Good Book Hunting, Thursday, June 16, 2022: The Village Booksmith, Baraboo, Wisconsin

As I mentioned, I just completed a week-long trip to Wisconsin, featuring the normal pass through the Milwaukee area to visit my father’s grave and see my grandmother, and then onto the Dells. During one of our days at the Dells, we travelled to Baraboo, Wisconsin, and I was pleased to find that the Village Booksmith is still in business (remember, gentle reader, I visited the book store five years ago on our last trip to Wisconsin.

Well, I bought some things.

So, what did I get?

• Superkill, the third paperback based on the I Spy television series. You know, I am pretty sure that I have not seen a complete episode; I don’t know why this was not heavily in syndication when I was young, but it was not.
• We Are Staying by a different Jen Rubin than the blogger. It’s about an electronics store in New York City over the years. I’m not sure why this was selling new at a store in Baraboo. No, wait, scratch that: the author lives in Madison, prolly at the university.
• Some Freaks by David Mamet, a memoir of sorts.
• Why We Watch: Killing the Gilligan Within by a teletherapist named Dr. Will Miller. Purportedly about watching television to improve your mental health.
• Doc Savage: Red Snow and Death Had Yellow Eyes by Kenneth Robeson, two Doc Savage tales reprinted in one large (tall and wide) volume with some end material about Doc Savage and the author.
• Famous Fantastic Mysteries from June 1953 with Ayn Rand’s Anthem as the cover story. It is listed on Ebay at $165; I paid $35.

Additionally, we have one book in dispute: Charlie Berens’ The Midwest Survival Guide. My oldest, who already talked me into buying him Gestures: The Do’s and Taboos of Body Language Around the World spotted this book after I’d passed by twice. But when he asked me if I would buy it for him, I said I’d buy it for me and he could read it. So where the book ends up remains to be seen.

I did not delve into any of the books yet, and to be honest, looking back at what I bought five years ago, I really have only read Thundering Silence by Thich Nhat Hanh from what I bought then. Well, gentle reader, you know how I operate: Books I buy go in the stacks, exhumed decades later when I’m suddenly in the mood for a book or I’m suddenly reading a bunch of books about a topic, and of course I have another book about it that I bought way back in 2022.