Last Chance For WriMos!

This is just a reminder to the NaNoWriMo participants: This is your last day to hit the 50,000 word mark. Be sure to get your novel word count verified at the official site, www.nanowrimo.org. And don't forget--if you win, let me know, too, so you can get your Lion lauds, applause, and prizes. Writers, rejoice.

...and yes, peanut gallery, I know I need to get my word count verified, too. Thanks. :)

Patrick Henry Hughes

This has absolutely nothing to do with books; however, it is something I wanted everyone to see:

Patrick Henry Hughes (YouTube video link)

Hang Onto Your Tinfoil Hats!

"If I'm not doing anything wrong, I have nothing to hide from you." True, true, but there is also the flipside: "If I'm not doing anything wrong, I have nothing for you to search."

Perhaps I'm opening up a yummy can o' oligochaetes by posting this link, but I think it's newsworthy. I'll step back and let the comments flow, but not before adding this to the mix: Do you think this might be part of the reason people still use brick and mortar shops? By the way, I don't keep customer data online, being a quill pen and vellum babe, myself. Just so's ya know....

Feds Cancel Amazon Data Request (for now...?)

My New Competition

I love it!!!

http://www.glasgowdailytimes.com/schools/local_story_303211742.html

Vie Haf Vays Off Makingk You Talk, Herr Ed.

The following post is not for the faint of heart:

Okay. You folks know I love horses. All horses--scruffy, pretty, gentle, rotten--any horse, right? I also love horse books (in pretty much all of the above conditions).

I picked up this book at the Texas Book and Paper show from a booth full of antiquarian and fine binding lovelies. Eye candy, all of it, but this one caught my eye and wouldn't let me leave without it. Here's the cover:



Pretty, ja? It is an 19th century gothic-script German book on horsemanship, directed primarily to cavalry officers but also for general equestrians.

Pretty, that is, until you open the cover. Great Scot! What masquerades as an innocent horse-training manual is actually the here-to-for top-secret Equine Prisoner of War Interrogation Manual!!! Those kooky pre-war Germans! Further research into the origins of this book has lead me to discover the true history of America's Beloved Mr. Ed...

I can't talk about it, or They'll get me, too, but suffice it to say that Mr. Ed single-hoofedly saved the free world as we know it at great sacrifice of his personal safety, creature comforts, and original identity as a rising-star pinto polo pony (And you thought having your hair bleached blond was time-consuming as a human.). We salute you, our palomino friend. We salute you.

Before They find out about this site, take a gander at the following images I've recovered from this Super-Secret document:

The capturing of Mr. Ed using a Taser disguised as a grooming tool.

Mr. Ed is transported to an undisclosed location.

Mr. Ed is threatened with devices too horrific to describe here.

Further instruments of terror.

Brave Mr. Ed refuses to talk.

Will the nightmare ever end?


In a brilliant surge of derring-do, Mr. Ed escapes from his captors.

...chilling. Who knew?

Donut Fest Head Count

Okay, folks: I'm taking a final head count for the nanowrimo kickoff party donut fest. All are welcome--just shoot me an email if you are planning on attending and haven't yet touched base with me.

Kickoff Donut Fest at The Literary Lion
7am until 10am November 1st, 2007

Bygone Days on the Bosque

I much prefer my cowgirl hat to a sun bonnet, blue jeans to petticoats. Still, a good time was had by all, and we got to show off some of the Lone Star Library's Texana collection. (photo sent by D. Wilson--thanky much!).

Big Country Book Tour

These two folks came into the store on one of the craziest, messiest days we've had at the Lion (and that takes some doing!). I didn't realize they were reporters on a mission until toward the end of their visit...I guess we didn't scare them off too badly (Even after J. dropped in carrying several pounds of frozen water buffalo steaks for my freezer.).

Anyway, here's the link:

Big Country Book Tour

Ironically, we also have a book-related goat story, or goat-related book story, depending on your perspective. Stay tuned.

By the way, the name of the restaurant is actually Santa Fe County Taco Company, not to nit-pick or anything.

