KnC Books

The Internet has been Closed for your Protection

2012-01-18T13:56:00.000-08:00

Today many Websites have blacked out all or part of their content to protest legislation being considered in Congress that would effectively enable censorship of the Internet, in the name of stopping copyright theft.

KnC Books joins our larger and more visible Internet brotherhood in decrying the SOPA/PIPA bills currently in Congress. As a reader and retailer of the printed word it is alarming to me that a collection of well-vested special interests are allowed to promote their commercial agenda ahead of the rights of the people.

If you want to read more about this legislation and its intentions, follow these links:
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Wikipedia
NetCoalition

And in case you aren't worried about what a "little" censorship can do, I leave you with these immortal words:

Sincerely,
Ken Sawade
Owner, KnC Books

Not Your Usual Steinbeck

2011-11-29T22:39:00.000-08:00

This review is from: A Cup of Gold (Popular Library #216)

John Steinbeck's first novel, "A Cup of Gold" is definitely not the Steinbeck of Of Mice and Men or The Grapes of Wrath ... and maybe that is exactly what is likable about it.

"Cup of Gold" follows the adventures of the pirate Henry Morgan as he pillages his way across the Caribbean (and then some) in search of the elusive Cup of Gold, which is neither gold, nor a cup. In this, his first novel, author John Steinbeck gives us his view of an older period of history before he positioned his writing in a more modern era. Evidently he decided that historical fiction was not his strong suit, and as the body of his work shows, it seems he was right.

Yet despite the differences in subject and setting, "Cup of Gold" is most assuredly Steinbeck, with all of his descriptive powers, character development, and razor sharp dialog.

Add to the mix a flock of bloodthirsty pirates, seafaring jargon, and treasure aplenty and you have a great story that presages Cannery Row in its earthiness and unflinching humanity. Heroes and villains become interchangeable as greed works its way through the soul, and even gold loses its luster in the quest for more, more, more. When Morgan at last finds his Cup it is bitterness that he tastes, not victory.

Steinbeck may not have yet hit his stride, but he most certainly was on his feet in A Cup of Gold.

Book Review: The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

2011-10-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

A Rose is a Rose is a Rose

This review is from: The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

"Do you really think you're the only human being alive who is unforgivably flawed? Who's been hurt almost to the point of breaking?"

After 18 years in the foster care system, Victoria believes that yes, she is the only one. And as a consequence, friendship, love, and redemption seem the stuff of fairy tales, of other people's lives.

In her debut novel, "The Language of Flowers", author Vanessa Diffenbaugh takes us into a world that very few of us really know: the life of children (and the adults they touch) in foster care. In doing so she manages to steer a careful course between the opposing shoals of sermonizing and romanticizing, and guides us straight into the life of Victoria, a young woman caught up in the current.

As many of us do, Victoria tries to find the balance between swimming against the tide and simply trying to stay afloat. Neither course is entirely successful, nor is it an absolute failure. Hampered by her inability to share her feelings verbally, Victoria falls back on her second language; the symbology of flowers. Through her almost instinctive ability to see the message in her floral medium, she finds a way to reach out to a handful of fellow travelers, a lifeline out of her self-inflicted solitude. But each time she throws the rope away, knowing in her heart she does not deserve to be saved, afraid to be tied to anyone or anything.

There comes a point in your life that you find that what prevents you from moving forward is not what is in front of you - it is what is behind you. The overwhelming weight of your past can anchor you in place, and rob you of your future. Often, a series of events will bring you right back to that point you started from, and you must confront the flood of your fears all over again.

"The Language of Flowers" is the story of anyone that has made that journey back into the light, back into the stream of life. Sometimes you may sympathize with Victoria, at others you just want to shake some sense into her, but you can never be ambivalent about her. By title and subject "Flowers" may give off the scent of being "chick-lit", but there is nothing perfumed about life here - there are plenty of falls and sharp edges and thorns among the roses.

