Thurgood Marshall graduation 2012
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Law Enforcement Memorial Day
Book Nook provides readers with insights into the world of books. Vick Mickunas takes you into the center of the publishing world with the latest book buzz, book reviews, and exclusive chats with authors..Home > Blogs > Book Nook > Archives > 2010 > March
March 2010
Obama/Palin~dream ticket for 2012? “Drill, Baby, Drill”
Today President Barack Obama will declare that off-shore drilling will be greatly expanded. According to the New York Times:
“The proposal — a compromise that will please oil companies and domestic drilling advocates but anger some residents of affected states and many environmental organizations — would end a longstanding moratorium on oil exploration along the East Coast from the northern tip of Delaware to the central coast of Florida, covering 167 million acres of ocean.
Under the plan, the coastline from New Jersey northward would remain closed to all oil and gas activity. So would the Pacific Coast, from Mexico to the Canadian border.
The environmentally sensitive Bristol Bay in southwestern Alaska would be protected and no drilling would be allowed under the plan, officials said. But large tracts in the Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean north of Alaska — nearly 130 million acres — would be eligible for exploration and drilling after extensive studies.
The proposal is to be announced by President Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on Wednesday, but administration officials agreed to preview the details on the condition that they not be identified.”
Wow! What do you think about that? It would appear that with the passage of time President Obama is embracing more of the ideals of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.
Give it time. By the next election they might have become ideological twins. Talk about a potent ticket in 2012. They could create a third party and call it” The Oil Party.” I think Obama/Palin in 2012 could get a barrel of votes. Of course Obama supporters would have to overcome their unease with Sarah. And Palin supporters would have to overcome their “issues” with our President but, hey! What a country!
They are both published authors. Obama’s current veep, Joe Biden has that language problem; puttymouth. He could easily be dropped and get a gig with some bank. Don’t laugh. This could happen, right? We live in a country where liberals can morph into conservatives and conservatives can morph into liberals. Nothing is beyond the realm of possibility here.
To read more on drilling, baby, drilling…click HERE:
Vick Mickunas
TweetTwo times the crimes…
“If the Dead Rise Not,” by Philip Kerr (Marian Wood/Putnam, 437 pages, $26.95)
Some regular readers of this column might recall my review a year ago of Philip Kerr’s novel “A Quiet Flame.” As that book opened we found Bernie Gunther, a former Berlin police detective fleeing from Germany to Argentina. The year was 1950, and Gunther was disguised as a fugitive Nazi war criminal.
He got involved in a murder investigation in Buenos Aires, a crime that bore disturbing similarities to murders he investigated years before in Germany. As “A Quiet Flame” ended he was being expelled from Argentina — his next stop was to be Cuba.
In Kerr’s new novel, I expected Gunther to be in Havana, but he wasn’t. As “If the Dead Rise Not” starts, Gunther is back in Berlin for an extended flashback to his days as a hotel detective. He had lost his police job when the Nazis took over.
The year is 1934, and Germany is preparing for the 1936 Olympics. A guest at the hotel is an American gangster who seems to be making deals that relate to the Nazi’s construction of the Olympic facilities. When another hotel guest dies mysteriously, Bernie is drawn into the investigation.
This magnificent Berlin flashback lasts for 280 pages. The second part of the novel occurs 12 years later in Cuba. That same American gangster now owns a luxury hotel there. Kerr does a splendid job portraying moral ambiguity. Bernie Gunther is a deeply conflicted character — he can commit evil while attempting to do good. Then he must live with the outcomes of his deeds.
“Still Midnight,” by Denise Mina (Reagan Arthur/Little, Brown, 342 pages, $24.99)
Denise Mina is a crime fiction writer from Glasgow, Scotland. Her stories unfold upon the gritty streets of her hometown. Her latest effort, “Still Midnight,” introduces readers to one of her most complex characters yet; Alex Morrow is a Glasgow cop with a complicated past.
