.

A Snapshot of Paradise

Paradise Lost - Georg Gerster
2008 - Phaidon


 This coffee table aerial photography book is intriguing from some many angles. First, the book comprises photographs of rarely seen Iran, definitely a player in current events right now. In addition, the photographs are all from the late 1970's, which makes one wonder why they are being released only now. 


The photographs, though dated, are surprisingly crisp. Very surprisingly crisp. And yet there is a phenomenal juxtaposition of clear photographs of a very old looking civilization - and yet you know this is how a lot of these people have lived for many, many generations. 


To see this part of the world, this specific civilization, is breathtakingly beautiful. There are locations and architecture that I have never seen (nor heard) of before. A truly stunning book.


Amazon descriptionIn 1976 and 1978, aerial photographer Georg Gerster had the rare opportunity to record the landscape of Iran on over 100 flights and 300 flying hours. This unique photographic project resulted in a near-complete documentation of the major archaeological sites and important landscapes in the region.

The book includes spectacular images of ancient citadels, desert ruins, and rice fields spreading like a vast patchwork quilt in a river delta. There are many unexpected sights, such as the bird's-eye view of a crowded ski resort in the Elburz Mountains, within easy reach of Tehran. Iran's densely packed cities, such as Bushehr, located on the Persian Gulf, are elegantly captured by Gerster. They appear so very different from Western European or North American cities of the same period; the complex, interlocking flat-roofed buildings are both timeless and timely, with architecture that has stood unchanged for thousands of years, along with brightly-colored 1970s cars parked in the colonnaded courtyards. Even the Iranian landscape contains surprises: on closer inspection, the elaborate patterns made in fields with tractors and ploughs turn out to have more to do with politics than agriculture or land art. A law at the time Gerster was photographing allowed people to claim unused land by planting crops on it, and this type of ''agridoodle'' was apparently enough to support such a claim.



A History of Venice

Venice: The City and Its Architecture - Richard Goy
Originally published in hardcover in 1997 - Phaidon


 Part coffee table book, but mostly history tome, Goy's work is exhaustive and comprehensive. What I like most about this rather voluminous history is that it is such an old city, far older than photography - and so Goy uses among other things, paintings, to illustrate the history and architecture of this great city. 


Amazon description - An illustrated survey of the architecture and urban development of Venice. Goy's work includes sections on some of the best-known buildings, including the Basilica of San Marco, the Palazzo Ducale and the Rialto bridge, providing an introduction to the historical background of the city. The author examines the the way in which Venice's unusual topography has influenced the form and type of the city's buildings - discussing important building types such as churches and palaces and examining the middle-class and working-class districts of the city. The buildings are set in historical context with photographs and paintings and prints by some of the artists who have recorded the city fom Carpaccio and Bellini to Ruskin. This text traces the origins of the city, from the end of the Roman Empire when it was no more than a few scattered villages to the built-up city we see today.


Monday, January 9, 2012

Must Have for Star Wars Fans


Dark LensCédric Delsaux

2011 - Éditions Xavier Barral





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This is the classiest Star Wars gift I've ever laid my hands on (which is not to say I've seen them all). Or in other grand pronouncements, this is the best coffee table book I've seen for the 2011 gift season. 


The book takes two wholly competent subject matter - urban desolation and Star Wars - and beautifully combines the two in a gorgeous coffee table gift book. Very well done. Highly recommended.


Amazon descriptionJabba the Hut lurks in the shadows of a decrepit, abandoned warehouse, his toady eyes glowing; Boba Fett looms up from the fluorescent glare of an indoor car park, poised to kill; Yoda peers out inquiringly from the window ledge of some otherwise untenanted institutional building; Han Solo's cryogenically frozen form on a slab stands, installed bizarrely in an anonymous concrete plaza. Of the many scenarios to which Star Wars fans have dispatched the films' protagonists over the years, none--not even Seth McFarlane's Family Guy homages--are as unlikely as Cédric Delsaux's. In Dark Lens, Delsaux transports Darth Vader and the whole gamut of Star Wars iconography to a post-apocalyptic, urban-suburban landscape of endless parking lots, high rises and wasteland interzones, vacant of ordinary human life. Delsaux's "mythology of banality" (as he describes it) produces images that are not just funny or preposterous, but also weirdly compelling; in their photographic plausibility they successfully incorporate Star Wars into an everyday reality that we can all recognize, but in ways that make both worlds seem strangely real and absurdly false. Delsaux's Dark Lens will captivate both film and photobook fans alike with its fantastically bizarre recasting of Star Wars on planet Earth after the apocalypse. 