I don't judge books by their covers, but rather by how eager I am to pick them back up and reluctant to put them down. By all my marks, Vanessa Diffenbaugh speaks a language that I understand.

Book Review: "My Russian Grandmother and Her American Vacuum Cleaner" by Meir Shalev

2011-10-08T17:33:00.000-07:00

Grandma's Dirty Little Secret

My Russian Grandmother and Her American Vacuum Cleaner
This is how it is: author Meir Shalev has taken the threads of family history and woven them into a tale that drapes as easily as a babushka over the head of the family, in this case Grandma Tonia. Every family has a skeleton or two in the closet; Grandma has a sweeper in the bathroom. Or does she? The story doesn't have to have a point -- the story IS the point.

As the title My Russian Grandmother and Her American Vacuum Cleaner implies, this is in no small part a tale of the clash of cultures (and cultural values). Americans have long been upheld as the personification of luxury and comfort, and reviled for those very same qualities at the same time. 'Luxury' implies laziness, 'comfort' equals complacence. It is not simply a case of the 'haves' and the 'have-nots', but goes deeper into values and ideals.

And when your ideal is cleanliness, the value of a vacuum cleaner would be priceless, or so one would think. Like magic the dirt disappears, never to be seen or heard from again. It is a miracle of modern science, as long as we ignore the law of conservation of mass. And then at last the weighty dilemma occurs - who sweeps the sweeper?

Shalev manages the diversity of cultural history and values with sure hands - the story of My Russian Grandmother and Her American Vacuum Cleaner could happen anywhere, and in any time. In fact, I am sure it has. While not everyone has a Grandma Tonia or an Uncle Yitzhak, we have all had people like them in our lives and in our own families. The idiosyncrasies that make us individuals are the very things we have in common.

An enjoyable read, filled with humorous insight into obsessive-compulsive behavior as well as the Freudian aspects of a manicure, My Russian Grandmother is part James Thurber's My Life and Hard Times, part my own uncle Dave reminiscing about life on the farm in the Depression, if my family had been Jewish and Israel was Minnesota. If you don't have stories like this in YOUR family, you should make some up.

Book Review: "In A Dog's Heart" by Jennifer Arnold

2011-10-06T20:45:00.000-07:00

In a Dog's Heart: What Our Dogs Need, Want, and Deserve--and the Gifts We Can Expect in Return by Jennifer Arnold

There are at least as many books on raising dogs as there are on raising children, and undoubtedly as many points of view. There are scores of television shows and Internet sites professing to have the "secret" of success in teaching Fido what to do, and more importantly, what NOT to do.

So what makes In A Dog's Heart any different? What makes companion animal trainer and dog rescuer Jennifer Arnold the voice we should listen to?

She starts with one simple premise: treat "man's best friend" like a friend. Dogs have evolved and grown alongside mankind for thousands of years. Their wants and needs are parallel to our own - to be physically well, to be safe, to know friendship and love, and to be content in their lives. And as dogs help us find these things for ourselves, as friends we should help them do the same.

Arnold points out that much is made in current dog training of the "pack mentality" of the dog's wolf ancestors. The theory is that our dogs must be taught their place, with we their owners as the "alpha" canines. Arnold shows (and research supports) that dogs are not wolves, and even if they were, a pack is not a group of unassociated animals fighting for dominance. A pack is a family unit; the alpha pair are the parents, and the pack works together to supply its needs. Think about it - a group of animals continually fighting each other for dominance would not last as a unit for long in the wild. And they won't last long in the home either.

Arnold gives us helpful pointers for understanding our dog's behaviors from the dog's perspective. He just wants to be well, and safe, and loved, and happy. He simply lacks the vocal ability to tell us how that can happen. He acts out his worries and fears (like many of us humans do as well). We need to learn to read the signs, not browbeat our friends into silence.