NaNoWriMo 2007

Greetings and Salutations! Sorry that it's taken me so long to post here--I'll catch you guys up in a later post (maybe!). First, business:

National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo (pronounced na-no-wry-mo) for short, is November, and we're hosting Stephenville's participants. If you're interested in becoming part of this insane writing phenomenon, go for it. In addition to signing up with the official site, please drop me a line or drop by the store on or before Oct 31st, and you'll become eligible for the "WriMos only" in-store perks and events. Come on...you've always said you wanted to write a book, right? Here's your chance to ride a wave of intense literary momentum to help you achieve that goal.

Again, if you plan on participating, you must sign up at http://www.nanowrimo.org/. Writers, rejoice.

We are hosting a kickoff donut fest from 7am until 10am on November 1st. Bring your special pens and writer's caps! Please shoot me an email if you plan on dropping by so I can buy enough donuts.

Rowling in a Row with India

Here's some weird book news for you:

J.K. Rowling, creator of Harry Potter, has lost a copyright suit filed against members of the Indian city Kolkata for creating a giant papier mache replica of Hogwarts Castle. Read on...

http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hB0Se_SFVl8Fz4LDWg0uMCBhEMqw

http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-10-12-voa27.cfm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7041863.stm

...and so on.

The Spinster's Scrip

Well. This is not your average Victorian book of love poems and domestic bliss. Edited by Cecil Raynor and published in 1896, The Spinster's Scrip is a compilation of quips and quotes about the horrors of married life, one for each day of the year (much like a daily devotional to bitterness). Here are a couple:

January Second:

"Is Courtship bliss? Marriage is blister."

-unknown.

May Twenty-Ninth:

"A second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience."

-Dr. Johnson

and, last but not least, October Thirty-First:

(regarding the fate of the married)

"They die so slowly that none call it murder."

-unknown.

My favorite thing about this particular book is the inscription on the front end page:

Who was Billy? Who was Fraggy? Best wishes...do I detect just the faintest hint of sarcasm in Fraggy's penmanship, a touch of anger in the underlinings? Perhaps she was Billy's jilted bride-to-be and this book her answer to his finding someone else. If so, I hope she kept the ring. Good riddance, Girl. Better to learn the truth now before you've been hitched to his unfaithful sorry--

...not that I'm bitter.

2007 Texas Book and Paper Show

The 14th Annual North Texas Book and Paper Show will be held at the Will Rogers Center on October 6th and 7th. This is a really neat event for anyone who loves books. We will have a table there showcasing some of our more unusual items. If you're in the Ft. Worth area that weekend, please feel free to stop by and say Howdy.

There have been a couple folks looking for others interested in carpooling or caravaning from the Stephenville area. Shoot me an email if you are interested.

Also, I have a couple of discount tickets left. First come, first serve--stop by the store to nab one.

College Textbooks

I have had several customers bring up the rising cost of college textbooks. While this subject does not really pertain to the Lion's book stock (We do sell textbooks, but most of them are specialty items rather than current curricula requirements.), I thought the following article might interest some of you:

Bookstores Only Make Small Profit from Textbook Sales

Any thoughts on this article?

Betty Crocker's Baking's Believing

I found this little gem last week: Baking's Believing, from Betty Crocker (circa 1976). It's just a tiny pamphlet, but inside are recipes and cooking tips which range from the adorable to the downright bizarre (Houdini Wienies, anyone?)

My favorite recipe from the booklet is for secret message cupcakes--each cupcake contains a hidden message in the sugar topping...nifty!

Fall News

Greetings and Salutations!

Life is good here at the Lion this fall. We got quite a bit of re-stocking and re-arranging done during the summer, and now have several new sections almost ready for business.

The biggest addition to the shop is a Texana research library. This is a special collection on loan from Texana guru Bob Dunn--be sure to check out his site for the details.

Dublin Dr. Pepper is now available at the Lion...woohoo!

We still carry the pinon coffee crunch chocolate bars. A new blend of coffee has come out that is truly wonderful: Texas Pinon. It's made by the same company that produces the candy, and it definitely is up to their usual standards. I brew some daily here at the Lion, so be sure to drop in for a cup on the house. We are selling it in 8oz. bags as whole beans, but I will be happy to grind it for you if you prefer.

