Whistlestop Bookshop

October Country the 23rd post. Revenge for unjust or cruel behavior is a classic trope for ghost stories. To have it enacted by innocents is all the more righteous. In several of my anthologies of ghost stories Edith Wharton is represented by "Kerfol," a tale of the hazard of doing real estate research, among other things. Wharton, like her friend Henry James, was drawn to the ghost story. The form's popularity with such great writers then and over the centuries suggests, as with any good ghost story, more is going on than just a fright. The Library of America here offers a link to the complete story along with valuable little notes and a great introduction.

October Country the 24th post. You know being Jamie Wyeth at age 26 when he painted Pumpkinhead - Self-Portrait in 1972, the grandson of N.C. Wyeth and the son of Andrew Wyeth, both of whom could scare the daylights out of viewers in utterly different ways, and following in their footsteps, picking up the brushes, being Jamie Wyeth, I suggest, had something to do with this profoundly disturbing painting.

October Country the 25th post. Somewhere well in on an argument with friends or a seminar you sit back a moment and the talk falls to a murmur, and you realize, what a minute, some readers of Henry James's "The Turn of the Screw" are actually preferring the explanation that the governness is crazy to the alternative that the ghosts are real. What does this say about those readers? What does it say about our judgment on ghost stories? What does it say about those willing t...o affirm the sanity and simultaneously affirm the ghosts? As Brad Leithauser said in a New Yorker essay, James wanted both/and -- irresolution was the point and all the more frightful, to carry it to the point. Over the years as a bookseller I have seen some weird loopiness when it came to book covers for Turn of the Screw, everything from Romantic Gothic to Retro-Ghostbusters. The publishers don't know what to do with the story, either. Read it. You decide. Or not. See more

For my many wonderful customers of all ages who cannot have enough of Philip Pullman, a slender novella arrived this week about Lyra and Pan. It's a beautifully made book by Penguin Random House, not enough to hold you but perhaps enough to assuage the hunger. In stock and on the website! http://www.whistlestoppers.com/young-adult

Was delighted to discover that two of the Golden Books series (we carry dozens of them) come with vinyl records -- The Poky Little Puppy and The Shy Little Kitten. Received the Puppy yesterday, and the Kitten is due soon. "This freshly pressed recording of the original 1950s narration comes with sound effects and music by bandleader Mitch Miller, host of the popular television show Sind Along with Mitch." So hip!

Just to be clear, Fannie Flagg's novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe was published in 1987, two years AFTER Whistlestop Bookshop was opened in Gettysburg. The Cafe is in Alabama; the book store has always been in Pennsylvania. Folks always ask. That settled (ha), on Tuesday 10/27 Fannie Flagg is out with a sequel, The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop, published by Penguin Random House. The question has already been asked -- no, there is no way I am a Wonder Boy. It being a Southern novel, it is about whether one can go home again despite what Thomas Wolfe said. In stock and on the website! http://www.whistlestoppers.com/books-new-fiction

October Country the 22nd post. As my brother Gordon and his talents have been much on my mind lately, I can assure you he was a genius with plastic models. He was zen-patient with them (as he may not have been with his brothers), and he was meticulous with creative detail (he was a mess to live with, really). He loved old-fashioned horror movies. In the 60s he built the Aurora series of Movie Monster Models. In every respect, including his own subtle and artistic touches..., they were perfect. He infused them with aspects his own personality -- Dracula (ladykiller), Wolfman (the inner beast), Frankenstein (communications issues), and the rest. I remember some he built glowed in the dark. Gordon's artistry took the Scary and made it Thrilling, Dramatic, a Performance -- Safer, in other words. I am grateful to him for that transformation. See more

Look, Ma! We got two sentences! ;) A good quick survey of the charms of Carlisle. Just a note, though -- Jim Thorpe's last name is spelled with an "e".

Wow - very promising! An updated Italian Martin Eden by Jack London. Earlier this year we had Harrison Ford in The Call of the Wild. Anyone for The Iron Heel (fascism) or The Scarlet Plague (pandemic) or The Road (homelessness)? I have all of these in stock. Read Martin Eden before you see the film! Be sure to watch the trailer in this helpful contextual article by The Library of America.

New flags arrived this week. The sun and pollution are hard on them, but I think they are worth renewing. #happypatriot

Booksellers -- always in search of a profitable sideline to subsidize the books. I did not know this momentous story. Thanks, History Nebraska!

Taza Chocolate discs are two thick discs of dark chocolate, distinct but subtle flavoring, suggestive cuts for portions (ha). Fresh arrival this week! Also on the website. http://www.whistlestoppers.com/chocolate