And no that doesn't mean we let our dogs run wild. Arnold also teaches how to deal with problem behaviors, from chewing furniture to jumping up to biting. Dogs have spent millennium learning to get along with us; we need to spend a few hours returning the favor.

As a lifetime dog owner (I have three right now) I found In a Dog's Heart to be a humane, insightful, and knowledgeable approach to selecting, raising, and enjoying a healthy loving dog. Five Stars!

Book Review: My Favorite Band Does Not Exist

2011-06-23T16:36:00.000-07:00

Deity's Syndrome: "Multisystemic symptoms resulting from a psychosomatic manisfestation of the unshakable fear that the patient is a character in a novel".

That mouthful of psychological jargon is the diagnosis for the character of Ideal Deity in Robert T. Jeschonek's My Favorite Band Does Not Exist. It also sets the stage for a wild allegorical ride through philosophical thought from the Greeks to modern Western philosophy.

The characters we meet are always more than they seem. Symbolism is rife in every name, occupation, and physical description. Janus, two-faced god of beginnings and transitions makes an early appearance, albeit in female form, and is there to guide Ideal along the path from existential solipism, through Cartesian dualism, and finally to nondualist enlightenment. Along the way we meet Descartes' "evil genius" and a host of mythological and religious figures as friends, foes, or fellow travelers. All of this is set in the current world of online music, Twitter, and the Internet - well, except where it moves into a different reality.

Jeschonek does a great job of matching the actual format of the book to the story. You know when you are reading the book within the book because, well it's a book within the book! The language and concepts are accessible; this is not a philosophy text full of 6 syllable words. As the novel moves towards its closing, the story does gather speed, flipping through reality like a deck of cards in Alice in Wonderland, and it can be a little hard for the reader to keep up.

The question in the back of my mind throughout this fast-moving book was, "Would a teenager like this?" The book is targeted to ages 12 and up (grades 7+), and some of the vocabulary and plot twists are more appropriate for the higher end of that range. I can see this being used in an English classroom to teach metaphors and symbolism; motivated students would have a field day deciphering names and finding hidden symbology. But would they read it for fun? I'm just not sure. I definitely know some kids who would love this - and some who would glaze over a few pages into it.

So I am afraid I must compromise. I rate My Favorite Band Does Not Exist 5 stars for how much I enjoyed reading it, but have to lower that to 4 stars in consideration of how I think most teenagers would receive it. That being said, if you know a young adult that likes a story with a little more story to it, and enjoys sci-fi/fantasy, I heartily recommend My Favorite Band.

2011-04-30T22:37:00.000-07:00

In How to Live with a Neurotic Dog, Stephen Baker posits the ultimate question: "Can the neurotic dog be cured?" Of course to answer that question, we must first find out why the dog is neurotic to begin with.

In true psychoanalytical fashion, Baker delves into the canine subconscious, sorting through the mass of insecurities and phobias that make up the dog's psyche. It is no surprise (to the dog anyway), the root cause of anxiety for man's best friend is man.

The inhuman treatment that men (and women) inflict upon our four-legged friends is described in detail, and it makes the sensitive reader cringe to contemplate. Rigorous demands on the dog's system include our insistence they remain awake for minutes at a time, as well as restricting the quantity and quality of the food they eat. Every movement the dog makes is micro-managed, from where they sleep to where they go to the bathroom. It's small wonder that our pets are neurotic!

With the aid of illustrative examples by Eric Gurney, Baker gives us a roadmap to healing the divide between man and beast. If you love your dog, you owe it to yourself and your pet to read this book.

Book Review: The Best of Clarence Day

2010-02-12T18:26:00.000-08:00

The Best of Clarence Day is a collection of five works by the American author Clarence Shepard Day, Jr. (1874-1935). This collection was first published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1948, under their Borzoi Books imprint. Many of the chapters were originally published by The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, and other literary magazines of the period.

