A Penguin a Week – what a great quest

Today I had the pleasure of meeting Karyn Reeves, who collects vintage (pre-1970s) Penguins. Karyn reads and reviews them on her blog, which is a really cool read, find it here:

apenguinaweek . blogspot . com . au /

Good luck on your reading adventure, Karyn! It is so great to see somebody giving love to the books that most seem to have forgotten.

L’Yan

LOTS of sci-fi now in, and more coming soon

Are you after any elusive SF titles? We now have a LOT of books in our most excellent SciFi/Fantasy section, and not all of them have made it onto our online database, so let us know if you’re looking for something and we can see if it’s here. Also, a little birdy told me today that so far I am only halfway through sorting and pricing the new boxes of scifi – so there are a lot, and I mean a LOT more on their way! Check out some of the great covers…

L’Yan

They don't make them like this any more... sigh

Look what Magda scored today for her personal library…

Jealous much?! There are 12 or so other Upfield titles in stock so let us know if you’re looking for any in particular. Or if you want any other special books too

Freud, that fiend!

Check this out, we just got this book in – it sounds fascinating!

11.22.63 by Stephen King

We got this one in today. I haven’t read much of the ol’ King-ster (‘It’, ‘The Stand’, and who could ever forget ‘Misery’, shudder). But this blurb intrigues me. I like time travel stuff. Anyone read this? What’s the verdict? Let me know please… And if you haven’t read it, here’s the blurb so you can join in the fun. L’Yan

Stephen King 11.22.63 blurbarama

Plum power

JimmyD’s staff have very different tastes in crime fiction. One of us enjoys “foreign” crime (Scandinavian in particular), one of us enjoys a good psychological thriller, and one of us is devoted to old-school detective fiction. So it is not often that we stumble across a book that all of us have read, and when we do, it is a very rare occurence indeed if all of us have enjoyed reading it.

One of the rare crowd pleasers:

‘One for the Money’ by Janet Evanovich caters for those who enjoy solid characters, those who like a bit of wit to break up the tension, and those that like to read about something a *bit* different than lawyers in a courtroom – come on, who doesn’t love a bounty hunter? Stephanie Plum is a sassy heroine with a shaky (and hilarious) love life, and the “bad guy” is such a rogue you will probably end up cheering for him.

Not to mention, Janet Evanovich has released a Stephanie Plum novel at the rate of one per year for 18 years (so far). So if you enjoy the first one, why not keep going? (Admittedly, the quality starts to slide a bit, but they are still good fun and you really don’t have to pay too much attention to the plot!)

Let us know if you need any other suggestions, or if we can help you find an author that suits your taste.

L’Yan… and the crime lovin’ JimmyD’s gals

Thank you!

Hello to everybody who finds our website and wonders where we have gone!

I would just like to let you know that we still appreciate all of the emails and phone calls we get from you. We love to help you find that elusive book you have been looking for for ages! We have a lot of books in the shop and in storage that aren’t all listed for sale on the internet, so keep the questions coming and we will continue to try our best to help out.

If you are on facebook, find us at our page: JimmyD’s Bookshop

We would love to hear from you!

L’Yan

Weird Author Names, No. 1.

I’m just putting some new age books onto our system, and I came across this book:

The author’s name is so… intriguing. Sort of like a portmanteau of “good” and “savage”, and somehow just right for the author of a slim little Astrology volume from the mid-60s. I also feel compelled to share the author’s bio with you, since it’s almost as charming as his name.

“The author has worked as a reporter and tramp printer for at least half of the major dailies in the U.S. and has written hundreds of articles for the national magazines TRUE and FACT.”

TRUE and FACT indeed. You can pick up this charming little book in our New Age section, for $11.

-Agnes.

The Far Side by Gary Larson

Someone used to give my dad  a Far Side calendar for  Christmas every year, one of those desk calendars you flip over every day. I loved reading that calendar all at once. There was something about Gary Larson that was too cool to save for a calendar.

Gary Larson, if you didn’t know, does one-panel cartoons that are often dark, surreal and wildly funny. They’re a great gift for someone with a sense of humour, I think, but they’re also addictive (hence the way I spurned the one-cartoon-a-day calendar format).

Here’s something you might not know (that I discovered on Wikipedia). One of Larson’s cartoons features two chimpanzees groooming each other. One finds a blonde hair on the other and says “ Conducting a little more ‘research’ with that Jane Goodal tramp?” This is typical of Larson’s humour, which often features anthropomorthised animals. The Jane Goodal Institute wanted to sue Larson for this cartoon, but Goodal refused since she found the cartoon funny. She has since praised Larson’s ideas for the way they contrast the way that animals and humans live.

Jane Goodall isn’t the only friend Gary Larson has in the world of zoology, either. He has had a species of butterfly and a species of louse named after him. 

You’ll love Gary Larson if you like smart, surreal, weird and “quirky” humour, if you love animals or pop culture. I think this book would be a great gift for the scientist, office worker or comedy buff in your life. Maybe I’ll give it to my dad as a replacement for the calendar, this year.

Agnes.

Shantaram-a-rama

Joy of joys! Somebody just brought in a copy of Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts… which is also on the Top 100 lists. Therefore I simply must read it. I will slowly make my way through it and let y’all know how I go. Its a doozie.

L’Yan