Yet Another A Painful Part of Our History

Hotel On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Jamie Ford
Originally published in hardcover in 2009 - Ballantine


Click me!

I struggled with this one. Such good and such bad all mixed into one. 


First the good. The subject matter is heart wrenching. But necessary. I read Farewell to Manzanar in school and this is in a way the novelized version.  This should be required reading in American History classes.  Something I don’t usually pay attention to yet was well done in this book is the plot structure – my hat goes off to Mr. Ford with his debut novel.  Perhaps unfairly, I kept going back to both the author’s and the main character’s ethnicity as Chinese Americans and marveling at the  treatment of Japanese American history – sooooo beautifully done. 


The Bad.  And there is only one thing. As I mentioned above, this book should be required reading in our schools. BUT I had a very difficult time with the voice – the book/tone/voice seems in many places written to a young adult audience.  It felt at times Lemony Snickety with its slowed pace to help the reader along, which I found to be quite unnecessary. 


Publisher's Weekly descriptionFord's strained debut concerns Henry Lee, a Chinese-American in Seattle who, in 1986, has just lost his wife to cancer. After Henry hears that the belongings of Japanese immigrants interned during WWII have been found in the basement of the Panama Hotel, the narrative shuttles between 1986 and the 1940s in a predictable story that chronicles the losses of old age and the bewilderment of youth. Henry recalls the difficulties of life in America during WWII, when he and his Japanese-American school friend, Keiko, wandered through wartime Seattle. Keiko and her family are later interned in a camp, and Henry, horrified by America's anti-Japanese hysteria, is further conflicted because of his Chinese father's anti-Japanese sentiment. Henry's adult life in 1986 is rather mechanically rendered, and Ford clumsily contrasts Henry's difficulty in communicating with his college-age son, Marty, with Henry's own alienation from his father, who was determined to Americanize him. The wartime persecution of Japanese immigrants is presented well, but the flatness of the narrative and Ford's reliance on numerous cultural cliches make for a disappointing read. (Feb.) 
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Old Man's War - John Scalzi
Originally published in hardcover in 2004 - Tor


Click me!
Great opening book in a seldom-read genre (for me). A novel idea in a well-paced read. Definitely recommended.


Amazon descriptionJohn Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife's grave. Then he joined the army.
The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce-and aliens willing to fight for them are common. The universe, it turns out, is a hostile place.

So: we fight. To defend Earth (a target for our new enemies, should we let them get close enough) and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has gone on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.

Earth itself is a backwater. The bulk of humanity's resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Force, which shields the home planet from too much knowledge of the situation. What's known to everybody is that when you reach retirement age, you can join the CDF. They don't want young people; they want people who carry the knowledge and skills of decades of living. You'll be taken off Earth and never allowed to return. You'll serve your time at the front. And if you survive, you'll be given a generous homestead stake of your own, on one of our hard-won colony planets.

John Perry is taking that deal. He has only the vaguest idea what to expect. Because the actual fight, light-years from home, is far, far harder than he can imagine-and what he will become is far stranger.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Hear Ye All Rothfuss Fans!!

I'm sure all of you have heard by now of Patrick Rothfuss' (The Name of the Wind, Wise Man's Fear) Heifer International/Worldbuilders charity drive -- if you have not, it's pretty damn cool and worth checking it out. Why? It's for a good cause with a generous effort by Rothfuss both in influence and financially. All the monies go to Heifer International, BUT your donation enters you in a drawing for a TON (literally) of incredible prizes. The prizes are mind boggling. AND, there are auction items also. Every 10$ increment gains you a ticket in the drawing, so it's a win win. 

Here's a general link to the charity drive: 
http://blog.patrickrothfuss.com/2011/12/worldbuilders-2011/

Here's a link to Rothfuss' actual donation page: 
http://sphere.heifer.org/c.swL1KcNZLxH/b.5547921/k.86F6/Team_Search/siteapps/teampage/ShowPage.aspx?c=swL1KcNZLxH&b=5547921&sid=boIMISPnH9KILNOmHjE

Modern Cowboy

Cowboy: The Legend of Colton H. Bryant - Alexandra Fuller
Originally published in hardcover in 2008 - Penguin


Click me!

I am not an expert on Wyoming or the writings of Alexandra, but yet I do feel a gained knowledge simply because of my proximity to both. I think she captures Wyoming and the modern cowboy quite effectively, both with some very rough edges. I think Alexandra does an amazing job of painting the picture of Colton and his sphere of influence, so beautifully at times you think you are reading a finely crafted novel. 


