TheBanyanTree: Give-Away 6 - Mystery

[auntie sash]

This one just reminds me that I need to finish reading a couple of these
books before I give them away!
In case you haven't been playing along, these are little stories to help
flesh out the significance of gifts I've chosen for a give away that
will happen Sunday following the end of a wanagi yuhapi - Lakota "keeping
of the soul" ceremony.

- sash
 -------------------------
Mom was a voracious reader.  We went to the library weekly (or more in the
summer).  There was a limit of 20 books per visit for adults, 10 for
children.  I could usually negotiate with my mother, begging her to check
out 5 for me.  Well - her books were bigger and took longer to read.  Besides,
she controlled the car and could come back to the library if she ran out.  I'd
be stuck reading the same ones over and over.  If I was REALLY lucky, my
sister would come too.  She never got more than 5 or 6 books so I could get
25 books total!

Mom also bought books.  Lots of books.  Ed and I have many books, but my
folks had LOTS of books.  She had favorite authors and was always searching
for their works.  Ellery Queen, Margaret Scherf, and Dorothy L. Sayer.  And
Rex Stout.  Above all others, mom was obsessed with Rex Stout.

Now, if you want to buy some books by your favorite author, it wouldn't be
too tough.  Wikipedia could probably give you a listing of the author's
work.  Maybe some fan sites which would help you track down other titles and
publication dates.  Then move on to Amazon.com or Powell's online.  If that
didn't work there are thousands of used bookstores listed online.  A few
emails, a couple PayPal transfers, and the book show up at your door within
a few days.  But remove the WWW from your search and it gets a little more
difficult.

 "You gotta remember – this was before the internet" will ring through the
nursing homes of the future.  It will be a defining element of our
childhoods – the time before emails and websites and Google and YouTube.

Mom's detective work took her through the card catalog, encyclopedias, and
reference books on authors and published works.  She examined the fronts of
books for "Author of" lists and the backs of books for previews, sneak
peeks, and publisher order sheets.

Other trips to the library were spent in the reference area where Yellow
Pages for major US cities were kept.  Mom would tag the Books, Used section
and I'd head to the photocopier with a handful of dimes.

3x5 cards held the titles, publication dates, and any other info – first
edition, signed, torn cover, etc.  She had different colored cards for paper
back, hard back, and duplicates.  White cards were for titles or even *
possible* titles that she didn't have yet.  Using the cards, she would type
letters to book sellers in Phoenix, Denver, Chicago, and Portland.  It was a
slow process – mailing the letters, waiting for responses, sending orders
with checks, hoping that it all worked out.  Over time, she established some
rapport with the vendors, though.  They would contact her with special finds
and watch for hardbound books with dust jackets and those elusive first
edition books.

Our family vacations included stops at bookstores.  Craft stores too, in
some cities, but always at the little used bookshops.  Behind the mountains
of harlequin romances, we would find the mystery section.  Mom would check
the shelves and I loved digging through the boxes of Ellery Queen Mystery
Magazines.  I'd read the table contents and pull out any authors I knew.  Hey
– I was only 7 or 8, but I'd spent some serious time in the stacks and knew
if there anything worth a second look.

Besides - it was an important job!  You see – mom didn't just have Rex Stout
*books*.  She also sought magazine or newspaper articles  – by him or about
him.  One of the shoe boxes was filled with old TV Guide magazines.  There
was a TV show about Nero Wolfe and there didn't even need to be a feature
article about the show.  Just the program description for the weekly
broadcast (circled in pink or yellow highlighter) made the TV Guide
collectible.  That sort of ephemera was harder to track down than any books
(except perhaps a hard cover copy of The Black Orchids).  Even with the web,
it would be hard to amass a collection as exhaustive as moms.

There was something so satisfying about the search too.  Finding an unknown
short story or replacing a torn, late edition paperback with a mint, early
edition with amazing artwork on the cover.  I don't know if you can find
that satisfaction with a quick online purchase.  Somehow the Amazon
transaction is about buying and owning.  The dark, dusty backroom was a hunt
for buried treasure - all about the quest.   Perhaps change is what will
have us wistfully remembering the days before the internet?

Remembering Helen would be incomplete without books.  Enjoy this mystery
novel by one of my mother's favorite authors.
-  sarahanne april 2008
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My mother had a great deal of trouble with me but I think she enjoyed it.
- Mark Twain