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Archive for December, 2009

Regional Quasi Book Store Review (SD)

Dec 16

Posted by The Valet in Other | 1 Comment

Ok, I’m not actually going to be reviewing a bookstore in this post (hence the use of “quasi” in the title). Or at least a bookstore that just anyone can go to. As far as I’m concerned there are really only 6 or so people out there that have access to this particular “store” because it’s an incredibly private and secure collection. Books are not actually purchased there, instead they are just sort of taken or borrowed and often times replaced by new ones. In fact you could actually call it a library.

I’m talking about the one place where I can go, grab a book and walk out the door so long as my mother or father are not currently reading said book. Yes, I’m talking about my parents book collection in their house in San Diego. I’m willing to bet that some of you out there have bigger libraries or will claim to have “better” libraries at your homes, but I could care less. I’m not bragging here, I’m just letting you know where much of what I read comes from.

One thing that will make this library stand out though is the plethora of childrens books. Considering I am the youngest adult in my family and my parents have no grandchildren to date (at least that I am aware of) it would seem bizarre to have so many childrens books. But, if you had read my previous post, Post Mortem Book Store Review, you would understand. Now a days most of these books aren’t even out on the shelves they actually live in an underground storage room in the house in boxes and crates (pictures below).

Pshaw, keep reading

A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horwitz

Dec 15

Posted by The Valet in Non-Fiction | No Comments

A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horwitz

A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horwitz

I’m tired of reading non-fiction. It feels like I’ve been reading a lot of it recently. And by saying that by no means implies that I’m not going to read another.

Here’s something to ponder. When you were in elementary school you most likely learned that Christobal Columbus discovered America in 1492. You also probably learned a song or rhyme to go along with it (now would be a good time to recite it). I’m also guessing that you learned about the landing of the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock and the “first” Thanksgiving held there in 1621. Well, what the hell went on between 1492 and 1621? Umm, excuse me teacher, why did you just skip nearly 130 years of American history? I’m guessing you’ve probably never really thought about it. I’m not going to lie, there had I. Thankfully though Tony Horwitz did and he decided to share with us what he found out.

I hate to sound callous, but I actually don’t care all that much. Maybe I should, I mean that is a pretty big chunk of Americas young history, but at the same time I’m not so sure I need anymore Jeopardy answers in my brain bank at the moment. Why read the book then right? Well, the cover is pretty neat (nice little cutesy illustrations), it was recommended and naturally the back cover made it sound pretty alluring.

must… keep… reading…

This Weeks Book Events, SF (week of 12/14)

Dec 14

Posted by The Valet in Events | No Comments

Excuse me, will whoever turned the heat off outside please turn it back on. If it was an attempt to conserve power I commend you but come on, seriously, did you have set the thermostat to freezing. I’m sure we could have found a middle ground. I’m really not one to complain about the cold but this is pretty ridiculous. The past two Decembers have not been this bad. If you’re lucky I’ll find you some good book events to get to this week to keep you indoors and warm. Let’s just hope they all have nice heating systems. Otherwise you’d better hope that a lot of people read my blog and go to these events so that there will be some body heat.

Ah, as is to be excepted there is a whole lot of nothing going on! Just go to your holiday parties instead. I also feel the need to tell you that rather than spend the first night of Hanukkah lighting the candles I opted to spend the night with a bunch of goyem at a German beer hall, listening to live polka music and watching people dance in leiderhosen. The following night, Saturday, instead of being at home with my family in San Diego (and meeting the new family member, my sister and her boyfriend Charlie’s dachshund puppy), eating latkes and pretending to recite the prayers while lighting the menorah, I was at a party. Not just any party though. A party that featured a full turkey dinner, bacon, lots of young children running around (therefore some vomitus, probably some poop and crying) and a whole lot of fun. If I couldn’t be with my family, this was the second best place to be. Anyways…

Thursday, December 17th
@ 6pm
- Borderlands is having a holiday potluck. If you don’t know what a potluck is I can’t help you. If you want to ask me, you can, but there is a chance I might chuckle a little and then tell you to google it or something. That’s fair right? So… if you want to eat some other peoples food and share your own food stuffs, get there (I guess I just kind of told you what a “potluck” is huh?).