The book opens with a home invasion. Two bumbling criminals force their way into a house demanding that the residents identify an individual the family claims they do not know. One of the invaders becomes agitated and shoots their daughter. They then kidnap an elderly resident and flee.
When Alex Morrow arrives at the crime scene, she discovers some facts that don’t seem to add up. Meanwhile, the kidnappers demand a huge ransom for their captive. The police cannot figure out why this family was chosen as a target. They don’t seem to have much money, so why them?
Mina concocts a masterful plot that juxtaposes the family tragedy that Morrow is investigating with her own personal heartbreak. She is another conflicted character; Morrow despises her boss, she can’t communicate with her husband, and she fears her past will be revealed. She is angry about almost everything.
This tension and conflict is heightened by the situation with the hostage as his incompetent captors make one mistake after another. “Still Midnight” is a smashing read that could mark Mina’s breakthrough into the upper echelon of crime novelists. Both books are well worth the time.
Vick Mickunas
TweetThe march of the Obama Zombies…
Over on Amazon.com I just noticed a new book that was released last week. “Obama Zombies” appears to merge two unlikely subjects that are two of the hottest marketing buzz words from the last year or so: ZOMBIES and BARACK OBAMA.
Wow! And check out the cover. Isn’t that fabulous? The publisher has used some of the hottest art work from the past year or so to make their cover; Obama Art.
Isn’t that clever marketing? I haven’t read the book but I must say that the marketing plan is pitch perfect.
Coming soon to a bookstore near you…”The Obama Zombies.”
Vick Mickunas
TweetSarah Palin’s place of honor…
This afternoon I attended my annual fantasy baseball draft at a home in a Dayton suburb. There were a dozen of us guys who got together to draft our fantasy National League baseball clubs.
We certainly were a cross section of average guys; an accountant, some roofers, a Dayton cop, an Ohio highway patrolman, a member of the military, a book reviewer. OK, not average, but rather typical I should think.
We spent six hours together. There were a couple of fellows who phoned it in so to speak; we could see them down in Florida linked up via Skype on a computer screen in the kitchen.
We talked about the usual guy things; women, baseball, Obama’s health plan, baseball, women, Obama, baseball, alcoholic beverages, taxes on capital gains; typical guy talk. One guy was doing imitations of Dave Chappelle. The average age of the group was probably in the early to mid 30’s.
There was something that really struck me about this gathering in a typical Dayton area family room; over on a side table in what was clearly a place of honor a copy of Sarah Palin’s recent memoir “Going Rogue” was on display. The book was being presented as a sort of iconic mini-monument.
It helped me to realize that Sarah Palin has really struck a chord with some typical Americans..
Then I looked away-and thought about baseball.
Vick Mickunas
TweetAre kids reading less?
The scores have been tabulated and it appears that our nation’s school children are improving their math skills. Unfortunately, it also appears that their reading skills are staying about the same. That means they are not showing much improvement. According to an article today in the New York Times:
“The nation’s school children made little or no progress in reading proficiency in recent years, according to results released on Wednesday from the largest nationwide reading test, a trend of sluggish achievement that contrasts with dramatic gains made during the same period in mathematics.”
The article proceeds to break out the numbers:
“The national assessment in reading was given to 338,000 fourth and eighth-grade students in spring 2009. Results of a parallel federal math test, also administered last spring, were released in October.
On average, eighth-graders scored 264 on a 500-point scale in reading, compared with 263 in 2007, the last time the test was given. Fourth-graders scored 221 on the 2009 test, the same average score as two years earlier.
The national assessment in math and reading has been administered every few years since the early 1990s, with average scores in reading rising only four points at both the fourth- and eighth-grade levels over those nearly two decades, slightly less than a half school year’s worth of learning.
Math scores, in contrast, rose 20 points for eighth graders and 27 points for fourth graders over the 19 years from 1990 to 2009. Federal testing officials say each point on the test’s 500-point scale represents about one-tenth of a year’s schooling, so the 19-year increase in math achievement means that fourth graders on average in 2009 knew about two and a half years’ more math than their fourth-grade counterparts did in 1990.”