What else...I've opened up a new-ish history room as well as expanded the children's section. We have quite a few new children's nostalgia and historical fictions as well as biographies--you know--the kind of books that used to assume kids could actually read and think. Many of them are great reads for the whole family and not just the wee ones. With chilly fall weather on the horizon, now is a great time to plan for popcorn, cider, and read-alouds.

Speaking of read-alouds, storytime is starting up again. I'll have the details in a later post.

Blessings,
S.

Poem

This is an excerpt from Mike Snyder's awesome poem, "Thoughts collected on a super crazy bouncing ball, or Poem written in a rare used bookstore." Thanks, Mike--we'll get to work on those out-patient procedures...as soon as I put up that 5 cent psychiatry sign.

Mike's book, Poems Written Near a Laundromat, is now available for purchase at the Lion.


"...But in some downtown beloved bookstore one may bundle toboggans finding a cease-
fire in this sea of love-n-literary desire lying about with the lonely lions
devouring minty tea feasting on a banquet of coffee-n-biscotti...
'self-educated' can never be overrated..
the seeds are sewn, and who knows where they're goin',
..please excuse the mess,
a rampaging nanny goat just smashed thru a downtown police barricade
and galloped in
looking for 3 billy goats gruff..this is noooo jest..
Earlier we had a Sinatra crooner yammer at the top of his lungs
and some kooke demanding a library card or he'd start a fire,
sir, this is not a library--only a sanctuary..
and we're still working on out-patient procedures."

-Mike Snyder, from "Poem written in a rare used bookstore"

The Minstrel

This is a book written originally as a gift to Elvis Presley from Bernard Benson, who, according to the dust jacket blurb, was the inventor of guided missiles, homing torpedoes, and the Delta Wing aircraft, who later retired from his work to a medieval home in France where he devoted himself to the studying the Tibetan culture (which explains why our yak shepherdess is so excited about this book). The book itself is a fable about a minstrel from long ago who gets reincarnated as--guess who--and is thus able to once again bring joy and peace to the world. Our copy is a reprint published shortly after Elvis' death; the copyright page indicates that proceeds from its original sales went to support Tibetan sages.

I couldn't make this up if I tried.

-S.

En Ven Er En Der Kan Li' Dig

En Ven Er En Der Kan Li' Dig, by Joan Walsh Anglund. A...Dutch, is it?...book with wonderful illustrations.

My litmus test for deciding if a book is in Dutch or German....If it looks like German, but I can't understand it, it's Dutch. This works most of the time.

Martian Landscapes

Wow. The sky is red from all this West Texas dirt that's blown in. I feel like reading some Bradbury. If anybody out there has a picture of this dust storm, shoot me a copy and I'll post it.

The Psychology of Arithmetic

The Psychology of Arithmetic, by Edward Thorndike, 1923

This is evidently a book on the psychology of teaching arithmetic, not on the inner motivations of the numbers themselves. A quick perusal of the text turned up this gem of a line:

What armament of satisfiers and annoyers, of positive and negative interests and
motives, stands ready for use in the formation of the intrinsically uninteresting connections between black marks and meanings, numerical exercises and their answers, words and their spelling, and the like? School practice has tried, more or less at random, incentives and deterrents from quasi-physical pain to the most sentimental fondling, from sheer cajolery to philosophical argument, from appeals to assumed savage and primitive traits to appeals to the interest in automobiles, flying-machines, and wireless telegraphy.

They just don't write 'em like that anymore.

Back from Tibet

Greetings and Salutations!

It's been a while since I've been able to blog, but hopefully there will be a bit more time for such things in the future (Ha; I've said that before.).

We now are carrying pinon nut coffee and chocolates. This is the best coffee I've ever tasted, period, and I'm excited to finally carry this company's products. I brew a pot daily, so feel free to drop in for a quick cuppa. Fair warning, though--I brew it strong enough to mule kick.

The 2007 Penny for Your Thoughts lectures were kicked off by Dr. Christopher in January. In case you're new to the Lion, this is a free series of talks given on subjects ranging from poetry to science and everything in between. The next talk will be given by Dr. Marcy Tanter in March. Please check our Events listing on the website for details.

What else.... We still have an open mike poetry night the 3rd Thursday of each month. There are other groups and special events listed on the calendar.

That's all for now!

Blessings,
Sarah