Unusual Objects Found in Used Books

Being fond of used bookstores, I have browsed many used books. Yet all I have found flipping through their pages have been grease, coffee, or water stains or nondescript scraps of paper that were used for bookmarks. Michael Popek has been far luckier in uncovering forgotten treasures tucked away in used books.

It sure would be nice to find money in an old book.
Image from http://www.forgottenbookmarks.com

Of course, it helps tremendously that he goes through up to 600 used books a day to select books to sell at his family's used bookstore, which he operates. In the process of sorting through hundreds of books, including cookbooks, vintage works of fiction, and children's classics, Popek often comes across items of real interest.

Monopoly money, not so much. But it'd still be a fun find.
Image from http://www.forgottenbookmarks.com

Much of what Popek finds are handwritten recipes and notes; old photographs of families, friends, and sweethearts; postcards; letters; ticket stubs; receipts; advertisements torn or clipped from newspapers and magazines; and pressed leaves and flowers. However, he has also discovered decades-old Valentine cards, award ribbons, maps, money, marriage certificates, invitations, song and poetry lyrics, drawings and sketches, microscope slides, and even 78 RPM records.

Anyone who played Operation as a kid remembers these.
Image from http://www.forgottenbookmarks.com

Popek takes his most interesting finds and displays them on his blog, Forgotten Bookmarks. "I'm a used and rare bookseller," he says in the blog's header. "I buy books from people every day. These are the personal, funny, heartbreaking and weird things I find in those books." Looking through his blog, which he updates frequently, I saw many forgotten items that made me smile (family photos taken at Christmastime), gasp (a book used for target practice, the pellets still lodged in it), or laugh out loud (comic books cleverly tucked inside news magazines).

When asked about his most favorite thing that he's found in a used book, Popek responded, "My favorite item is probably the optometrist bookmark. There's something really corny about it, but it's fun. I've even made it my Twitter avatar, @forgottenbkmrks. Overall, however, I really enjoy the old letters. They give us a glimpse into the past, how people talked and wrote and thought."

My mother had a Mystic Grip Disc, and it totally worked.
Image from http://www.forgottenbookmarks.com

To glimpse the many old letters, photographs, pamphlets, postcards, inscriptions, and much more, go to Michael Popek's Forgotten Bookmarks blog HERE.

The True Reason Many of Us Read

"Nowadays I know the true reason I read is to feel less alone, to make a connection with a consciousness other than my own." ~ Zadie Smith

Above photo of Zadie Smith from www.telegraph.co.uk.

T.S. Eliot Gets the Comics Treatment

I've been a fan of comics since my childhood days of sitting cross-legged on the floor of the family den with copies of Marvel's Fantastic Four. (Do you remember the ads for the sea monkeys in the back?) The level of artistry and detail involved would captivate me for hours at a time. And who could resist a good story? 

Today, my admiration for the comics genre is just as strong. I've especially come to appreciate talent that is outside the mainstream. Take for instance Julian Peters, a comic book artist and illustrator who is based in Montreal, Canada.

In recent years, Julian Peters has been furiously adapting classic poems into comics. Among the many works that he has brought to life in comics form are "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" by John Keats, "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allan Poe, and "Le Bateau Ivre" and "Sensations" by Arthur Rimbaud.

One of his latest is a striking adaptation of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot. Wonderfully illustrated, the comic expertly illuminates in black and white the inner monologue of the pained subject of Eliot's 1915 poem. Peters' intricate shadowing technique, razor-sharp attention to detail, and obvious mastery of creating an illusion of depth only heighten the anguish and sense of foreboding that plague the titular Prufrock.

You can admire the artistry of Julian Peters' adaptation of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" at THIS LINK. While you're at the artist's website, check out his other comics and illustrative work. You're quite likely to be blown away!

All above illustrations are from http://julianpeterscomics.com

Poe at the Morgan Library & Museum

In time for Halloween, the Morgan Library & Museum in New York is hosting an exhibit on a writer whose classic works still give modern-day readers the willies. 

An image of Poe on display at the Morgan Library & Museum.
From http://www.themorgan.org

Aptly titled "Edgar Allan Poe: Terror of the Soul," the exhibit features a plethora of items, including handwritten letters, poem and short story manuscripts, early printed editions, literary criticism printed in contemporary publications, daguerreotypes and other images of Poe, and even a fragment of Poe's original coffin. How's that for spooky?

Among the literary works on display are "Annabel Lee and The Bell in his own hand; one of the earliest printings of The Raven; the first printing of The Cask of Amontillado; and an unprecedented three copies of Tamerlane, Poe's earliest published work and one of the rarest books in American literature," according to the Morgan Library & Museum.