Oh, and if you’d really like to you’re more than welcome to come to my work’s holiday lunch this Thursday. Seeing as we’re not really in business anymore they’re providing the food but it’s byob. So… in reality, I’m only inviting you so that there is more to drink. Let me know if you’re interested.

This Weeks Book Events, LA (week of 12/14)

Dec 14

Posted by The Valet in Events | No Comments

I was going to come out here and lambast all you Angelinos for complaining about the cold weather. Then I thought to myself, why bother? A part of my restraint also probably stems from the fact that having grown up in San Diego and being accustomed to warm weather I would probably complain too.

Friday, December 18th
@ 12pm
- Ditta Von Teese, burlesque artist/actress/author (who knew), will be signing copies of her book Burlesque and the Art of the Teese/Fetish and the Art of the Teese at the Latino Book and Family Festival. I mean, I really have no idea who this Von Teese lady is but anyone who says they are “burlesque” has to be pretty entertaining. Although I do find it somewhat odd that she’s appearing at a “Family Festival.” Her new book I guess is some sort of collection of “flip books.” That’s kind of strange right? She’ll also be at Revamp Vintage on N. Chauenga Blvd. starting 2pm on Sunday, December 20th.

Hmm, I have reason to believe that Ms. Teese may have at one time or another been involved with Marilyn Manson. And no, that’s just some speculation and I do not wish to start any rumors. Here’s a picture of her in case your curious.

Dita Von Teese

Dita Von Teese

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Dec 10

Posted by The Valet in Fiction, Young Adult | 2 Comments

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

If the first line of your book is “The early summer sky was the color of cat vomit,” odds are you’ve got me hooked already. Believe it or not, that’s how Uglies starts. I had a fear that it would be oddly similar in some unusual way to Gone which I really didn’t enjoy very much. But, it wasn’t, hooray!

It’s pretty clear from the get go that this was going to be a book with a strong and in your face moral. A story that features “ugly” people vs. “pretty” people. Um, pretty blunt. More often than not a book that appears to have that strong of a point will certainly be a turn off for me. But, regardless of that I decided I would still give it a shot. I’m not exactly sure why to be honest, but that’s irrelevant.

All in all, I can fairly say that I enjoyed this book. It’s not as though I would put it high on my list, but after reading this, the first book in the series, I actually feel encouraged and intrigued enough to read the second novel, Pretties. Being a YA book the language wasn’t exactly complex and many of the literary elements I really enjoy in books were absent but the story was original and it was a quick read. Both things that are encouraging for me. Not only that but the fact that the protagonist is a female, similar to Suzanne Collins Hunger Games made the book a bit more unique.

Read on… my “pretty”

Regional Book Store Review: Warwicks (SD)

Dec 9

Posted by The Valet in Other | No Comments

Clearly visiting a book store wherever I go is in the cards. My last couple of trips to San Diego have been pretty short and I haven’t had the opportunity to get to any. Alas, Thanksgiving weekend gave me just that chance. Rather than going to laugh and gawk at the morons who chose to shop at the big box retailers on black Friday, I opted to go to La Jolla and watch all the fancy pants San Diegans do their shopping at overpriced boutiques. Ok, that wasn’t the real drive behind my visit to La Jolla. My main objective was visiting Warwicks which is located on Girard Ave. in the heart of La Jolla.

Having grown up in San Diego I’ve pretty much blanked on what and where the independent booksellers are in San Diego. I mean as a kid I remember always going to Barnes & Noble to look at the magazines but I really can’t remember going to any independents, besides my mothers store of course. And frankly, back then, going to a bookstore to look at books was pretty much the last thing I had on my mind. Unless I knew there was a cute girl working there or something. When I got home (SD) on this mini-vacation I asked my mom and the only one she came up with was Warwicks. My dad mentioned a mystery book store and maybe one of these days I’ll get around to reviewing that shop as well.