The first three books included in this anthology are God and My Father (published in book form in 1932), Life with Father (1935), and Life with Mother (published posthumously in 1937). Day's memoirs of family life in turn-of-the-century New York give us a humorous and loving portrait of the times, and of the dynamics of the Day family. He gives us a view of Wall Street during the horse and buggy days; of communication before the telephone; and of getting ice to put in the icebox to keep things cold. Day's illustrations lend a personal touch to the proceedings.

Sprinkled in with the fond remembrances are tidbits of social commentary about social mores and gender roles:
"Men knew the world. Women didn't. Women were not fitted to deal with the world. A wife's fortune, if she had one, was usually controlled by her husband. And men's manner in supplying women with money was supposed to be tender but firm ... The idea of her ever becoming independent, even in a small way, in money matters and having a life of her own seemed a dream."
Day is not judgmental - his remonstrances against the status quo of the 1890's are tempered by the knowledge that those were the sensibilities of the times. He manages to bring his larger-than-life father down to human size, and shows us that his mother, like many women of her time, worked in her own way to change the roles and goals of women going into the 20th century.

This Simian World (1920), the fourth book in this collection, is Clarence Day's take on evolution and mankind. He theorizes, tongue firmly in cheek, what the world would be like if insects or cats had become the dominant species on the planet instead of man; with some startling conclusions.

And having decided that we simians are perhaps the rightful heirs to the Earth, Day looks at us as a species; our foibles and faults - and our successes:
"We have but to look back on our past to have hope in our future ... We shall win our own triumphs, yet know that they would have been different, had we cared above all for creativeness, beauty, or love."

The last section of The Best of Clarence Day are selections from Thoughts Without Words (1928), a collection of Thurber-esque drawings with poetic commentary that makes a period endpiece to the collection. Not quite editorial cartoons, not nearly comics, the amorphous characters make us smile and think all at once.

Frontispiece Gallery on Facebook

2010-01-31T10:50:00.000-08:00

A frontispiece (in book terms) is an illustration at the beginning of the book, preceding or facing the title page. It may be a portrait of the author, but usually it illustrates some point of the book itself. A frontispiece can be in color, even if the remaining illustrations are not, and may be the only illustration in the book.

Frontispieces are commonly inserted in special "Illustrated edition" titles, but can be found in older books with no particular distinctions. Most often found in young adult fiction, they appear in every genre.

The frontispiece has fallen into disuse in books today, probably as much due to cost as anything else.

I think the frontispiece is a unique and enjoyable art form in itself, so I have started a gallery of frontispiece artwork on the KnC Books Facebook page. I will add to these as I come across them in my inventory. I invite you to let me know what you think of these illustrations, and share any favorites of your own.

Why I Am In The Used Book Business

2010-01-29T11:42:00.000-08:00

That's easy ... I LOVE books!

My mom had been a teacher before she got married, and instilled in her three sons a love of reading. More importantly, we had a room full of books to read. Off of our dining room was a small room that we called the den, where our minuscule black and white television lived (this was before DVD's ... before VHS and cable even!) Two of the walls were lined with bookshelves, and on them were hidden treasures untold - worlds and lives I could not even imagine.

The rule of thumb was if I could reach it, I could read it. The lower shelves were mostly paperbacks - Jules Verne and H.G. Wells and Robb White - and hardbound volumes of short stories. By the time I had worked my way through them I was tall enough to reach the higher shelves, where John Steinbeck rubbed shoulders with Sinclair Lewis, and Alexander Dumas dueled for my attention with Robert Louis Stevenson.

Yes, I know there are books on tape, and e-books, but there is something about an actual BOOK. I love the heft of a book in my hand, the texture of the paper, the patterns of black type against the page, the smell of fresh ink or old paper. Even the sound of turning a page is music to my ears.

It's like the difference between watching a movie of Hamlet on your TV, and seeing it performed on the stage. The first is entertaining. The second is enlivening, enlightening, enthralling. You don't watch it; you experience it. The story is the same, but there is a qualitative difference.