What do you think? Are our kids reading less these days? Do they have too many distractions? Of course the experts have their opinions:
“In seeking to explain the sluggish reading scores, some experts point to declines in the amount of time children spend reading for pleasure as they devote ever larger amounts of free time to surfing the internet, texting on cellphones, or watching television. Others say undemanding curriculums in reading may be an explanation.”
What do you think?
To read the entire article click HERE:
Vick Mickunas
TweetAn eBay treasure…
Buying used books is one luxury that I choose to pursue in good times and bad. Used books can be obtained quite cheaply. I’m always seeking out little treasures, first editions, autographed books, out of print gems, and what have you.
I haunt garage sales, bookstores, auctions, and curbside trash piles to obtain these little treasures. Then there’s the on-line used book world. Millions of books are available on sites like eBay and Amazon.com.
Books are my main focus but on occasion I stray. Last week I was on eBay and I wandered into some bizarre on-line region where I spotted an item that I simply could not resist. The auction was ending and nobody was bidding on this item. So I bid. And I won.
It just arrived in the mail. I’m a huge Dick Nixon fan. Our disgraced president has always had a powerful appeal for me. His story of monumental success and immense failure has always struck me as a gigantic metaphor for life.
I could not pass up this board game. I’m so pleased to have this little treasure. It cost me six dollars.
Vick Mickunas
TweetDissecting the Amazon Kindle eBook reader…
Amazon.com is pulling out all the stops. Their Kindle eBook electronic reading device is the early leader in the field with an estimated 90% of the fledgling market for electronic book downloads. But Amazon’s dominance could vanish just like that.
Here’s why; Apple’s iPad tablet will be released in April and if it is even half as dominant as the Apple iPod has been then Apple will be looking to knock the Kindle off the throne.
Amazon ran a full page ad today in the New York times. It trumpets their claims that the Kindle possesses the following attributes:
“Amazon’s #1 Bestselling Product”.
Who can dispute that? Amazon won’t release their sales figures. I guess we have to believe them.
“Long battery life. Read for up to two weeks without recharging”.
Kindle users? Is this true in your experience?
“Paper like display is easy to read, even in bright sunlight”.
I have some friends who just took their Kindle to Jamaica on vacation. They claim it was fabulous to use it there. I assume it was quite sunny there. Kindle users, what do you think? Can you read it easily in bright conditions?
“At 10.2 ounces, Kindle is lighter than a typical paperback.”
What?! Wait a minute. Hold your horses. I am feeling like the “typical” paperback weighs less than 10.2 ounces? OK, I’m grabbing a stack of typical paperbacks from my pile here on my desk. I’m placing one on my postal scale. It weighs 5 ounces. Here’s another one: 7.5 ounces. Another: 8 ounces. One more: 8.2 ounces.
Uh uh. Sorry Amazon. I think your claims about the weight comparison of the Kindle with the “typical” paperback is perhaps a bit tenuous.
OK, I just dissected the Amazon Kindle. Don’t tell me you expected me to actually take one apart? Those things are expensive!
Dissecting Amazon’s full page ad was satisfaction enough for me…oh, and Amazon.com really, really, really wants you to order your Kindle before April. (wink, wink).
Vick Mickunas
TweetAmazon Kindle/Apple iPad showdown looming…
There’s a fascinating article in the New York Times today about Amazon.com. Amazon’s Kindle eBook reader is dominating the market for electronic book reading devices right now. Since you can only purchase eBook downloads for the Kindle from Amazon.com this means that Amazon is also dominating the market for selling eBooks. But this early advantage could wither quickly. Watch out-here comes Apple.
In April the Apple iPad tablet will be released. As Apple lines up publishers to provide eBook content for the iPad the battle lines are being drawn by Amazon over eBook pricing. This is going to get rather interesting.