Also on view, says the Morgan on its website, are "lesser-known writings, including A Reviewer Reviewed - Poe's never-before-exhibited critique of his own work, written under a pseudonym - and the author's annotated copy of his last published book, Eureka, [that] provide a more complete picture of this complex writer."

There are nearly 100 items to see, all from the Morgan's holdings and the Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature at the New York Public Library. They will be on display through January 26, 2014, so even if you aren't in New York for Halloween, you'll still have a chance to check them out. Any hardcore fan of Poe would be seriously remiss if he or she didn't do so.

For more on the "Edgar Allan Poe: Terror of the Soul" exhibit at the Morgan Library & Museum, go to THIS LINK and THIS LINK as well.

E-Reading Apps and Their Quirks

These days, whenever I sit down in public and open up a book, it increasingly happens that the person who sits down next to me takes out an e-reader. With this proliferation of e-readers comes a proliferation of e-reading apps. So which one should you go with? Greg Zimmerman of BookRiot critiqued five of them.
 

Image via quick-brown-fox-canada-blogspot.com

The five e-reading apps that Zimmerman reviewed for BookRiot are the Nook app, Kindle app, iBooks app, OverDrive app, and Bluefire app. All are available for iPad, Android, and Windows tablets, and each has its good points and bad points, according to Zimmerman. Here is the summary of his findings:

Nook/Kindle: Offers portability ("all the content I purchased for my Nook can be accessed through the Nook (or Kindle) app on an iPad, Android, or Windows tablet") but doesn't show page numbers while you're reading. (On the latter point, a few commenters on Zimmerman's article begged to differ: "My Nook shows what page I'm on," insisted Linda Weiss and another commenter.)

iBooks: Declaring this "the best pure e-reading app," Zimmerman said "it's smooth, very customizable, and seemingly crash-resistant." However, it doesn't allow you to download library e-books in epub format. So if you plan to get most of your e-reading material from libraries, this won't be a good app for you.

OverDrive: If you mostly go to libraries for your e-reading needs, this is the app for you. "Since many libraries are now tied into this app, it's easy to download the app, choose your library, enter your library card info, and check out e-books," said Zimmerman. Yet he found it to be slower and clunkier than the other apps, and it doesn't have a search function.

Bluefire: Zimmerman found that this app "solves the iBooks no-library-books and OverDrive no-search-function problems." However, it doesn't let you download library e-books directly into it on your tablet, forcing you to take a more roundabout route in getting the e-book you want. As a result, Zimmerman called the Bluefire app "unwieldy."

Many readers chimed in, offering opinions of Zimmerman's critique of these apps, as well as giving suggestions for good e-reading apps. Commenter Steve Himmer said, "I'm really pleased with Readmill. Good flexibility with formats, and simply but thoughtfully designed." "My favorite is the Marvin app for iPad," said Jon Page. "It is the most customizable reading app I've come across and links directly with Dropbox and Calibre." Commenter Peter Damien said, "I've been using the IndieBound e-reading app on my iPad for a while now, and I was surprised at how quickly I took to it. Very flexible formatting, very comfortable and easy to use."

For much more insight into these e-reading apps, including full critiques from Greg Zimmerman and lots of commentary from readers of his article, see "The Quirky World of E-Reading Apps" at THIS LINK.

Bowie's Favorite Books

Despite all the crazy stories detailing his decadent past, David Bowie has always struck me as a highly erudite person. My opinion of Bowie was further solidified with the release, by the Art Gallery of Ontario, of a list of his favorite reads. 

David Bowie has some serious smarts.
Image via www.nme.com

To publicize its current "David Bowie Is" exhibit, the Toronto-based art gallery presented a list of 100 of the legendary entertainer's preferred novels, novellas, essays, poetry collections, and more. Going over the list, I see that he and I have a few favorites in common, including A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn, The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin, On the Road by Jack Kerouac, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, and Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell.

Other favorites on the list are books that I've been meaning to read, among them Kafka Was the Rage: A Greenwich Village Memoir by Anatole Broyard and In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. However, I also see quite a few books that I wasn't aware of before and now want to read, such as Tales of Beatnik Glory by Ed Saunders and Before the Deluge: A Portrait of Berlin in the 1920s by Otto Friedrich. Who knew that I'd ever be getting book suggestions from David Bowie? (Well, technically via the Art Gallery of Ontario...)

If you're curious about the contents of the complete list, go to the article "Read a List of David Bowie's 100 Favourite Books" at THIS LINK. And play your copy of the Ziggy Stardust soundtrack album while you're at it.

'Without Intelligence, There Can Be No Humor'

Image via George Takai's Facebook page