Musings from Brian J. Noggle: Good Book Hunting: August 13, 2008

Good Book Hunting: August 13, 2008

Oops, I did it again.

Today, the J had its book fair in the same room as in past years, but this year the room seemed dimmer. The books certainly were in great disarray, making it hard to browse quickly in the near-dark. However, I managed to find a few just fine:

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I got:

The Good War by Studs Terkel, memories of men who served.
Back to the Future Part II, the movie tie in. I think I have the first already, but given this pile of books, who knows?
A CSI television show tie-in book. It's a surprise gift for my mother. Don't tell her.
True Grit, the novel upon which the movie was based or the novelization thereof. I just read True Grit, don't forget.
The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, the source for The Sound of Music.
Bill McCllellan's book. He's a communist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Oops, did I slip Freudianly?
Wilderness Survival and the U.S. Army Survival Manual because that Georgia-Russian War is making me nervous.
World of Shakespeare: Plants, a book that alphabetically lists plants and their references in Shakespeare. You know you would have bought it, too.
History of the Franks, a paperback about the forebearers of the French.
The Wall by Sartre, a collection of short stories including the title piece.
Ontological Relativity and other essays, a couple of lectures by a philosopher I'd never heard of.
Two Essays on Analytical Psychology by Carl Jung. Since I've had another thin volume by Jung on my shelves for a decade, I thought maybe I'd get it company for the next decade.
Life in Medieval Times, one of those books that tries to tease out the day to day in a historical epoch.
An uncorrected proof of The Septembers of Shiraz, a book set in Iran near the revolution. Its, not ours.
Weeds of the North Central States so I know what I'm pulling.
This Way To The Stars, a juvenile book from the 50s or 60s talking about space. Probably launched many a dream and a couple of scientists or astronauts.
Foxfire 2, a book in the series about crafts and olden times. See Georgia-Russian War above.
Barton Fink and Miller's Crossing, the screenplays by the Coen brothers.
Gracie: A Love Story by George Burns. I hope I don't already have this one. With so many, I'm losing track.
Monarch of Deadman Bay, a book about an Alaskan Kodiak bear. As opposed to the Californian Kodiak, I suppose.
Free Market Environmentalism, a book about applying actual economic thought to environmentalism. Never heard of it? I suppose that means its arguments are valid.
In Search of History, Theodore H. White's personal story of being an intrepid reporter.
Anglo-Saxon England. It leads right up to the conquest.
George F. Kennan's Memoirs. I read his book American Diplomacy 1900-1950 in September, 2005.
The Wisdom of Confucious.
The Morning After, a collection of George Will columns from 1981-1986.
Frontiers II by Isaac and Janet Asimov. Asimov's last nonfiction work details scientific breakthroughs ca. 1993.
Always the Young Stangers, prose by Carl Sandburg.
The Way Things Work volumes one and two.
Relativity by Albert Einstein.
Isaac Asimov's Book of Facts.
Extraterrestrial Civilizations by Isaac Asimov. Musings on the likelihood of others being out there.
America: What Went Wrong. As its title suggests, it will probably offend me.
Jefferson Himself, a sort of autobiography of Thomas Jefferson.
Anybody's Bike Book, a book about bike repair.
Dictatorship of Virtue, which takes multiculturalism to task.
America's First Civilization, a book covering the Olmecs.

Heather's 4 books are to the right and on the bottom of the stack. Apparently, the top 3 are not hers; instead, they were a stack on the checkout table too close to the gravitational field of our stack and came home with us.

Depicted to the left is my new copy of Conquest, which I am almost finished reading in a library copy. I liked it so much, I ordered one online.

Man, the book fair next week will probably be about all the books I'll ever need. I was afraid of going to the J because I'm running out of space, seriously, on my shelves. My fears were well founded. I'm going to have to develop modular book-based furniture to fit more books into our home.

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:30 PM