It Me, Mesjak

Opinions, mostly. Opinions about books, bookselling, and publishing. And whatever else. I'm your host: John Mesjak, independent publishers' sales rep.

[mesjak]

CRABTREE: The delightful new picture book of lost things, careful searches, and obsessive sorting... You know, for kids! From @mcsweeneys.

[smallbeerpress]

Original video for Smalltown Boy.

See also:

It Ain’t Necessarily So

Tell Me Why

& The Communards: Don’t Leave Me This Way

[mesjak]

smallbeerpress is pushin' my 80s buttons tonight!

[kadrey-deactivated20181203]

Just in time for Halloween, it’s William Burroughs hatchet pumpkin time.

https://www.facebook.com/Burroughs100

[laphamsquarterly]

William Burroughs really knew how to carve a pumpkin. We’re afraid.

[mesjak]

Here's an idea for pumpkin-carving-time, courtesy of William Burroughs. Now I just need to find a rusty, dull butcher's knife to do it with.

[mesjak]

Eleanor Catton asks novel questions with epic ambition in The Luminaries Justine Jordan, theguardian.com

Author creates innovative Victorian thriller which seeks to peer through doors writers of the period kept firmly shut

It was clear that Eleanor Catton's first novel, published in 2009 and written when she was just 22, heralded the arrival of a…

THIS review of Booker Prize winning The Luminaries makes me want to read it NOW.

[nevver]

Books You Haven’t Read

Books You Needn’t Read

Books Made for Purposes Other Than Reading

Books Read Even Before You Open Them Since They Belong to the Category of Books Read Before Being Written

Books That If You Had More Than One Life You Would Certainly Also Read But...

[mesjak]

Like all the young tumblers say, I'll reblog this EVERY TIME.

[mesjak]

The poetry and wisdom of PIE. (Just reading this book makes me want a slice or two of pie.)

A Commonplace Book of Pie by Kate Lebo with illustrations by Jessica Lynn Bonin Chin Music Press (via Consortium) | 9780985041670 | $17.95 | Oct 2013

Kate Lebo: web | twitter | @pieschool on tumblr Chin Music Press: web | twitter | chinmusicpress on tumblr Consortium: web | twitter | artsviewfinder on tumblr

[sandandglass]

[kennyjb]

 The Government Shutdown explained in the best way.  

[mesjak]

Best explanation yet.

[mesjak]

Tonight's captivating foodie read: COWGIRL CREAMERY COOKS by Sue Conley and Peggy Smith (on sale at the end of October, from @ChronicleBooks). Ina Garten says, "Sue and Peggy produce some of the greatest cheeses in the United States and run one of the best cheese shop, and now they've shared with us a world of knowledge we can bring home to our own kitchens ... I can't wait to cook my way through their gorgeous book!" The book's page at Edelweiss: http://edelweiss.abovethetreeline.com/ProductDetailPage.aspx?sku=1452111634

[sassyscans]

Here it is! You CLAMORED for it and you got it, courtesy of Sassy fan Remyrogue - the Twin Peaks fashion spread from the October 1990 issue of Sassy Magazine.

PLEASE do not remove the Flickr attribution or re-upload this photo set. Remy LeBeau worked very hard to track down this magazine and share these images with us! I know there is very little I can do to stop you from doing these things but heed my words - stealing is not the Sassy Magazine way.

[mesjak]

So this is where I've been all weekend - hanging with my bookseller and publisher compadres. It's been an amazing three days!

[mesjak]

The opening page of @DanielGAlarcon's At Night We Walk in Circles. @riverheadbooks

[bkmuse7]

Why thirty-two pages?

Most picture book writers and illustrators learn pretty quickly that a standard picture book is thirty-two pages long. But why? True, that is a convenient length –- not too long, not too short. And…

a wonderful explanation and a new favorite blog …

[uispeccoll]

Visual explanation of how a picture book is printed, folded, cut & assembled.

[mesjak]

For anyone who never read Aliki's How A Book Is Made...

[saucybooks]

My awesome new water bottle. :3

[powells]

Won’t stop reblogging until everyone has consumed their suggested daily reading.

[mesjak]

powells has the best merch.

[nevver]

Pascal Campion

[mesjak]

This guy is one of my favorites

[mesjak]

An advance copy of the quite-literally enchanting BALLAD by Blexbolex is here. I was pretty amazed by the digital art I used to sell the book all summer, but nothing prepared me for the massive book lust this tiny book awakened.

It ships next month.

Ballad by Blexbolex (Enchanted Lion Books via Consortium | 9781592701377 | $22.95 | Nov 2013)

I wrote about Blexbolex’s previous books (People & Seasons) from Enchanted Lion on my3books.

Enchanted Lion: facebook

Anybody else a fan of Blexbolex and Enchanted Lion?

[mesjak]

The Suicide Shop by Jean Teulé (Gallic Books / Consortium)

The review in Shelf Awareness for Readers says: "Quirky and hilarious, this dark fable about a future in which a suicide boutique flourishes until the proprietors give birth to an optimistic son affirms the joys of living."

For readers feeling overwhelmed by the influx of dystopian- and apocalyptic-themed entertainment, Jean Teulé's The Suicide Shop, first published in France in 2006, will hit the spot. Environmental and economic chaos have wrecked the Earth. In this sad new world, suicide rates soar. For proper equipment and professional advice, many of the would-be dead turn to the Suicide Shop. (Its motto: "Has your life been a failure? Let's make your death a success.") The Tuvache family has run the shop for generations, bemoaning that their commitment to helping others choose and carry out their dream deaths dooms them to living long, depressed lives. Monsieur and Madame Tuvache assist customers in selecting nooses, poisons and seppuku trappings by day and read their children bedtime stories about doomed lovers at night. Their daughter is convinced of her own ugliness and uselessness; their oldest son bandages his head against perpetual migraines while designing a suicide-themed amusement park. They're the ideal purveyors of death, at least until Alan is born. Alan, the third Tuvache child, exhibits a disturbing tendency toward smiling. As Alan grows up, he continues to show unmistakable signs of happiness and optimism: laughing, joking, singing silly songs and, worst of all, trying to convince customers that life is worth living.

[nevver]

American Art

[mesjak]

Brilliant.