To read the article click HERE:
Vick Mickunas
TweetThe pint of it all….
I hope you have a blessed Saint Patrick’s Day. Take it easy on the green beer now. Best be leavin’ that shillelagh in the umbrella rack.
When you get yourself home from all your wearin’ of the green why don’t you set yourself down and read a good book?
I’ll be reading “The Pint Man” (Doubleday) by Steve Rushin.
Tip one for me…
Vick Mickunas
Tweet“The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine”
The new book by Michael Lewis was published today. “The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine” (W.W. Norton) is a painful dissection of how the US economy took that huge swerve into the ditch. We are still trying to extricate ourselves from this financial muck job. Lewis takes readers through the depths of the chicanery that created this massive boondoggle. As Bernie Dingle, my next door neighbor used to say: “It ain’t pretty.”
This timely book was an instant number one in sales today on Amazon.com.
Vick Mickunas
TweetMoms should love this book…
“Lift” by Kelly Corrigan (Voice/Hyperion, 89 pages, $16.99)
Once in a great while, a small book comes along and packs a mighty punch. These books are quick reads, yet they stay with us. I call them soul searchers. When you read such a book, you’ll often end up pondering big questions — things like what is the meaning of life?
Let me offer examples. Robert James Waller’s “The Bridges of Madison County” comes to mind. A seemingly simple tale of sudden passion, “Bridges” mines some deep soul caverns. Then there’s Mitch Albom’s “Tuesdays With Morrie,” a book that celebrates a deeply lived life.
I just found another. “Lift” by Kelly Corrigan is a deceptively simple book. Corrigan’s first book, “The Middle Place,” was a memoir in which she described her bout with breast cancer.
This mother of two young girls was dealing with that situation when she learned that her father had bladder cancer.
This second book is quite short. It is written in the form of a letter to her daughters. Corrigan decided to write it when she realized that her eldest, a third-grader, was already changing and spending more time with her friends, on the computer or sending text messages. Childhood can be so fleeting.
She worried that her daughters will not recall enough of their childhood. She writes: “You won’t remember how it started with us, the things that I know about you that you don’t even know about yourselves. We won’t come back here.”
Corrigan’s reasons for writing are poignant: “You’ll remember middle school and high school, but you’ll have changed by then. That means you won’t ever know me as I am right now — the mother I am tonight and tomorrow, the mother I’ve been for the last eight years, every bath and book and birthday party, gone.”
This fond letter to her children will resonate with readers, particularly women. The author reflects that “people rarely rave about their childhoods, and it’s no wonder. So many mistakes are made.”
Her perception of her own reactions will ring true with many moms out there: “Almost every day I yell at one of you so loudly that my throat hurts afterward.”
Their mom’s observations will be appreciated one day: “I don’t mirror your emotions enough, though I can’t say why because when I do, it seems to calm you down. I forget to praise your effort instead of your achievement…”
The book’s candid reflections are enhanced by the author’s decision to include some other maternal perspectives.
Her cousin Kathy has lost a child in a tragic accident. Her friend Meg is single and wants to have a child so she takes a different route to motherhood. This book honors the power of the maternal bond.
Corrigan wrote an essay, “Transcending.” The video of her reading it has generated more than 4.5 million views so far on YouTube. Her writing reveals a perspective that is by turns wistful, humorous, and incredibly wise.
From her essay on YouTube: “Things will break — they always do.”
Vick Mickunas
TweetSenator Brown signs deal to publish his memoir…
No, not our Ohio Senator Brown, the other one. You know, the guy who just won a special election to fill Ted Kennedy’s empty seat in Massachusetts? The Republican won. You know the guy, Senator Brown. First name Scott.
Publishers have been fighting over the chance to publish this book. The publisher Harper Collins won the bidding war. (They also published Sarah Palin’s recent memoir).
To find out more click HERE:
Vick Mickunas
TweetYou might consider discarding your cell phone…
After watching this video. Perhaps you have seen it already? I hadn’t. While the participants seem quite amused I had a different reaction; sheer terror. This video has a sort of HG Wells meets Orson Welles “War of the Worlds” element going on. Microwaves are us.