Warwicks, aside from being a fairly large bookseller is also a stationary, gift and office supply shop. It’s more or less broken in half, with half the shop being books and the other half being the other stuff. Honestly, I spent about 4.37965 seconds on the stationary side, frankly I wasn’t interested. It looked a bit kitschy, with glass cases protecting expensive chotskies and who knows whats. I did however spend a good amount of time on the book side. Personally, I think they should abandon the other stuff and just enlarge the book store, just my two cents.

Oh, I know you want the pictures, keep going…

Gone by Michael Grant

Dec 8

Posted by The Valet in Fiction, Young Adult | 2 Comments

Gone by Michael Grant

Gone by Michael Grant

So, I kind of wished this book had “poofed” out of my hands while I read it. If you haven’t read the book you won’t really know what that means or what I’m talking about but for those of you that have had the pleasure of reading this, hmm, how do you say, rather lame book, you do.

In what is in essence a mashup of The X-Men, Peter Pan, Lord of the Flies and Johnny Quest (Quest may be a stretch but I’ve been waiting and waiting to reference that cartoon in one of my posts), Gonepretty much takes the worst elements of each and tries to put them all together. In short, one day all the adults over the age 14 disappear and then some really weird things happen in the ensuing power struggle for dominance.

This book actually had the potential of being pretty good. But, once you throw in talking coyotes, “the darkness” (not the band), machine guns, mutants, MacDonald’s, and the secret neglected brother syndrome you really have a junk pot of a story. Oh, and did I mention that the cover of the book has this odd resemblance to some other incredibly media friendly series of novels involving vampires? Cause I kind of think it does. I have this hunch that Mr. Grant actually wrote this book without the book in mind but with the potential of turning it into big money in the form of movies. After all, before he even started writing Gone he already knew it was going to be a three book series.

Go on, dont’ be scaaaaaared

This Weeks Book Events, SF (week of 12/7)

Dec 7

Posted by The Valet in Events | No Comments

Being fully aware that there are going to be very few book related events this week I am still trudging along with my weekly installments of what’s happening. Although, I think I give up on San Diego. At least until the new year. SF and LA, you lucky ducks, I’ll keep dumpster diving for ya and let you know if I find any treasures.

This last week was pretty bizarre. That’s all I have to say. Ha, you thought that’s all I was going to give you, didn’t you. Not so much bizarre but lacking something. I suppose that’s because it feels like I spent an accumulated 10 hours in the office even though that’s not true. That’s just kind of what it feels like in the office these days. Everyone is keeping such strange hours that I can’t keep track of my own. And now, with more holidays right around the corner I can only imagine what things will be like in the coming weeks. Anyways…

Tuesday, December 8th
@ 7pm
- Jesse Katz, Author will be signing and discussing his book The Opposite Field at Book Passage in Corte Madera. Clearly the lack of events of late encouraged me to include this signing but Mr. Katz’s book does sound pretty interesting. It’s about little league, minorities and what I’m hoping are nice moments and mergers of the two. I could be completely wrong and Mr. Katz could be some ginormous bigot, but I highly doubt it. He’ll also be appearing at Books, Inc. in Mountain View at 730pm on Wednesday the 9th.

Tuesday, December 8th
@ 8pm
- Michael Pollan, yes one of my not so favorite authors will be presenting his book Omnivore’s Dilemma with Dean Ornish at the Jewish Community Center in San Francisco. I’m not really sure what “presenting” means but I’m guessing he’ll just blab about it for a while. Mr. Ornish is a doctor who has written several books, may of which focus on eating and food (I think). I don’t really feel the need to explain more about Mr. Pollan and his book, if you want to know more check out my review of Omnivore’s Dilemma.

Tuesday, December 8th
@ 1pm
- Dave Eggers, author, will be making another daytime appearance (exasperated sigh) at the Bookshop West Portal. He’ll be there signing copies of his books including his latest Zeitoun. Which, if you didn’t alreday know is one of my favorite books of the year. It’s good, trust me. If I can sneak out of work I think I may try and do just that so I can go and see Mr. Eggers speak. He’ll aslo be at the Books, Inc. shop on Chestnut Street on Thursday, December 8th. I’m not sure if this goes for the West Portal appearance as well but 15% of your Eggers purchases from Books, Inc. will benefit 826 Valencia.

