I Have Not Owned Many Items For 43 Years...

 ...but back on April 9, 1981, my then girlfriend, in El Centro & Calexico, CA, gave me a copy of the Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe (one of my favorite authors and the creator of the modern detective story, long before and better than Sherlock Holmes stories). I remember the date inside the cover because she inscribed the front cover with it and a brief message. Well, it was not in the greatest shape, the binding was cracked and torn, the dust cover missing but it was a book that I loved. You probably have noticed I am writing about it in the past tense. That is because today while I was out, my 6+-  month old puppy Knucklehead decided to destroy it. 

 

I came back from shopping to find it in several pieces on the floor. He evidently did not touch one other book, except maybe to sniff some, in the bookcase. Of course, the one he had his fun with just had to be one of my all time favorites that I treasured. To think, I took this pooch in because he was a lonely and unhappy looking stray in need of a meal and a friend or two - my other pooch Skye and I have been giving him all of that and more for a month as of tomorrow; all that plus lots of expensive vet care - all while never intending to keep him. Now that I have probably unwisely decided to keep him - I sometimes think of changing his name to Bullethead, that would be right before I place the headstone on his grave far out in the woods somewhere.😏

 

Oh well, the book is replaceable as a reader; the gift is lost forever but not the spirit of it. Its spirit will live among fond memories of good times when I was a young Border Patrol Agent, who had great vision, did lots of reading and who had a girlfriend who sometimes gave me nice things that I treasured. Sadly that was the last remaining one of them. Damn, 43 years gone just like that at the whim of a mongrel.

All the best,

Glenn B

eBay & Ressling Books Paying To Help Defray College Costs

eBay has always been a way to sell something for professional dealers making a living, to folks hoping to sell off some unwanted items cluttering up their garages, to guys like me hoping to be able to recoup a little cash spent on college books to defray the cost of more college books needing to be bought. Well after what I found out this morning, I can say that without a doubt in my mind, eBay is screwed up big time and not the seller/buyer friendly place it once had been.

I spent about 15 to 20 minutes putting a book up for sale. That included scanning the front cover for a pic to be included in an eBay listing, then signing onto eBay and listing the book. Well - I almost listed. I got all the way through to the last step or so and found that ow eBay requires you to put in an amount for postage. Mind you this needs to go into a separate little postage fees box and not just be placed in the item description as you once could have done. So I put in the amount for Priority Mail Flat Rate Shipping as per the exact U.S. Postal Service rate of $12.95. This for a college textbook weighing about 7 pounds. eBay rejected that amount and told me I could not put an amount of more than $4.00 into that box because that is what others have charged for similar items. Whom are they trying to kid? The USPS charges a flat rate of $12.95 for a certain type of priority mail and this is the box I checked off - flat rate priority mail! Yet, eBay only allows a seller to charge $4.00 for that shipping! Amazing.

I then went to eBay and searched for similar items. As I did the realization dawned on me that almost every seller was offering FREE shipping. It only took me a moment to realize why. They had all added the shipping costs to their lowest acceptable bid price. After all, you would have to be an idiot to sell and item to someone for a going price of, let's say, $50.00, then ship it for $4.00 when the actual shipping costs you $12.95. So what to do - well you offer it at a starting bid price of $63.00 with free shipping. I will do just that, and the item will sell though I think I will get less for it than I had wanted. When FAIR shipping prices were listed separately from the acceptable low bid price, people would look at the bid price and say, that is a good -price for the book. They expected shipping to be added on. Now even though I will offer free shipping, they will see my book offered at a higher price, not want to bid much higher, thereby leaving me to have to take the shipping from what I make on the selling price of the book instead of a separate fee. That is how people think from what I can see from online deals I have done before, and that sucks, and eBay sucks for having pulled this boner. Then again eBay does not care about the buyers or sellers, all eBay seems to care about is eBay from what I can tell.

Oh well, if anyone wants/needs a copy of Precalculus, 8th edition, by Sullivan, I will have it up for sale on eBay starting at $65 with free shipping including mandatory insurance and delivery notification.