Watch this - click HERE:
OK, and here’s the link that disproves it all: click HERE:
I’m so gullible. That reminds me. I actually believed Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass distraction based on evidence as flimsy as that cell phone video. I’m so naive.
Vick Mickunas
TweetA letter from a rural mail carrier…
I wrote a post last week that asked readers how they feel about the US Postal Service. There were some interesting responses. To read the original thread click HERE:
Then read this recent comment from someone who actually works for the post office. You might find it informative.
“I just wandered onto this website and have been reading some of the ridiculous comments made by some really misinformed people. As a 16 year postal employee, I would like to comment on a few things from experience.
First of all, TRS, you don’t subsidize the USPS. They have been self-sustaining for more than 35 years. You pay for your postage and that in turn pays for the services we provide. Check your facts before you write, your tax dollars do not support the USPS.
For all the people who had one problem with a package or got a piece of someone elses mail: if you had any idea of the amount of mail and parcels that are handled every day, you would be amazed that you only had a problem with ONE item. Why is it that ultra sensitive and oh so “perfect” people don’t allow one error before throwing the baby out with the bath water?
“I got a piece of the neighbor’s mail so we need to shut the postal service down!” People, except Vick, have no clue what the process is like to get your mail where it needs to go. Go ahead and go with UPS or FedEx. It is only a matter of time until they mess up a parcel for you and then you will have to bash them too. Not to mention there prices are outrageous and try as you may, you will never get them to deliver your letter mail.
Then there is the small problem of the approximately 800,000 people employed by the USPS. What kind of impact do you think shutting us down or privatizing would do to them and their families? If you want to do some research, see how Japan is liking life with their postal service in the private sector now. Oh, and see how much it costs them to send a first class letter.
We still have the cheapest postage rates in the WORLD. If we go private, there will be independant businesses with competing stamp prices and just see what kind of service you get when they pay the employees $9.00 per hour to do what we do now, especially in bad weather. We work in snowstorms, ice storms, thunderstorms, you name it, they do not let us off for weather unless it is paralyzing to the entire area.
I need to say kudos to you, ‘downsized’. All postal employees everywhere would appreciate your kind comments. Thank you for noticing the effort we put in to get your mail to you. I wish more people could see first hand what we dedicate ourselves to do for our customers. I go above and beyond what I am required to do for my customers every week and I’m sorry but I just get tired of that handful of people who whine about one piece of mail among the thousands of pieces we sort daily that gets delivered incorrectly or lost.”
1Rural Carrier
How do you feel about US Postal Service now?
Vick Mickunas
TweetKarl Rove vaults to the top…
Karl Rove’s memoir, Courage and Consequence came out this week. I just checked over at Amazon.com and his book is currently their best-selling book - apparently there’s a receptive market for it.
Congratulations, Karl.
Vick Mickunas
TweetHiroshima book scandal
They are still selling this book over on Amazon.com but it is bound to become a collector’s item. The publisher just sent out this notice:
“It is with deep regret that Henry Holt and Company announces that we will no longer print, correct or ship copies of Charles Pellegrino’s “The Last Train from Hiroshima” due to the discovery of dishonest sources of information for the book.
It is easy to understand how even the most diligent author could be duped by a source, but we also understand that opens that book to very detailed scrutiny. The author of any work of non-fiction must stand behind its content. We must rely on our authors to answer questions that may arise as to the accuracy of their work and reliability of their sources. Unfortunately, Mr. Pellegrino was not able to answer the additional questions that have arisen about his book to our satisfaction.
Mr. Pellegrino has a long history in the publishing world, and we were very proud and honored to publish his history of such an important historical event. But without the confidence that we can stand behind the work in its entirety, we cannot continue to sell this product to our customers.”
