The Great American Pin Up

The Great American Pin-Up  Charles Martignette/ Louis K. Meisel

2002

Weight: 3.5 lbs

Method of Disposal: Leaving somewhere

This is not the first pin-up girl book to go, and it will not be the last.  I, like many many people before me, found something about pin-ups interesting and irresistible.  I loved to see the different props, uniforms, costumes, and political commentary that is enmeshed in the images.  The women’s facial expressions are great.  Shock, sheer joy, seduction, winking, sex, scandal.

This book features a large number of artists and lays their images out in a way that it is easy to recognize their individuality.  The pin ups were similar, but they had their own touches.  There are some really suggestive and hilarious ones.  There are some you have seen before.  It is a good collection.  

I am not, however, so invested that I mind letting this book go.  I probably won’t remember it once it is gone.  This is not a commentary on its quality but on how I feel about pin-ups now.  I can really give or take it.

Young Readers Nature Library

Young Readers Nature Library: The Sea

1979

Weight:  1 lb

Method of Disposal: Leaving somewhere

I was recently able to go snorkeling for hours on multiple days.  I would just nonchalantly and with no effort hover around coral reefs and watch the fish go about their days.  Parrot fish broke coral bits off with their tiny little teeth.  I saw a large blue angel fish comingling with much smaller and less vibrant fish.  Two stingrays.  One, I was able to swim over and see two fish stuck to its back.   I saw a conch waddle away slowly and a whole family of cuddle fish.  A flounder with florescent blue circles all up and down its back.  It was the closest I would ever come to visiting outer space, a lifelong dream of mine.  A whole different world, not readily visible.  A place I could visit but couldn’t take pictures of (given it was because I could not afford the necessary camera).  I loved every magical moment of it.

I am going to leave this 30 + year old book somewhere for someone to find because the sea is always and forever fascinating.

Xena

Xena: Warrior Princess

1998

Weight: 2 oz

Method of Disposal: Leaving somewhere

I was never a fan of Xena, though I felt like admitting it was like admitting I was a traitor to my lesbian history.  The love of the warrior princess became a way of recognizing other lesbians without any talk about sexuality amongst strangers.  Women the world over were smitten.  I still hear references to Lucy Lawless as the epitome of attraction.  I just never got into it.

I did hold onto this book for years though, and it was because of how it came to me.  My grandmother who was not at all comfortable with my lesbianism bought it for me.  Maybe it was my grandfather?  I just know that they gave me a stocking for Christmas.  I was digging out the mandatory nail clippers, dolphin figurines, and candy when I stumbled across this little purple book.  I wondered all sorts of things.  Was this a peace offering?  Did they know how popular she was amongst lesbians?  Did they just get it for me because she looked like a strong woman and knew I would appreciate that?  Was it given to them and in a moment of horror did they pass it on to their only granddaughter?  Did it accidentally fall into their bag while shopping and then into my stocking without them noticing?  How had it come to be?  I am still full of questions.  I decided then that it must mean something good.  That some level of understanding had been reached, even if it was not something so elaborate as God loving homosexuals.

Things I miss about working in a bookstore...

26a by Diana Evans 2005

HeartSick by Chelsea Cain 2007

Mad Girls in Love by Michael Lee West 2005

Samuel Pepys A Life by Stephen Coote 2001

The Season of Lillian Dawes by Katherine Mosby 2002

These Dreams by Barbara Chepaitis 2002

Weight: 6 lbs

Method of Disposal: Leaving each book in a different place around the city—you cannot sell them, but you can do that, right?

The Advanced Reader Copy.  You never know what you will get.  Okay, sometimes you know right away that it is going to be terrible, but sometimes you read a book that blows up months later or a hidden treasure that you can recommend to readers who are tired of reading the same ol’ stuff.  It is an unfortunate truth that sometimes they come home, are not read for years, and do not serve their purpose.  Most advanced reader copies I encountered I would return to the bookstore so someone else could read them.  I usually got the remainders anyway.  The books the managers did not want.

I miss Advanced Reader copies.  I also miss talking to average people about books and touching books every day.  Smelling random ones off the shelves.  I miss knowing what is popular, even the ones I have no desire to read.  I hate not knowing what fiction books people are talking about or what aging celebrity has decided, like hundreds before them, to become a writer.  I am embarrassed when I cannot think of a children’s book I am smitten with that came out after the year 2007.  I am not itching to get paid nothing, be treated like shit, and clean up after lazy parents and avid magazine readers, but there are some perks to working at a bookstore, like Advanced Readers.

The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter

The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter: The Original and Authorized Edition

1989

Weight: 2.4 lbs

Method of Disposal: Leaving somewhere or giving away if you would like a copy

This is a great book, and I feel honored to have spent so much time with it.  I still feel the residual magic of reading it as a child as I write this.  I loved the pictures and the stories.  I have a permanent imprint of Peter Rabbit stuck in Mr. McGregor’s gooseberry net and the mother rabbit taking care of Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail in her den.  How could you forget a name like Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle?  Little Mrs. Tittlemouse and her tidy house?  For a child that loved animals, Beatrix Potter was where it was at.  The smallest animals had the most elaborate lives and endearing personalities.  It is no wonder that I still love hamsters, gerbils, and rodents as an adult.

I was also lucky that when I was a child I lived across the way from a woman who wrote plays and brought Potter to the theater.  I was best friends with her daughter and so had the pleasure to revel in the classic animal tales in an all new way.  

I am really having a hard time parting with this one.  It must go soon lest I change my mind.