Good Book Hunting, October 8, 2021: ABC Books

That’s right, I went to ABC Books on a Friday as they had a special lunchtime book signing with Patty E. Thompson, a Phoenix-based writer who comes into town to visit her sister and who has visited ABC Books in the past (I asked how a Phoenix author ended up at ABC Books). She has two books in print, both personal stories illustrating how God is working through her life.

Of course I made the normal martial arts to philosophy and poetry loop before talking to the author to pretend like I was there for something else instead of just to support the authors that visit Mr. and Mrs. E.’s establishment.

I got a couple of things.

These include:

• Look What God Did! and Whose Job Is It Anyway?, Mrs. Thompson’s books.
• A First Glance At St. Thomas Aquinas: A Handbook For Peeping Thomists by Ralph McInereny. Cheaper than the Summa Theologica anyway. I’m still itching to read some of the primary material after hearing Charlton Heston explain Aquinas last month.
• Lila: An Inquiry Into Morals by Robert M. Pirsig, best known for Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
• The martial arts section had two new offerings, both titles by Nick Evangelista. I got one The Art and Science of Fencing; time will tell if I get the other (probably, if I read this any time soon).
• The art monographs section is also down to only a couple of titles, but I don’t generally buy art monographs from ABC Books–I prefer to get them for a couple dollars each at the library book sale. But I got The Hirchfeld Century: Portrait of an Artist and His Age by Al Hirschfeld with David Leopold. As I often mention (and did so when checking out today), I have a signed, limited edition print from his cousin hanging in my office.

So it was a fairly expensive trip. The books by the featured author look to be pretty short. Perhaps I will read them soon since I read the Brown books shortly after I bought them.

Although signs might not be good. I’m only at 67% of the Julian Lynn books I bought two years ago.