Hobos!

Are you fond of Dago Red?
Do you lust after freight trains?
Do you have an itch to take to the road?

Then have we got a real Lu Lu for you!
We have a new Hobo section, and the best selection of Hobo literature in all of Shaky Town (Los Angeles)!
Included are Eddy Joe Cotton's book of hobo lingo....'The Hobo Lexicon' for only $1.49!
Learn all about Sea Stiffs, Hooch, and White Line Fever.
Woody Guthrie will also take you on a tour of the rails as he traveled them in the 20s and 30s in his memoir 'Bound for Glory.' He was no stranger to a bottle of hooch and a night under the stars.
Once you have devoured Woody Guthrie's book, you may take a shine to Jack Black's masterpiece 'You Can't Win,' about his time as a highwayman, "freight hopping around the still wide open West at the turn of the 20th century.." Among others, Jack Black's book had a supreme influence on William Burroughs and other Beat writers who stumbled upon this gem.
Mark Wyman has a new cultural study entitled 'Hoboes: Bindlestiffs, Fruit Tramps, and the Harvesting of the West,' which focuses on the migrant workers in the west from 1870-1920, and how they shaped the economy of the area and struggled to make decent existence for themselves.

So...set down your Pink Lady, pick up your Jack Roll, and mosey on over to the Main Drag, Sunset Blvd, for your Drifter tomes...

Josh Alan Friedman, Chris D. (The Flesh Eaters), & Wyatt Doyle @ Book Soup tonight

... Gearing up for tonight's reading from punk rock icon Chris D. with a little Flesh Eaters in the office... Such a brilliant front man, and equally as brilliant on page. His new book, A Minute To Pray, A Second To Die compiles a career-spanning collection of poetry, lyrics, short stories & novel excerpts... "Think 19th Century romanticism roughed up by James M. Cain, 'cut-up' by William S. Burroughs and screened on the wall of a bordertown drive-in." (New Texture). A must-have for fans of late 70's/early 80's LA punk rock.







We are extremely pleased to be kicking off New Texture Nights at Book Soup tonight at 7:00pm! New Texture is a new publishing venture in Los Angeles with a string of enticing events set-up all throughout LA in celebration of their three newest titles from seasoned author Josh Alan Friedman, punk rock icon Chris D. (The Flesh Eaters, Divine Horsemen), and author Wyatt Doyle. See each of these fantastic authors read - live, in the flesh - tonight at Book Soup!

For more info on New Texture, visit http://www.newtexturenights.com

William S. Burroughs (Reaktion Books-Critical Lives)

Well, first of all, you can't go wrong with the Reaktion Books' "Critical Lives" series. They are biographies on 'difficult 19th and 20th century thinkers/artists/writers, but told lightly in the manner of not going over someone's head with too much critical theory speak. And they don't preach, and for sure doesn't talk down the subject matter. In other words they're great. I actually like these small biographies then the big one's that are out there on the same subject.

So what we have here that is new is the William S. Burroughs biography. One who follows the old titan of paranoia won't get anything new, but what Phil Baker does is put the whole picture in a frame that is pretty much essential to anyone who wants to dip his or her toes into the world of Burroughs.

In my youth Burroughs was a favorite of mine. I liked the pictures of him (always cool lookin'), and the deadpan delivery of his words and voice. Also the fact that he took the high in art/history with the lowest of the low (heroin culture, his love of trash Sci-fi novels, scandal sheets, and the stuff that American culture threw away in the trash).

But also a lot of the stuff that he threw out there had some great truth as well as pure crap. I also love the fact that he was pretty much of a failure till his late 40's. I admire that in a man! What troubles me about him is the shooting of his wife, the way he treated his son, and his love of guns. However you look at it, its pretty idiotic to play William Tell with a living person. An ugly incident, which through his guilt made him the writer that he became - or is that true?

In the end he became an icon for an era that no longer existed, which is understandable - but sad as well. So like everything else in the 20th Century you have to take the sugar as well as the bitters, and Burroughs was a major player as a writer. Good bio!