Where I do think the non-fiction piece fails is in the delivery of its message. Alexandra, in my humble opinion, is offering to expose the oil and gas exploration industry. Anger and sadness are the reasons for writing the book. Her incredible character study, however, takes center stage -- and based on Colton and her previous works, I think the reader is gently and lyrically lulled into more of a biography mindset than an environmental studies piece. 


Amazon descriptionFrom the bestselling author of Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight and Scribbling the Cat, the unforgettable true story of a boy who comes of age in the oil-fields and open plains of Wyoming; a heartrending story of the human spirit that lays bare where it is that wisdom truly resides.

Colton H. Bryant was one of Wyoming’s native sons and grown by that high, dry place, he never once wanted to leave it. “Wyoming loves me,” he said, and it was true. Wyoming—roughneck, wild, open, and searingly beautiful— loved him, and Colton loved it back. As a child in school, Colton never could force himself to focus on his lessons. Instead, he’d plan where he’d go fishing later, or he’d wonder how many jackrabbits he might find on his favorite hunting patch, or he’d dream about the rides he would take on the wild mare he was breaking. “At my funeral, you’ll all feel sorry for making me waste so much time in school,” he said to his best friend Jake—and it was true.

Two things got Colton through the boredom of school and the neighborhood “K-mart cowboys” who bullied him: His best friend Jake and his favorite mantra, a snatch of a saying he heard on TV: Mind over matter—which meant to him: If you don’t mind, it don’t matter. Colton and Jake grew up wanting nothing more than the freedom to sleep out under the great Wyoming night sky, to hunt and fish and chase the horizon and to be just like Colton’s dad, a strong and gentle man of few words. When it was time for Colton to marry and make money on his own, he took up as a hand on an oil rig. It was dangerous work, but Colton was the third generation in his family to work on the oil patch and he claimed it was in his blood. And anyway, he joked, he always knew he’d die young.


Colton did die young, and he died on the rig—falling to his death because the drilling company had neglected to spend two thousand dollars on the mandated safety rails that would have saved his life. His family received no compensation. But they didn’t expect to—they knew the company’s ways, and after all as Colton would have said: Mind over matter.

In Scribbling the Cat, Alexandra Fuller brought us the examined life of a Rhodesian soldier; now—in her inimitable poetic voice and with her pitch-perfect ear for dialogue— she brings before us the life of someone much closer to home, as unexpected as he is iconic. The moving, tough, and in many ways quintessentially American story of Colton H. Bryant’s life could not be told without also telling the story of the land that grew him—the beautiful and somehow tragic Wyoming; the land where there are still such things as cowboys roaming the plains, where it’s relationships that get you through, and where a just, soulful, passionate man named Colton H. Bryant lived and died.

Beautifully Illustrated

Drummer Boy - Loren Long
2008 - Philomel


Click me!
Had to buy this for the illustrations! 


I absolutely loved seeing this 50% off a few days later... sarcasm!


Amazon descriptionIn a wintry little town, a drummer boy appears on a child’s doorstep. And when it is still and quiet, the drummer boy plays, boom pum pum boom pum, and warms the child’s heart. But one day the drummer boy is accidentally knocked into the trash, sending him on a journey he never imagined—a journey on which he continues to play his drum, warming the hearts of others, from a rat to an owl to a snowman. And in a touching conclusion, his own heart is warmed as he plays to his most perfect audience: the baby in a manger.
Loren Long brings this story of an unforgettable little drummer boy to vivid life with his timeless and magical art.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

The Next Big Young Adult Book

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
Originally published in hardcover in 2008 - Scholastic


Boxed set
By all indications - and I'm saying this 4 years after it's release (versus pre-release hype) - this appears to be the next big thing AFTER Harry Potter. The hype keeps building for this first book and the entire trilogy and the upcoming movie is certainly stoking the fire. 


The other reason I believe the hype is that I sold two first editions in the $400 range this summer, in quick succession. I feel I would have sold more had I more inventory. 


If you havent read the book then go pick up a copy. The storyline struck me as odd for the young adult crowd, but perhaps that is the strong appeal of the book. These things are hard for me to gauge. 


Amazon descriptionKatniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat's sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place. 

One Pricey Set of Bird Books

The Birds of America - John James Audubon
It's a fascinating Associated Press/Yahoo article about a set of books coming up for auction later this month. (http://news.yahoo.com/audubons-birds-america-sold-nyc-161450243.html) The article is short but completely packed with fascinating tidbits about this incredibly rare set of books with life-sized hand-colored depictions from early 19th century artist Audubon. And the estimated price? $7-10 million. Wow.

Photo courtesy of Christie's
Although the illustrations are captivating, I was quite taken by a photo of the books themselves.