Continuing on with our purchases at the annual book sale...
My husband found more books at the book sale this year, and was happier with the selection overall. His focus is primarily history, nonfiction, and photo books, although he always helps me look for mysteries and has several mystery series he always looks for. These are a few of his picks.
Train: Riding the Rails That Created the Modern World — From the Trans-Siberian to the Southwest Chief by Tom Zoellner
From the book review in the New York Times:
Zoellner sets off on a series of railway adventures — across America, India, Spain, Russia, Britain, China and the Peruvian Andes — that provide him with ample opportunities to contemplate the railways’ influence on everything from pop culture to dietary habits to national identity.
The Late Great Creature by Brock Brower
From The Overlook Press:
Brock Brower's National Book Award-nominated novel traces the making of a horror movie in Hollywood. Simon Moro, a 68-year-old star, is making his last picture, a low-budget remake of Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven. Moro, infuriated by the bland horror movies of his day, sees his own career — even as it ends — as an ongoing effort to wallop the public with an overwhelming moral shock. ... Brock Brower has taken the horror film in all its gory glory to create a book that recycles pop material into literature, creating a Dickensian tale of America.
The author lived in Carpinteria, California (very near to Santa Barbara) when this book, originally published in 1971, was reissued by The Overlook Press in 2011. See this article at The Santa Barbara Independent for more on the book and the author.
Summary from the Buffalo & Erie County Library:
Eleven-year-old Philip Noble has a big problem. It all begins when his dad appears as a ghost at his own funeral and introduces Philip to the Dead Fathers Club. Philip learns the truth about ghosts: the only people who end up as ghosts have been murdered. So begins Philip's quest to avenge his dad.
From the dust jacket:
An exciting and wonderfully imaginative story of how George V., King of England, tries to save his cousin Tzar Nicholas II from the Reds during the Russian Revolution in 1918. James Tremayne is secretly commissioned to mount the rescue expedition. In Vladivostock, Tremayne joins forces with a White Russian general, Kasakov, and an American construction engineer, Jim Story, an expert on the Trans-Siberian Railroad.
The Highly Effective Detective Duo by Richard Yancey
This is an omnibus containing The Highly Effective Detective and The Highly Effective Detective Goes to the Dogs.
Theodore “Teddy” Ruzak of Knoxville, TN, is the bumbling but determined detective in Yancey’s entertaining debut. Overweight and unschooled, Teddy quits his job as a night watchman to set up his own detective agency with a small inheritance. For his first case, Teddy is hired to track down a hit-and-run goose killer. Before long, however, the case turns decidedly homicidal. Endearing and colorful characters, suspenseful plots twists, and witty dialog make for a fun read.
On the occasion of Penguin’s 75th anniversary, Paul Buckley, the publisher’s US art director, chose 75 book covers that represent the best work produced by the company over the last decade.
See this article at Creative Review which includes five extracts from the book.