Sunday, December 13th
@ 2pm
- My loyal readers, the event you have all been waiting for is finally here. Perez Hilton will be talking about and discussing his latest and greatest True Bloggywood Stories at the Borders store in Union Square. From one blogger to another, Mr. or is it Mrs. Hilton is my hero. Where do you think I got the inspiration to blog the way I do? Ok, that’s bs, clearly not from that no talent ass clown. Regardless, I’m sure it would be fairly entertaining to go and listen to what kind of lame gossip he’s got on Angelina or whoever the hell it is he writes about.

Well, well, well, look at that. After a dry couple of weeks I’ve got a handful of decent events for you. Go forth and enjoy.

This Weeks Book Events, LA (week of 12/7)

Dec 7

Posted by The Valet in Events | No Comments

Los Angeles this is the home stretch of 2009. I hope you’re getting all your new years party plans sorted out. The last time I spent new years in LA I was at The Downtown Standard and remember sleeping on the floor of a friend and his girlfriends room. Needless to say when I woke up, I had to very stealthily exit the room so as not make the loving couple aware of my presence while they did whatever it was they were doing. Yes, it was very weird. Luckily I got out quickly and silently. The party though the night prior was pretty fun, I don’t remember that much of it but that’s only because it was so long ago. That was actually the one and only time I came home from my travels in NZ for a few weeks.

Wow, it seems like I’m pulling up all my Los Angeles stories at once. Last week I gave you the ID story and this week the new years story. What will I have for you next week? Well… we’ll just have to wait and see. I just hope there are some book events going on to keep your mind occupied while you wait for next weeks installment.

Tuesday, December 8th
@ 7pm
- Howie Mandel, guy, crappy tv show host and apparent biographer of himself will be at Barnes & Noble at the Grove (189 Grove Drive). Apparently he’s written a book titled Here’s the Deal: Don’t Touch Me which chronicles his troubles with OCD and ADHD and how it’s affected and shaped his life and career. I mean I have some symptoms of ADHD and perhaps some OCDness, not like Howie though (apparently he won’t let anyone touch him, hence the title of the book) so maybe I should write a book. Anyways, if you like the guy and think he’s funny (believe or not I’m sure there are people out there) get over to Barnes and Noble.

Sorry folks, I’m feeling a bit lazy. It’s been a long weekend, not as long as this guy’s, but long nonetheless. Jonathon Kellerman is making appearance in Los Angeles this week too so if you’re a fan of his, google, bing, ping, yahoo, altavista, aol or something his name and you’ll figure out where and when.

A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome by Alberto Angela

Dec 3

Posted by The Valet in Non-Fiction | 2 Comments

A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome by Alberto Angela

A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome by Alberto Angela

Let me start of by saying that I do not think I have ever asked myself “What was life like for the ancient Romans?” Or ” What went on every day on the streets of Rome?” These suppositions are proposed by Mr. Anegla in the first line, on the first page of his book. Um, kind of a brash statement if you ask me. But, playing devils advocate here I will mention that this book was originally written in Italian and perhaps what Mr. Angela is really assuming is that anyone who speaks Italian wants to know the answers to those questions. Still ludicrous but maybe a bit more understandable.

I’m being a little hard on the guy, I know. After all, I read it, didn’t I?

When I recently flew home to San Diego for Thanksgiving something bizarre happened. I arrived at SFO airport and low and behold in the terminal there was an exhibit of ancient Italian/Roman artifacts. Ok, I always tend to make some sort of coincidence out of things like this but it was pretty cool. Amphoras, which are ceramic vases used to store everything and anything, were prominently discussed in the book were there before me at the airport, legitimate or not I was looking at something ancient Roman (well, not if they were fakes I guess).

I’ve never quite read a non-fictional book like this. Instead of your traditional style, Mr. Angela actually provides us with a day in the life broken down by hours or parts of the day. It’s a pretty unique approach and actually made it a bit more enjoyable and little less text book like.

I know you want to know what I’ve got to say

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