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Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way

I was at Barnes and Noble the other day picking up a computer book and as usual I took some time to rummage through the bargain bin, looking to rescue a forgotten gem from wherever big book stores eventually send their unwanted goods. As I passed over numerous uninteresting titles on cooking, yoga, and astrology (three topics guaranteed to reserve you a spot on the ‘last chance’ rack) a name popped out at me from several titles down.. Bruce Campbell. Well, I’m a huge Bruce Campbell fan so I immediately grabbed it up to see what I had found. Turns out he wrote a novel, and it was discounted to $4.95!

“Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way” was a fun read. It’s a fictional story written in the first person involving real people like Bruce, Richard Gere, and Renee Zellweger. In it Bruce gets a shot at an A-List Mike Nichols film, after which craziness ensues as things go down hill for both him and the film. His research into his new role as a doorman involve plenty of interesting characters, over-the-top circumstances, and the campy humor we expect from the B-movie king. He has a way of writing that makes it feel like he’s talking directly to you, like you’re sitting together having a drink as he regales you with the time he almost co-starred in a big Hollywood film.

The large type and one and a half line spacing made me a little wary as first, but in the end it was a fun story that held my interest tightly enough that I got through it in three sittings and felt the need to report on it here. Oh, and it’s got lots of fun graphics to help you visualize bits of the story.

If you’re a Bruce Campbell fan that appreciates his self-deprecating sense of humor then I highly recommend it.

Those Crazy Brothers Grimm

There are plenty of lessons out there that attempt to teach your children respect for their elders, but this has got to be the strangest I’ve come across -

“A man and his wife were once sitting by the door of their house, and they had a roasted chicken set before them, and were about to eat it together. Then the man saw that his aged father was coming, and hastily took the chicken and hid it, for he would not permit him to have any of it. The old man came, took a drink, and went away. Now the son wanted to put the roasted chicken on the table again, but when he took it up, it had become a great toad, which jumped into his face and sat there and never went away again, and if any one wanted to take it off, it looked venomously at him as if it would jump in his face, so that no one would venture to touch it. And the ungrateful son was forced to feed the toad every day, or else it fed itself on his face, and thus he went about the world knowing no rest.”

The Great and Powerful Book

There is no denying it, I am a technology buff. I get my news, weather, music and the greater portion of my entertainment online. I have digital cable, a DVR, surround sound and a laptop that is attached to me about 75% of the time. But even with all this just a mouse or remote control click away there is still something incredibly comforting to me about cracking open a real-life paper and ink book.

I have quite a few of them.. enough that they warrant their own room in my house, my own private mini-library. The majority of my books are computer or art related, though I do have a lot of very old books that I inherited from my father’s side of the family - some dating back to the 1800’s. I’m always amazed at how well they’ve held up over the years and for this reason when I go out to buy a book I always try and get the highest quality hardback version if available in the hopes that one day some future member of the Guest family line can explore my collection and enjoy it as i have my forebears’.

But I digress.

It is undeniable how easy and helpful it can be to purchase books online. If I am looking to purchase a computer or technical book it’s the first place I go. I browse the reviews, find exactly what I’m looking for and a few days later it arrives. But I started writing this post with the intention of expressing my great pleasure over the gems that can be found offline, in a brick and mortar book store. Lots of book stores have bargain areas offering greatly discounted books, often hardcovers that more thrifty buyers had passed up in lieu of the (usually substantially) cheaper paperback versions. I try and make my way to the local Borders or Barnes and Noble’s at least once a month or so to scour the bargain bins for anything that looks remotely intriguing. I’ve obtained most of my more interesting non-computer related books in this manner.

Over the holidays I received a Borders gift card from my sister, always one of my favorite gifts, and tonight I decided to stop by after work to see what struck me. For a less than $40 I was able to get all of the following:

“The Wind in the Willows and Other Writings” by Kenneth Grahame.
I look forward to reading this one with my child one day.

“Robinson Crusoe” by Daniel Defoe.

“Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad.
I really get into stories of the Victorian exploration (and terrible exploitation) of pre-1900’s Africa. To this tune I also highly recommend “To the Heart of the Nile” by Pat Shipman.

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Tales” by Washington Irving.
A fine collection of short stories.. classic fairy tales and fables being among my favorite reading.

“Origins” by Neil deGrasse Tyson and Donald Goldsmith.
Self described as “An illuminating excursion into the beginnings of the Universe - from the big bang to the birth of life itself.”

“Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies” by Jared Diamond.
I saw a review about this one on another blog some time ago and put it on my mental list of books to get.

The first four books are all published by Borders Classics and are of extremely high quality. Thick pages, perfect type and strong binding all for a measly $10 cover price, of which I paid half. The other two are also fairly high quality and were marked down substantially, over 90% in the case of “Origins“. I like to think that these books will last for years to come bringing my family entertainment, knowledge, and culture that a DVD, podcast, or video game just cannot match.