|
SOME OF OUR FAVORITE BOOKS
|
|
|
|
|
|
Seduction of the Innocent, by Fredric Wertham, published by Main Road Books in 2004. Hardback limited to 220 copies. A reprint of the notorious book that upended the comic book industry when it was first published in 1954. A very good copy with slightly bumped corners. $75.
|
|
|
|
Lonesome Traveler, by Jack Kerouac. Hardback first edition published by McGraw-Hill in 1960. Book is in very good condition with good jacket - DJ is sunned and lightly soiled, sticker remains on front panel, minor edge wear; binding corners very slightly bumped. $100
|
|
|
|
Wisconsin Death Trip, by Michael Lesy. Hardback first edition published by Pantheon in 1973. In good condition with good jacket; DJ has some edge wear with several 1" tears and creasing, light sunning to DJ; some sunning to binding, corners and spine ends bumped. $100
|
|
|
|
THIS MONTH'S STAFF PICK
(by Ricky)
|
|
|
Cinema Biography at the Iliad Bookshop
A favorite section at the Iliad is the Cinema Biography section. Of course, any bookstore in Los Angeles is going to have a big cinema and tv section simply because there are so many people in the industry living here and trading their books. But the Iliad has a particularly large cinema biography section. One I tend to browse through every day, because there are new arrivals coming in by the boatload.
In this week's "Staff Pick" article, I thought I'd share some of my favorite cinema biographies.
Ray Milland's autobiography, Wide-Eyed in Babylon, is one of the funniest and most entertaining of cinema biographies. Despite winning an Oscar for The Lost Weekend, Milland never considered himself a great actor. His humility and a great sense of humor give the book, which covers his acting career from its beginning in the 1930s, a real zest. This autobiography should be on any cinema lovers top 10 list.
Add Sidney Poitier's autobiography, This Life, to that top 10 list for sure. Although lacking the buoyant sense of humor of Ray Milland, Mr. Poitier has a penetrating insight into people and the Hollywood industry. Being the first major black actor to break the stereotype barrier in Hollywood, his observations are priceless. Plus, Mr. Poitier is a very good writer.
 I'll close this out with another autobiography which has borne up to several re-readings: Lilian Gish's remarkable, The Movies, Mr. Griffith, and Me. One of the seminal female silent film stars, Lilian Gish is also an amazing person. She chronicles her start as a child actress and into fame working with D.W. Griffith who became a lifelong friend. Ms. Gish has a grace and sense of the poetic that makes this autobiography a must-read. But don't let that fool you into thinking that it's all nostalgia: silent film work was hard and she tells the story with grit and humor.
Side Note
We recently purchased a notorious autobiography written by that great scoundrel actor, Klaus Kinski. His All I Need is Love was pulled after publication and has become very hard to find with a dust jacket. We have two copies; one at $75 and the other at $100.
And I have to mention the only novel written by Jean Harlow, Today is Tonight, is in our rare book room. It has a very good dust jacket and is a Grove Press publication (1965), stated first printing for $300.
|
|
If you're of (ahem) a certain age, you remember those days before streaming, before DVDs, before even VHS tape, when reading a tie-in book was the best way to relive a favorite movie. Which is not to say that movie and t.v. tie-ins aren't still fun - they are! - but they hold special memories for those of us who were movie-loving young readers in the days before internet, disc or tape.
Did you know that we have a large section of tie-in paperback books? You can find everything here from classic European dramas to beloved cult t.v. shows. We also have a section of larger paperbacks and hardbacks devoted to the making of and/or screenplays of movies, but the tie-in paperback shelves hold a special kind of magic for many collectors and fans.
We don't have many of these catalogued (most of them are priced under $5!), but be sure to take a look next time you're in the store. If you love older movies and television shows, you're in for a treat.
|
|
|
Have you ever noticed the big safe full of books behind Iliad's front counter? We get asked about it frequently. "Is it really old?" is a common question (the answer: no, we bought it new just a few years ago). But most customers want to know what kind of books merit storage in a safe (we think of these as the rarest of our rare books), so in this column we'll pick one book every month and tell you about it. This month's book is...
|
|
|
|
|
Have you ever looked at our locked cases on Metaphysics and Oddities? The former includes Occult and Religion; the latter, Magic, Law, Reference, and...well, Oddities. We just got around to creating catalogs of the contents of these cases, so if you're curious, take a look at the PDF files linked below. Bon appetit!
|
|
|
I didn't grow up in a small town (unless you count Arcadia as a small town and not just another Valley suburb of L.A.), but I can certainly relate to an article called "In Praise of the Small Town Library." Like probably most booksellers, as a kid my parents couldn't get me out of libraries.
This delightful article by Steven Kurutz (see link in blue button below) talks about real small town east coast libraries, but we've got plenty here in SoCal that similarly "suggested the great works of Western lit were mine alone to discover."
Have you, for example, ever seen our own North Hollywood library? It was built in 1929 in the Spanish Colonial Revival style; in keeping with its full official name (North Hollywood Amelia M. Earhart Regional Branch), nearby is a statue of the famed aviatrix. It offers not just "the sweet damp smell of paper and glue slowly decaying," but also computer courses and meeting facilities available to the public.
But of course the main allure of any library - what makes them into, as Mr. Kurutz puts it, "a charged space" - will always be the books.
in 2016, 87 new ABA member bookstores opened for business in 32 states and the District of Columbia. That is almost a 43 percent increase over the number of store openings in 2015.
in 2016, 87 new ABA member bookstores opened for business in 32 states and the District of Columbia. That is almost a 43 percent increase over the number of store openings in 2015.
in 2016, 87 new ABA member bookstores opened for business in 32 states and the District of Columbia. That is almost a 43 percent increase over the number of store openings in 2015.
in 2016, 87 new ABA member bookstores opened for business in 32 states and the District of Columbia. That is almost a 43 percent increase over the number of store openings in 2015.
in 2016, 87 new ABA member bookstores opened for business in 32 states and the District of Columbia. That is almost a 43 percent increase over the number of store openings in 2015.
in 2016, 87 new ABA member bookstores opened for business in 32 states and the District of Columbia. That is almost a 43 percent increase over the number of store openings in 2015.
|
|
|
|
It's okay, Zeus - I don't need to put that box of bookmarks away. You just keep on snoozing in the lid. If it fitz, you sitz. Got it.
|
|
We'd love to include your photos in our newsletter! Feel free to send to info@iliadbooks.com , let us know that it's okay to use the photo, and we'll include it in a future newsletter.
If you need more photos/videos of Zeus and Apollo, or any of Iliad's past felines, please visit our Pet Gallery.
|
|
|
|