Operation Mincemeat: Perhaps the Most Absurd Intel Op of WWII

Ben Macintyre (author of the amazing Agent Zigzag) returns with a book about one of the most absurd, Pythonesque intelligence operations of World War II...

This book is about two intelligence officers: Charles Cholmondeley of M15 and Ewen Montagu of British Naval Intelligence. These two disparate individuals concocted one of the most daring plans of WWII, and it involved a dead man, false secrets, a canister of dried ice (designed by Charles Foster-Smith, the basis for Q in the Bond movies), the HMS Seraph, the Spanish city of Huelva, a life jacket, a reading of the 39th Psalm and a local fisherman, amongst other various players and details.

Give this book a read. Then do yourself a favor and read Macintyre's Agent Zigzag.

Nicholas Schou presents Orange Sunshine at Book Soup

A few months ago I wrote a review of Nicholas Schou's Orange Sunshine, which is reprinted below. Tomorrow night (June 30th) at 7:00pm, Mr. Schou will be appearing at Book Soup to present and sign Orange Sunshine. Please join us as the author tells of one of the lesser-known stories of the psychedelic 60s.

...Orange Sunshine tells the story of the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, a band of surfers in Laguna Beach who became the world's biggest acid and hashish smugglers and dealers in the 1960s. When Sandoz Labs acid was increasingly hard to come by, the Brotherhood synthesized "Orange Sunshine," the most potent acid of the time. Apparently they dropped thousands of hits of this LSD from an airplane onto a crowd of 25,000 in a three-day Laguna Beach celebration. The occasion? An apocalyptic birthday party for Jesus Christ. They also wanted to buy a tropical island and install Timothy Leary as the high priest of a new spiritual Utopian society.

Roller Derby Trilogy

If you haven't yet experienced the new wave of Roller Derby sweeping the nation at the moment, you are missing out on an absolutely mind-blowing experience. Girls of all shapes and sizes regularly send each other flying into padded railings in the name of good fun and great entertainment. Total disclosure: this bookseller is one of those hopeful young faces, trying her darndest to acquire some skills so that one day she too might compete in this exhilarating sport. And believe me, it is a sport. With less padding than football players, and nothing to hurl at opponents except your body, the hits are hard and the bruises numerous. But there's a kind of thrill that comes with getting your ribs smashed into a rail or leaving a trail of sweat down the bank of a smooth track.

As such, it is no surprise that writers, both fiction and non-fiction have taken this DIY, female-driven sport to the written page. Derby has always hovered around the periphery of the publishing industry (just run a search for roller derby on amazon books and you'll get pages of tell-all memoirs and who's who in derby books), but recently three books have hit the shelves that truly capture the camaraderie of this third, or is it fourth, wave of roller derby.

First is the book that sparked the movie: us being Angelenos, we do love our Hollywood representations. Shauna Cross, a.k.a. Maggie Mayhem of the LA Derby Dolls, wrote a book called Derby Girl back in 2007. Cut to 2009 when Drew Barrymore uses Derby Girl as her directorial debut called Whip It! If you haven't seen the movie, go do yourself a favor and rent it; it's a great film with a lot of heart and some good derby action. But this is a book blog and as such I will say that I absolutely loved the book. I could not put it down. The book, like the movie, just made me yearn to be a kid now, just so I could have something like derby to help me get through the horrors of adolescence. Bliss' story is one any of us can relate to. She's an outcast in a small town, her best friend is the only thing that keeps her sane, and then she stumbles on to this thing that totally transforms her life. This is my recommendation for any teenage girl, and for the older ones who remember what it's like.

Going in Circles, by Pamela Ribon, is the adult-centered version of Whip It! While going through a divorce, the main character, Charlotte Goodman, finds the healing power of some good bruises. The behind the scenes of derby fully flesh out in this novel, which delves into the exhaustion and the bruising and the broken bones that are just part of the experience. Also, what I loved about Going in Circles, is that it sifts through the psyche of a derby girl...as any derby girl knows, the number one question is why would you do this? But with a grace and poise, Ribon doesn't force the issue, instead exploring the factors that drive these women and the healing power of this sport. And really, does anyone ever ask football players why they play football? It's fun!