For more on this unfolding story click HERE:
I’m a WWII history buff so this story was a real shocker to me. Even so, I’m glad I have a copy of this book.
Vick Mickunas
TweetChelsea Chelsea Bang Bang…
The new book by Chelsea Handler, “Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang” came out today. Her last book, “Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea” was an absolute smash. Have you read it? Do you plan to read her latest?
I might have to stick this Karl Rove book back on the shelf and switch to some intentional comedy…at least Chelsea’s fans appreciate her sense of humor.
Vick Mickunas
TweetThe day Karl Rove got beat up by a girl…
Karl Rove’s new memoir, Courage and Consequence, came out this week. It contains some lovely memories. Here’s my favorite (so far):
Rove recalled that “At the age of nine, I decided I was for Richard Nixon in the 1960 presidential election. I got my hands on a Nixon bumper sticker, slapped it on my bike’s wire basket, and rode up and down the block, as if that alone would get him the vote. Instead it drew the attention of a little girl who lived in the neighborhood. She had a few years and about thirty pounds on me and was enthusiastically for John F. Kennedy. She pulled me from bicycle and beat the heck out of me, leaving me with a bloody nose and a tattered ego. I’ve never liked losing a political fight since.”
Isn’t that adorable?
Vick Mickunas
TweetIs Apple having some iPad problems?
The Apple iPad, the much ballyhooed tablet computer has been delayed. If you watched the Oscars last night you probably saw the Apple ads that claimed the iPad will be available in April. Wait a minute-wasn’t the release date supposed to be in March? This month? What happened?
Some analysts have already proclaimed the iPad will be an Amazon Kindle killer, that it could be the superior device for reading electronic books and that the Amazon Kindle’s current early eBook dominance might wither quickly after the iPad hits the market. So what is the reason for this delay?
According to a rather snarky piece today in a UK publication the Apple delay is the result of a very basic problem. Nick Farrell writing in The Inquirer thinks the delay could be the product of a software glitch. He writes:
“WHILE THE NASDAQ stock market actually rose on the news that Apple had named a date for its overpriced keyboardless netbook, no one seems to have noticed that the shipping date had slipped.
The rumour mill had been speculating that Jobs’ Mob would have to delay the launch of the Ipad but everyone assumed it would have something to do with the Chinese hardware makers that make the thing.
However, when the manufacturers said that everything was on time on their side of the Pacific, the rumour mill started to focus on the one thing that Apple does have direct control of, the Iphone OS.
John Gruber at Daring Fireball claims the software has taken longer to finish than they’d hoped. The problem apparently is in the timing of turning out the software. Obviously on a scale with Duke Nukem on one hand and being on time on the other, a couple of weeks is nothing.
However it is strange that after all this time in development something as basic as an upgrade to the Iphone OS is still not ready. If Gruber is right, then it means that the one component that it should have been easy to get ready in a year is not ready.”
The article concludes by holding the figurative lighted match under Apple while also illuminating the bloomers of any potential consumers who might be considering the purchase of an iPad. He closes with this resounding slap across the chops:
“Really what they should be saying is that if you buy this low-powered, overpriced Ipod Touch you sacrifice any credibility you might have as someone who knows technology and your mind is out to lunch with some pathetic bloke who twitters his abject worship of Steve Jobs at the Oscars.”
Yow! Is it getting warmer in here?
To peruse the entire article click HERE:
Vick Mickunas
TweetRemembering Virginia Hamilton
“Virginia Hamilton: Speeches, Essays and Conversations” edited by Arnold Adoff and Kacy Cook (Blue Sky Press, 368 pages, $29.99)
When the author Virginia Hamilton died in 2002, her husband, the poet Arnold Adoff, could not bear to go into her office at their Yellow Springs home. Finally, he felt the will to enter.
The result is a collection of previously unpublished “speeches, essays and conversations.” Kacy Cook, Adoff’s co-editor on the project, wrote that “Arnold had found himself unable to enter Virginia’s office in the years after her death. He had taken to opening the door a crack and tossing things on the floor inside.”