All the best,

Glenn B

The Reading/Book Meme

Okay, so I was not tagged with this, but as Ragin' Dave over at Four Right Wing Wackos did, I think I'll give it a shot. Unlike Ragin Dave though, I don't care all that much whether anyone else or not has completed the meme, or that everyome seems to be doing it. I am doing it simply because it interests me, and I would be interested to see yours even more so than I was to complete my own. By the way, have no fear, I am not 'tagging' anyone. Here goes:

1) Which [type of] book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews?

Gay Romance novels, otherwise political books with a leftist agenda.

2) If you could bring three [fictional] characters to life for a social event (afternoon tea, a night of clubbing, perhaps a world cruise), who would they be and what would the event be?

C. Auguste Dupin, Bilbo Baggins (The Hobbit), Howard (the old man in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre). The event would be five years' duration trek through wilderness and urban centers on earth and on other planets. The trek would include self sufficiency of this group, inter-galactic travel, time travel, prospecting, fortune making, hunting, drinking, fighting, story telling, mystery solving, and whoring (whenever we encounter the need or desire). Of course in this fantasy - I would be well armed, well to do, in excellent health, and at least as good looking as I am now; I would also be single!

3) You are told you can’t die until you read the most boring novel on the planet. While this immortality is great for awhile, eventually you realize it’s past time to die. Which book would you expect to get you a nice grave?

While I cannot attest to whether or not it is boring, I figure anything written by a Russian would bore me to tears, so I pick: War and Peace. Even if not boring, it may as well be a long one. If it proved interesting, I would fall back on the Bible.

4) Come on, we’ve all been there. Which book have you pretended, or at least hinted, that you’ve read, when in fact you’ve been nowhere near it?

I don’t think I have ever done that except for in grammar school, and then I read the Cliff Notes. I am pretty sure Moby Dick was one of them.

5) As an addition to the last question, has there been a book that you really thought you had read, only to realize when you read a review about it/go to ‘reread’ it that you haven’t? Which book?

No.

6) You’ve been appointed Book Adviser to a VIP (who’s not a big reader). What’s the first book you’d recommend and why? (if you feel like you’d have to know the person, go ahead of personalize the VIP).

The Razor’s Edge because it gives a lot of insight into the lives of the pompous arsehats who believe they are VIPs, and a lot of insight into how to live life otherwise.

7) A good fairy comes and grants you one wish: you will have perfect reading comprehension in the foreign language of your choice. Which language do you go with?

Old French because it was the language of Nostradamus; and I want to either put his predictions to sleep or prove them once and for all. I could make a million correctly interpreting his works.

8) A mischievous fairy comes and says that you must choose one book that you will reread once a year for the rest of your life (you can read other books as well). Which book would you pick?

The Hobbit, not because of the fantasy, or the magic that seemingly makes good win over evil; but because the book constantly shows that adventure is hard work, and good is only accomplished by someone who strives to attain it, but attaining it is well worth the effort.

9) I know that the book blogging community, and its various challenges, have pushed my reading borders. What’s one bookish thing you ‘discovered’ from book blogging (maybe a new genre, or author, or new appreciation for cover art-anything)?

I don’t even have a clue as to what is ‘book blogging’. If that means what have I learned about books from those who blog about them, not too much.

10) That good fairy is back for one final visit. Now, she’s granting you your dream library! Describe it. Is everything leather bound? Is it full of first edition hardcovers? Pristine trade paperbacks? Perhaps a few favorite authors have inscribed their works?

Many books are hardbound, many in leather, all first editions if possible, some are as ancient as they get in the form of scrolls. All are in pristine condition and kept that way as much as possible, while also being well read. The library is vast, comfortable, adorned with wood trim all around, wood bookshelves, has a Victorian splendor about it, has a well stocked bar or three, a wine celalr, comfortable seating, many reading rooms, is multi-leveled, has a huge selection of reading materials, and by some quirk of magic (yes the fairy is a good one) contains all of the works that were ever kept within the ancient library at Alexandria. In addition there are cloaked vixens to attend to my every need and fetch any volume I desire, and to read to me translations of books in any language other than English and Old French (yes these are intelligent as well as hot vixens). By the way, this library would be restricted to a membership of whom I approve, and would be well guarded. Also – no smoking allowed in the library but smoking rooms would be provided in out buildings, as would be a fine selection of excellent cigars to go with the good spirits from those bars and the wine cellars.

All the best,
Glenn B