Tuesday Top Ten

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Book bloggers create their own lists based on the chosen topics and post links to our lists. It’s a way of all sharing our thoughts and our love of books.  And who doesn’t love lists??

So this week’s challenge was to list the books that we would love to see as a movie or TV series, assuming that it was done well!

1. Book Thief by Markus Zusak – This is actually going to be a movie coming to theaters on November 15!  I’m a little nervous, hoping that they will do the book justice, but I can’t wait to see it!
2. Inspector Gamache Series by Louise Penny – Another favorite that is about to hit the screen and is making me keep my fingers crossed!
3. Commissario Guido Brunetti Series by Donna Leon – I would love to see this character come to life, and the setting of Venice would be wonderful!
4. Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman – Done right, this would make a great movie – touching and horrifying!
5. Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan – I would love to see these quirky characters come to life, and a quest full of intrigue, history, and technology would make a great movie!
6. The Giver by Lois Lowry – There has been talk about this becoming a movie for years now, and it looks like it’s finally going to happen…
7. Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer – There have been rumors around this series becoming movies for a long time, but hopefully they will finally bring this evil boy genius and the world of fairies to the big screen!
8. Thieves of Book Row by Travis McDade – This non-fiction historical book could be made into a really interesting historical drama.
9. The Spellman Series by Lisa Lutz – This wacky set of characters would make for a great comedy/drama with some romantic tension thrown in!
10. Spenser Series by Robert B. Parker – OK, I know this was a TV series in the 70s but it seriously needs to be redone!  Less corny and without cutting out all the swearing and politically incorrect conversations!

 

 

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Tuesday Top Ten

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Book bloggers create their own lists based on the chosen topics and post links to our lists. It’s a way of all sharing our thoughts and our love of books.  And who doesn’t love lists??

So this week’s challenge was to pick a particular setting and then list our favorite books in that setting.  Since my book choices tend to be all over the place I chose to list my favorite books that take place in the past, that have some type of historical setting.

1. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak – Masterfully crafted (in case I haven’t said it enough!) story that takes place in Germany during WWII.
2. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys – Moving story about a Lithuanian family taken by the Russians during WWII.
3. Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys – I loved the characters in this novel that takes place in French Quarter of New Orleans in 1950.
4. Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra – Beautiful yet horrible story about the wars in Chechnya.  OK, so much of the story does not take place too far back in history (1994-2004), but there is much to be learned about the history of the area through this novel.
5. The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty – A great look at the early twentieth century as Cora becomes a chaperone to the young Louise Brooks in New York City before she becomes a silent film star.
6. A Good American by Alex George – An epic novel following three generations of a family beginning with their immigration in 1904.
7. Thieves of Book Row by Travis McDade – An amazing story of a ring of book thieves during the Great Depression.
8. Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power  by Jon Meacham – One of my favorite figures in American history and a engrossing portrait of his life.
9. Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick – A masterful work of art and a touching novel which travels back and forth between New York City in 1927 and Minnesota in 1977.
10. Onion Street by Reed Farrel Coleman – A gritty detective novel set in 1960’s Brooklyn by one of my favorite mystery authors.

The Thieves of Book Row

An amazingly interesting book on the well-organized, unbelievably large ring of book thieves that terrorized public and academic libraries throughout the Northeast throughout the early 1900s, peaking during the Great Depression.  No library was immune, from small reading rooms to NYPL and Harvard University, valuable and important books, maps, and pamphlets flew off the shelves into the hands of these prolific thieves who had to procure warehouses to store all of their stolen materials.  From first editions of Moby Dick and The Scarlet Letter to Edgar Allen Poe’s Al-Aaraaf, these thieves boldly walked into the rare book rooms of libraries and walked out with treasures.

Interestingly, many of the security measures used by libraries today (special markings in the books, rare book rooms, security and investigators) were founded during this time.  Unfortunately, it seemed that as soon as libraries employed new security techniques, the thieves found ways to overcome them.  In steps a mild-mannered special investigator from the NYPL, G. William Bergquist, determined to find the missing Al-Aaraaf and to stop this gang of thieves.

I was shocked to learn that in spite of the high value of the items, even when thieves were caught, the legal system was rarely concerned with prosecution and incarceration in line with the crimes committed.  There also seemed to be little or no impact on professional perceptions of those who were found to be thieves, and those who knowingly received and sold the stolen goods.  It was an expected, known, and often accepted aspect of doing business.   Often, after a brief jail term, the criminals were back in business, earning enough money to retire in the Caribbean!

A fun and interesting book for anyone interested in criminal activities or the history of rare books.

Title:  Thieves of Book Row: New York’s Most Notorious Rare Book Ring and the Man Who Stopped It
Author:  Travis McDade
Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages: 240
Publication: Oxford University Press, June 2013