While away in California, my desk became the breeding ground for piles of packages. Because I am one of the buyers for the store and because of this blog, I get a lot of books in the mail. And Tuesday (and most days) I lamented the fact that I didn’t have more time each day to read. There is no way I can possibly read every book and review it. Read Frank Wilson’s explanation for how he runs the review pages for the Philadelphia Inquirer. I don’t get as many books as he does, I’m sure, but I get so many books, some bad, but many good. Here’s a sampling:

• Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 by Tony Judt–I’ve been wanting to read this book for a while, but frankly the size of the hardcover made it difficult. Luckily a paperback copy showed up.
• The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai—I hear this is amazing. Has anyone else read it?
• The Children’s Hospital by Chris Adrian—How could one not want to read a book about a hospital floating on the 7 miles of water that have flooded the Earth? Who?
• Christine Falls by Benjamin Black—John Banville’s debut crime novel written under a new pen name (though they’re not hiding who the author is which makes me question the whole pen name thing).
• The Trojan War by Barry Strauss—I like Classics.
• Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra—this much buzzed book has a cool gold slipcase complete with bullet holes.
• After the Storm edited by David Troutt—A collection of essays by black intellectuals writing about Hurricane Katrina and it’s effects.
• The Wonderland Quartet by Joyce Carol Oates—Some lovely soul at the Modern Libary sent me all four books in the repackaged Oates’ quartet.
• The Mystery of the Sardine by Stefan Themerson—A poodle blows up in it. Do I need to say more?
• The Curtain: An Essay in Seven Parts by Milan Kundera—This exploration of the novel from Kundera looks promising.

This is but a small drop in the ever flowing sea of books that move across my desk. How can I find more time to read all of these possible gems? I already read while brushing my teeth. And slightly off topic, but still relevant, how do I decide what’s worth mentioning here? Ed posts his own review/podcasting policies. This also brings up larger issues like disappearing review coverage in papers, the effects blogs and less mainstream media is having on books (if any), etc. But that’s possibly for another post. I still have to find time to read all of these books. Is there any book you’re excited about reading, old or new?

I’m posting from my sister’s office at the Planning Department office of San Francisco. I just arrived and am looking forward to a week of relaxation, food, and wine. I even get to meet up with one of my favorite bloggers Ed. Good times. Good times.

Sorry, I’m tired—I had to catch a flight at 7am.

Could this article on Boston’s South End be anymore condescending?

BOSTON, while still not quite an avatar of cool, is showing plenty of new signs, for better or worse, of hipness. A Barneys New York opened at Copley Place this past spring, and the conductor of the Boston Pops, Keith Lockhart, has introduced “Pops on the Edge,” a series that features musicians like Elvis Costello, Aimee Mann and the alternative country-rockers My Morning Jacket. A lot of the cultural heat is smoldering in the city’s South End. This vital neighborhood has been “emerging” for more than 10 years, but has now officially emerged. Engaging new restaurants, bars, shops and condominiums are found among the brownstones on Tremont Street, and are tucked into the side streets, too. Spending 36 hours in the South End proves that Boston has a happening, maybe glamorous, scene — even if some Bostonians still believe in eating supper at 5 o’clock.

Right, like there’s no person in New York that eats at 5. Puleeze. Ann Marie Gardner, I don’t know where you’ve been for the last 10 years, but you don’t know what the hell you are talking about, so just shut up before you offend another city.

I firmly believe that independent bookstores provide a great service to the community. The Brown Bookstore in Providence, RI, has been an independent bookseller since 1970. Recently, Brown University has announced it is considering contracting bookstore operations to a national vendor—either Barnes & Noble College Booksellers or the Follett Higher Education Group. The Save the Bookstore Coalition, formed 3 days after the committee made its recommendation, plans to hold a rally tomorrow afternoon at 5:30. The speakers will include Brown professor Robert Coover.

I can’t say enough about supporting the local independents. Retail chains return substantially less money to the local economy than locally owned businesses. Plus do you want cookie cutter stores all over the country? And yes, I do shop at chain stores—it’s impossible not to these days. In some communities it might make sense to have a Barnes & Noble, but Providence nor Brown do not need another chain. The independent bookstore adds a flavor to the campus that a Barnes & Noble just can’t replicate.

It’s a victory, sort of, for the opponents of the Patriot Act. The Senate voted about an hour ago 52 to 47 to end debate on the matter, but this also means that the topic can be brought up again. 60 votes are required under Senate rules to end debate. What does this mean? Is it the stinking rebuke that the media reports? And is the revelation that the NSA has been eavesdropping on Americans and others without court warrants part of the reason the vote for the Patriot failed?

