(update 1/19/16 ) Looks like Rue Morgue is no longer in business. Boo!
Rue Morgue reprints vintage mystery titles, mostly from the UK. Many are charmingly redolent of early Agatha Christie titles. Sheila Pim’s garden murder titles, set in WWII Ireland, are especially enjoyable. The mysteries are surpassingly complex with …
George McDonald Fraser
Rivaling Terry Pratchett for the king of humorous writing, George McDonald Fraser creates a fictional vision of the pirate life lifted directly from Treasure Island and Basil Rathbone movies with touches of slap-stick (if fruitcart then chase scene). Fraser’s pirates are walking, talking, larger-than-life pirate stereotypes. …
Wolfgang Stuppy and Rob Kesseler
Kesseler and Stuppy have produced a few of the most beautiful micro-photography books I have ever seen. Focusing on the minutiae of plants – seeds and fruits – they highlight these miniscule life-capsules that we rarely see or think about. Tiny seeds and exotic fruits …
Brian D’amato
D’amato creates a fantastic near-future and recreates the lost Maya civilizations. As 2012 nears, the end of the Maya calendar, a large-scale disaster strikes. The disaster, followed by the end of civilization, are both predicted in a Maya codex. Jed DeLanda, a Maya descendant and expert in the …
Christopher Marley
On our honeymoon last year we stopped by the gallery in Prairie Edge Art Gallerie in South Dakota. A few of Marley’s insect pieces were on display and we were fascinated. Each piece is a small collection of real, exotic insects. Pheromone shows many of his pieces, along …
Jane Sassaman
I had seen a couple of samples of Sassaman’s work in the book Masters Art Quilts. Coming from a strong graphic design background, Sassaman’s works are unlike any quilts I have ever seen. The designs are strong and bold, rarely using more than the smallest of patterns …
This trio of true adventure books are completely gripping. The Lost City of Z, written by New Yorker columnist David Grann, chronicles his obsession with Victorian explorer Colonel Percy Fawcett. Trained by the Royal Geographical Society in London, Fawcett undertook numerous trips exploring the Amazon basin. Based on pottery …
Peter York, forward by Douglas Coupland
It would seem that, out there somewhere, there is a checklist and letter that your average dictator is sent when they reach a certain level. “Yes,” this letter says, “you may rule with an iron fist and have your every bloody whim met. But …
Berkeley Breathed
I was kind of shocked when Breathed killed off Opus earlier this year. I understand his rationale that the world is really just too messed up for an Opus, no matter how feisty he is. However, I think Breathed did a great disservice by taking away a gently …
Guillame de Laubier
WHOA! It’s library porn! Seriously, there are huge center fold out with *drool* spiral staircases, grilled shelves, tromp l’oil ceilings and (oh baby!) rare manuscripts housed in little nooks and alcoves. I think I need to lie down.…
Lisa Katayama
Urawaza is a secret or trick to do things better – life-hacking. This collection of Urawaza offers a myriad of ideas to fix and do things in a cheap and easy way – often as alternatives to a more standard way. For instance, have glass all over the …
Will Thomas
I really enjoyed Thomas’ series of books featuring enquiry agent Cyrus Barker and his Welsh assistant Thomas Llewelyn. While their clients are often wealthy aristocrats, the people they associate with and investigate live on the margins of proper Victorian British society – Jews, Asians, Irish terrorists and the …
Catherine Jinks
Where do you go to school if you are a genius and your father is an evil genius? Why, the evil genius academy, of course. Learn the fine arts of lying, stealing, poisons, hacking, disguise and other deeply useful skills. The only drawbacks? The matriculation rate is nothing …
Terry Pratchett
Moist VonLipwig. Spike. Golums, A small dog named Mr. Fusspot. The Patrician. Perfidious minds. Lousy puns. It’s all good- it’s all Pratchett.…
Caroline Graham
For some inexplicable reason, the Barnaby series covers could double for vapid romance novels from the 50s. However, the books are very recent and have very modern plots. While their is some continuity in the series, they can be read out of order. Two particular favorites are Written …
Personal Ads from the London Review of Books
Oh dear lord, I’m amazed the Brits manage to mate at all if this is what is out there. These real, honest and often completely horrifying ads have appeared in the LRoB.
…It takes a real man to wear a dress. It
