'It's like a book, I think, this blooming world Which one can read and care for just so long.'

from the title page of 'The Way of a Transgressor' by Negley Farson

the mad rush was foiled by a lack of internet in eastern washington this past weekend hairy what with snow and fog and rains and wine and old friends and older friends becoming friends under my umbrella of words. packed the trailblazer full of books and books-on-tape

(barelyworthmytimeonline,bytheway),

hands dusty but nothing, nothing can beat whiskey in a bookstore after hours. as usual my father's store plows onward in its chaotic beautiful waltz, as my hairline, like his, recedes slowly to allow more room for my brain (and ego) to swell. stay tuned on this blog for exclusive reports of the actions, inactions and revelations surrounding the Hungry Hollow Book Tank Project. as for now, i will keep punching ISBNS until the sun rises, wake my daughters and do the morning dance, sell books at Evergreen until early afternoon and then come home to play until early evening. i push books and strollers, therefore i am.

New Trails in Mexico - Gorgeous Book, hate to part with ones like this but hey, $800 bucks is $800

Dear Sir,
I will do my best to describe this book in detail but my terminology may be somewhat lacking...

This copy has 141 pages with several blank pages following the 141st page

the map is actually bound inbetween the 140th and 141st pages and is in excellent shape beyond some slight discoloration which is typical of such thin paper from this era

I don't know for certain but I do not think that the covers are the original, at least no one else seems to have a copy that matches this one... but they are very professionally done and are obviously nearly as old as the book itself... beautiful leather working, now I don't know how to say this but the covers are only leather over about an inch bordering the spine and the two corners have little leather triangles wrapping them, leaving an area in the middle of each cover like 1/2 a stop sign which is green cloth... i believe that if i am correct in assuming these covers were a custom job then it stands to reason that the gorgeous purple marbled endpapers are also of customized origin but hey, that just makes this baby one of a kind

if you'd like I can e-mail some photos over or post them on one of my sites and you could examine the book for yourself, just give the word

the slipcase I believe was made by a man named John Brunt, one of my father's oldest customers at his store in Walla Walla (of which I am the Western Washington online extention)
the man had a phenomenal western americana collection that he has parted with slowly over the years to my father... unfortunately the internet has devalued a lot of the old antiquarian stuff but some of these gems will never go down in value, anyway, he made the slipcase for it I'm alpost positive and his craftsmanship is superb. almost his entire library of several thousand books came with handmade slipcases

overall size of book is: 6 inches by 9 inches

there are 6 chapters, the titles of which are:

Omaha and the Platte Valley...

Wyoming and the Black Hills...

"Into the American Switzerland"

Westward to Utah

Utah Territory

Northern Utah, Montana and Idaho

and yes, the lengthy summarized chapter descriptions accompany the table of contents

do you have any idea if these covers are original?
let's try the photo thing, I have several blogs I could toss pictures up on easily

kind of strange i just noticed that the table of contents 1st chapter title doesn't match the heading on the facing page... the facing page says To The Rockies Chapter 1 West From the Missouri
don't know if that means anything to you...

Moby Lives Radio - Book News for Book Nerds

This was a particularly good broadcast, although I do miss their straight blog, this web radio seems to be working well for them. I just pity the folks who don't have time or presence of mind to sit down and listen. Enjoy! Moby Lives is one of the leading alternative literary sites online today.

:: This Week's Show ::

James Moore, author of Bush's Brain, a critical profile of Karl Rove, talks about finding out he'd been placed on a no–fly list after the election, and the latest on Google from librarian Christopher Waldrop. Also, the UK Report from Mark Thwaite and a reading from poet Hal Sirowitz.

In Solidarity with the friends and family of the Catalyst Infoshoppe

May the truth set us free, eventually. Bill Rodgers seems to have been one of the more respectable folk walking this frail earth. He will be missed regardless of his 'guilt' for if he was the mastermind behind the ELFs 'terror' streak of the past decade then more power to him for pulling the wool over the eyes of corporate america for so long without getting nabbed. Seems a little fishy that a man would kill himself before any charges were even brought against him... maybe one day we will know more than we do now. That is all we may hope.

Catalyst Infoshop in Prescott, Arizona

Excellent article from Arizona's indymedia following Rodger's sad tale.

Earth Liberation Front

and, this funny little bit of right-wing humor i found floating around on the world wide web:

the beginnings of the Book Tank library at Hungry Hollow Farm... what dreams may come when one is reading, sifting, sorting, writing, seeding.
speculative fiction doesn't stay fiction for long, if we are to learn anything we should learn that much

When you sell a man a book,

you don't sell him 12 ounces of paper and ink and glue-
you sell him a whole new life.
-- Christopher Morley

Bookslut's Interview with Kinky Friedman

He’s not joking. Novelist Kinky Friedman has a great, completely unique sense of humor, but he’s serious about his independent campaign for governor of Texas. Friedman is best known by the publishing world as the author of several humorous mystery novels, starring himself as the protagonist (with his real-life friend Willie Nelson making an occasional pot-fueled appearance). The latest in the series, Ten Little New Yorkers, is an uncharacteristically dark entry in the series -- chiefly because Friedman (the character) dies at the end.

He’s written over 20 books, but he’s equally well-known for his career as a musician -- he played country music with his band The Texas Jewboys in the ‘70s, offending and amusing fans with songs like “They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore” and “Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed.” These days, he runs the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch, and produces his own line of salsas and olive oil. But he’ll be a lot more busy as the campaign season kicks into gear. Bookslut talked to Friedman by telephone last month.


How’s life at the ranch?

The rescue ranch? That’s going very well, going good. There was word about some greyhounds in New Orleans [after Hurricane Katrina], and we adopted 24 of them. I called my friend, the Reverend Goat Carson, who’s a street preacher in New Orleans -- he got out of there, so he’s my personal evacuee. I talked to him about the 24 greyhounds coming out of New Orleans, that we were waiting for on the rescue ranch. Anyway, he called Aaron Neville and all these people and told them that Kinky had 24 Greyhounds coming out of New Orleans. He thought they were buses, for the evacuation. (Laughs.)

How’s Reverend Goat? Is he doing okay?

He’s doing good, yeah.

What do you think of the way Governor Perry handled the Rita evacuation?

I think Perry did pretty well with that. Of course, we had a wake-up call from Louisiana first. We already kind of knew it was more than anybody could handle. The whole thing’s just a lesson that Texans have got to take care of themselves -- no one’s going to help us. And that you shouldn’t appoint somebody’s roommate as head of FEMA. You know, if there hadn’t been a hurricane, (former FEMA director Michael Brown) would’ve done just fine! He would’ve been great! (Laughs.) But this whole thing kind of exposes what’s wrong with making these appointments out of patronage and out of politics.

Are you still friends with President Bush?

Yeah. I’m friends with President Bush and with Bill Clinton...Read More @