The third book in the great modern derby trilogy is my favorite. In fact, this bookseller stayed up way too late last night devouring the book that just hit our store yesterday. Full disclosure, one of my teachers, the amazing Axles of Evil, is one of the co-authors. But that's not why I love it. Down and Derby: The Insiders Guide to Roller Derby by Alex "Axles of Evil" Cohen and Jennifer "Kasey Bomber" Barbee is the bible for anyone interested in the history of derby, the roots of modern derby, the rules of derby, the unofficial rules of derby, and anything else derby you could possibly want to know. If reading Whip It! and Going in Circles convinces you that maybe this is a route your life should take, then Down and Derby provides all the information you could possibly need to be an expert on what this full-contact sport is all about.

And the thing I love most, it reads like a thriller. I found myself on the edge of my seat hoping that the TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls could help out the North Carolina burgeoning derby league. Just to give it away, they do. It also reads like a girl power how to guide. What happens when this group of (mostly) women bond together to help get modern derby on its feet is a testament to what a group of dedicated ladies can accomplish together. The love that the authors bring through their writing is palpable and infects the reader with the same enthusiasm for this sport that is usually reserved for a particularly close jam (read the book to figure out what the hell I'm talking about).

Between interviews with the founders of modern derby and a history of the sport that dates all the way back to the late 19th Century (who knew?), Down and Derby is the quintessential reader for any derby girl, wannabe derby girl or fan of watching tattooed ladies with witty names ram into each other at very high speeds while wearing skirts and fishnets.

Really, what more could you want from a trilogy....laughs, tears, drinks, and some broken bones.

Happy Reading,
Julia

Livres Pour Enfants En Francaise!

C'est magnifique!
Est-ce que c-est possible?
Oui, c'est vrai....
Nous avons livres pour enfants en Francaise!!!!
You may wish to expose your children to something besides hum drum English!
Book Soup now offers a small selection of children books in French!
Just a few of our offerings include.....

John Waters- Role Models

"How did somebody from a quiet Baltimore neighborhood grow up to become the outlandish, brilliant, and insane John Waters? Two words: Johnny Mathis."
-Augusten Burroughs

"Tennessee Williams saved my life. As a twelve-year-old boy in suburban Baltimore, I would look up his name in the card catalog at the library, and it would read "See Librarian." I wanted these "See Librarian" books-and I wanted them now-but in the late fifties (and sadly even today), there was no way that a warped adolescent like myself could get his hands on one. I soon figured out that the "See Librarian" books were on a special shelf behind the counter, so when the librarian was helping the "normal" kids with their book reports, I snuck behind the checkout desk and stole the first book I wanted on my own. 'One Arm,' read the forbidden cover-a short story collection by Tennessee Williams that I later found out had been only available in an expensive limited edition, sold under the counter in "special" bookshops before new Directions released the hardback version in 1954. And now it was mine.
Yes, Tennessee Williams was my childhood friend. I yearned for a bad influence and Tennessee was one in the best sense of the word: joyous, alarming, sexually confusing, and dangerously funny....there was another world that Tennessee Williams knew about, a universe filled with special people who didn't want to be a part of this dreary conformist life that I was told I had to join."

In honor of the new John Waters book, ROLE MODELS (of which we have signed copies in stock), I asked our Book Soup staff to think of their own childhood role models, and we came up with some nice ones.....
This will be a weekly examination.

JINNY- "James Cagney. I wanted to be a fast-talkin', gun-wieldin', tap-dancin' tough guy just like him."

JULIA- "Michael Jordan because he could fly."

PAIGE- "Debbie Harry. She was so pretty and she looked like she wouldn't take any guff from anyone."

DEVRI- "Lucille Ball. As a child all I wanted to do was practice pratfalls, make silly faces, procure a Cuban bandleader husband and break into showbiz..."

The Showdown: Garlin vs Mattson

Jeff Garlin
My Footprint: Carrying the Weight of the World (Signed Edition)
$25.00

Joseph Mattson
Empty the Sun (Signed Edition)
$15.00

May the most deliciously juicy book win...

Dennis Hopper at CineVegas 2008

The Last of the International Playboys. My past is alive, but my current world is fading.