In the introduction, Rudine Sims Bishop describes Hamilton’s achievements: “In the field of children’s literature, she garnered every national and international honor for which her work was eligible — the John Newberry Medal, the Coretta Scott King Award, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the National Book Award, the NAACP Image Award, the Hans Christian Anderson Award, to name just a few. By the close of the 20th century, she had become the most highly honored American author of children’s books.”
Hamilton grew up in Yellow Springs and attended Antioch College. Throughout her long career, she lived and wrote in the village of Yellow Springs. This collection provides insights into her craft; how she wrote, what she visualized, how she conceptualized.
In one speech, she related that “Fiction is the creation of reality. The primary subjects of fiction are emotions, beliefs, and human values. By the age of four or five, we have experienced everything we need to write fiction — love, rage, boredom, loss, guilt and fear, and even death. There is personal experience as well as the experience of observation, and both can elicit profound emotional responses in the would-be writer.”
As I perused her articulations and observations, I recalled the pleasure of conversing with Virginia. We had some memorable interviews on WYSO Public Radio.
In our 1999 interview on WYSO, she expressed her view that “I think parents should read to their children. Children should read to parents. A lot of reading should be going on — a lot of talking. A lot of people don’t talk to one another.”
Yellow Springs was a good place for her to work. People left her alone. She said, “Writers write by themselves. I go for months without seeing many people. A lot of times, people think I’m not in town because I’m not here physically; I’m at my work.”
She talked about her awards: “It’s very nice to have them. It sort of gives me courage — like reading Faulkner early in the morning, which is something I do sometimes.”
It was splendid to read this collection and to hear her voice again on my old tapes. Her intellect dazzled me and she could say offbeat things. She loved the rural space around Yellow Springs — she said, “I always feel that the grain silos look like spaceships.”
This year, the American Library Association presented its first Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement.
TweetI’ll be on WYSO Sunday morning at 10:30…
These flowers are blooming though the snow in my yard. They are so lovely, so hardy, pushing their gentle blossoms up through the ice.
Tune in to WYSO (91.3fm) this Sunday morning. I’ll be broadcasting live from the WYSO studios. They will be airing my interview with one of the sharpest cultural critics in America. Tune in at 10:30 to find out who she is. I’ll be on until noon. I hope you can listen.
Vick Mickunas
TweetAttracting men, money, and happiness…
A book just crossed my desk and it got me to thinking. The book is “Conquer the Cosmos - Use Astrology to Attract the Man, Money, and Happiness You Deserve” (Plume) by Bridgett Walther.
I have never been one to study astrology. But I keep encountering people who seem to regard it with great zeal, even respect. Some seem to allow it to dictate their actions - what they do - where and when they do it.
Then I recalled that our former First Lady Nancy Reagan was way into astrology, that she had an astrologer who made frequent visits to the White House. In fact it has been rumored that Nancy had so much influence on her husband Ronald Reagan that it is possible he made some important decisions with the guidance of astrology. While I am amazed to imagine such things ever happening I’m forced to give the thought some consideration.
The title of this book is self-explanatory. The author’s target audience is female. Cher wrote the forward to the book.
What do you think? Do you pay much attention to astrological signs? Do you have any thoughts about this subject? Please, leave your comments.
Vick (Virgo) Mickunas
TweetTalkin’ baseball…
It won’t be long now. Baseball season is less than a month away. For those of us who adore our national pastime, the waiting is the hardest part. Just ask Tom Petty.
A couple new baseball books arrived this afternoon. I could picture them slamming into my mailbox with the zing of Aroldis Chapman fastballs. I can dream, right?
I’m excited about these titles. The first book was written by Fay Vincent, the former baseball commissioner. “It’s What’s Inside the Lines that Counts - Baseball Stars of the 1970s and 1980s Talk About the Game They Love” (Simon And Schuster) contains a wealth of interview material from greats like Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal, and Earl Weaver.