Allowing the NSA, which typically is barred from domestic spying, the power to monitor people without warrants goes against some of the foundations of our legal system. Have they forgotten the scandals of the 70s already? The proponents cite threats against our government as the excuse to allow these types of violations, but where does it stop? They monitor the anti-war protests. They don’t allow people to ask valid questions of the president, instead, passing off pre-screened questions and answers as an ‘open’ dialogue. Can they promise not to abuse this power? After the travesty of Abu Ghraib, I don’t think they can safely say no.

It all comes down to legalese in the end. It’s how you phrase the answers.

At an April hearing on the Patriot Act renewal, Senator Barbara A. Mikulski, Democrat of Maryland, asked Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and Robert S. Mueller III, the director of the F.B.I., “Can the National Security Agency, the great electronic snooper, spy on the American people?”

“Generally,” Mr. Mueller said, “I would say generally, they are not allowed to spy or to gather information on American citizens.”

The same situation seems to be happening with Senator John McCain’s anti-torture measure. Our government doesn’t want its hand tied, so they are trying to use language to get some of the knots undone. Luckily, Bush caved, though there is talk of a secret backroom deal that undermines McCain’s proposal.

And on another related matter, Turkish courts have halted the trial of author Orhan Pamuk, claiming the case needs the approval of the ministry. Is this a backwards way of stopping an embarassing trial without actually dealing with the ramifications of the law itself,as the Literary Saloon suggests? The law makes it illegal to insult the republic, parliament or any organ of state. Pamuk said in an interview earlier this year: “One million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds were killed in these lands and nobody but me dares talk about it.” Turkey maintains that the deaths of Armenians in conflict does was not a genocidal campaign. And it’s not only Pamuk. At least 60 other authors are being charged under the same law. How far away are we from this kind of law and trial? Far away, most would say. But the past few years has seen us trekking up this slippery slope. We’re a bit closer now than we were before 9/11. It is the problem with the ‘You’re with us or against’ rhetoric. It sets up a system where if you don’t agree with legitimate reason, you’re not heard or worse. I’d hate to see the day where speaking out against the goverment is punishable by law in the US. Unfortunately, that day keeps coming closer.

The Bizarre Bazaar will be this Sunday at the Cyclorama in the South End of Boston. The past years have grown exponentially (it used to be at the VFW hall near my house), so this year they went big time with a huge venue. The entry fee is only $1 and I guarantee that anything you buy there is one of a kind. There’s great art, crafts, food, etc. Plus you get to support local artists. So everyone head on over (in a nice quiet fashion–no stampeding).

Last night a friend called and said he had an extra ticket to the Iron & Wine/Calexico show at the Avalon. Usually, I don’t enjoy shows much anymore, but I decided to check it out since it was 2 bands I love and I am glad I went. Since I am bad with song titles and all that (I have a friend who if you give him the track number and the year of the record, could name the song and who was playing what and all these details. Very savant) I can’t tell you what they played exactly. I found myself surprised that I enjoyed Calexico a little more than Iron & Wine. Maybe because I spent most of Iron & Wine staring at this woman’s ponytail. It was good times.

Sorry for the silence on my end. As you can imagine, work gets a little hectic the closer we get towards x-mas. I’ve been reading like mad too, though. I’ve finished several books in the past few weeks, including The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell, which I liked so much, I bought the other 2 books in the trilogy. I also read Summer Snow by Rebeccca Pawel. She won an Edgar Award a few years ago for Death of a Nationalist and I really respect the Soho Crime series so I was eager to check her books out. I haven’t read the first 2 books in this series, but that wasn’t a problem and I found the book enjoyable. Also read was All This Heavenly Glory by Elizabeth Crane, which I liked more than I thought I would. Now I must get back to work, but you will hear from me soon.

I visited my parents in Atlanta for a few days this past week for the holiday. We decided to go check out the brand new Georgia Aquarium which just opened on Wednesday. We headed over around 1 o’clock on Thanksgiving day and boy, was it packed. Luckily we bought our tickets ahead of time, which is what I recommend for anyone visiting there (you get to go through a much faster line). This is the World’s largest aquariuam and though they need to work out a few small kinks, I had a great time. Here’s a few photos

Some neat Jellies (they’re not fish, so they don’t call them Jellyfish there. They had a sign).

Here is one of many giant tanks, this one full of coral.

One of my favorite sights, the leafy Sea Dragons.

A huge sea turtle. Neat!

You can see some of the other animals here at my Flickr page.

It’s been a slow week on Bookdwarf. Work is keeping me busy with the holidays coming up and all. Books have to be chosen, displays planned, schedules made, etc. I’ve barely had time to read. I’m in the middle of One Bullet Away, that you see in the left column over there. It’s probably the most well-written memoir about the military I’ve read this year (I agree with that Salon article about Kayla William’s memoir Love My Rifle More Than You), but Nathaniel Fick does get bogged down with military acronyms and making sure he gives us every detail about his missions. Overall I am enjoying it. And I am still liking King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild, which is an account of the Belgian King Leopold’s plunder of Africa.
What’s everyone else reading these days? Are you liking/hating it?