The second book is the much anticipated “Roger Maris - Baseball’s Reluctant Hero” (Touchstone) by Tom Clavin and Danny Peary. Maris was a class act and his record-breaking home run that elevated him above Babe Ruth in the record books was rewarded with an asterisk.
Less classy sluggers have eclipsed his records and some of those long bombs were chemically aided.
Maris deserves to be recognized for the classy guy he was. Perhaps this book will help? A guy can dream…
Batter up!
(Both books will be released on March 16)
Vick Mickunas
TweetLittle Billy’s Letters
A truly hilarious book is coming out next week. Little Billy’s Letters: An Incorrigible Inner Child’s Correspondence with the Famous, Infamous, and Just Plain Bewildered (William Morrow) by Bill Geerhart is am amazing book. The author is a practical joker. He sends letters to the famous (and infamous) pretending to be a little boy. And he gets responses, some are amazing, others are truly creepy.
Here are some examples:
He wrote to Charles Manson in prison. His letter began: “Dear Mr. Manson, I am thinking about dropping out of school. What do you think of this idea?”.
Manson’s reply: ” Find out why the LA Times hasn’t sent my newspaper-Charles Manson-P.S. O-yes Hi Billy Easy easy eassy”
He wrote Larry Flynt, the publisher of Hustler Magazine: “Dear Mr. Flynt, my parents said I could subscribe to your magazine when I turn 18. That is a long time from now. My friend Eddie asked me to ask you if there is a Hustler for kids that wouldn’t make my parents mad. Please let me know. Thank you! Billy”
Flynt’s response: “Dear Billy, Your parents are right. You can subscribe to Hustler when you turn 18. Hang in there-you’ll be 18 before you know it. Until then, you should read the Sears & Roebuck catalog. Sincerely, Larry Flynt”
Little Billy writes in a childish, believable scrawl. He wrote to Dr. Jack Kevorkian, Alan Greenspan, Oral Roberts, Donald Rumsfeld, and Sarah Palin. They all answered and some of their responses are very funny.
I laughed at some of Little Billy’s pranks. Maybe you will too…..
Vick Mickunas
TweetHow do you feel about the US Postal Service?
I love the Post Office. I have loved it ever since I was a kid. It began when I started collecting stamps. I had a stamp collection going before I went to kindergarten.
My postal passion grew when I got a job at the Post Office. Those years inside the PO working the night shift when most of the mail gets moved provided me with an intimate vantage point on just what an incredible service they are providing.
Think about it. You can put a 44 cent stamp on an envelope and send a letter to a loved one in Maine or Hawaii or Alaska or Iowa. Any address. They will deliver it within days.
This fabulous service is more threatened than ever. Mail volume is in steep decline. The US Postal Service is awash in red ink. The Internet, high tech devices, and the eroding economy continue to batter postal revenues.
Every day I get books in the mail. The Post Office is my lifeline to the publishing world. I cannot imagine losing my Saturday deliveries. But that could happen, and lots worse.
What do you think? How do you feel about it?
To read about the latest dire postal problems click HERE:
Vick Mickunas
TweetMitt Romney-our next president?
Mitt Romney is currently being regarded by some as the early front runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. But what do we really know about this guy, Mitt?
He has a new book coming out tomorrow and that could be yet another signal that he is getting serious about another campaign for his party’s nomination. Barack Obama paved the way to high office with a couple of bestsellers. Readers got to know him through his memoirs. So what about Mitt?
I just started listening to the audio version of No Apology - the Case for American Greatness (Macmillan Audio). This audiobook is 10 CDs and it is unabridged. Romney reads the entire thing - that’s a bit unusual in this day and age. By comparison, Sarah Palin’s audiobook version of Going Rogue her recent best-selling memoir was also read by her but it was the much shorter, abridged version.
So what do you think? Does Mitt Romney have any chance whatsoever of becoming our next president? Maybe I’ll understand what he is all about after I listen to this new book. I hope so.
Vick Mickunas
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