Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.”—Andy Warhol.
The problem with that quote is that Warhol never said it. According to Rachel Nuwer, writing for Smithsonian magazine, “The original quote seems to trace back to a 1968 brochure that Warhol distributed at one of his exhibitions in Sweden. But, according to art critic Blake Gopnik, it could have been Pontus Hultén, a famous curator in Europe, who coined the phrase.” So what does this have to do with my own 15 minutes…
The heyday of film photography era seemed to coincide with the heyday of my book writing career. It was also the heyday of the traditional (aka film) camera store and once upon a time there was a Denver camera store that I loved to visit and where I bought many cameras and lenses. It was a classy place that stocked high-end cameras including Leica and Hasselblad plus premium cameras from Japanese manufacturers, including Contax. I bought my first Contax—a lightly used G1 rangefinder with a new G 45mm f2 Zeiss Planar T* lens— from them after which I was off in running in building a collection of Contax film gear that I stupidly sold in my rush to digital..
The store also had a large selection of photography books. During this time Mary worked Downtown and would often stop by the store to pick up gear, film and processing for me. In fact, she was the one who put together the deal for the used Contax G1. One day she asked someone in the store if “they had any books by Joe Farace” and was told “we had one but we sold it.” She suggested that if they had a few more maybe they could have sold them too. The story had a happy ending because the owner, who for some reason had taken a liking to both of us, added several more of my books to his display. And I think they sold’em too.
Book of the Week
Well… Book of the Week is back, sort of, and it’s an Ode to Used Books. I’ve often written in the photo-oriented posts for this blog of my affection for used and refurb camera gear because I’ve always believed I’m going to use’em anyway. Of course the big attraction is price. Used camera gear is less expensive than new stuff and used books are cheaper than new ones too. I typically try to select books that Amazon marks as “very good” or “like new” and most of the time the books arriving are of that quality. But every now and then they are not. Instead of throwing them away, I read’em and then donate the books to my local library who sells donated books to fund some of their new book purchases.
I recently bought a used copy of Masquerade for Murder that I mentioned in the last Book Club. The Amazon new price for the hardcover book was $22.99; I paid $8.69 including shipping and Colorado’s infamous 27 cent delivery tax. Similarly, older books can be bought used too but for some reason seem to cost more than newer ones. A used trade paperback of David Housewright’s 1997 Practice to Deceive—my 2022 book number 41—cost me $10.83 including delivery, sales and delivery taxes. This book is part of Housewright’s Holland Taylor series that he is no longer writing but if I can pick up any book in this short-lived series I will go for it.
Housewright is currently writing a series of mystery books built around a former cop named Rushmore McKenzie and any one of these semi-cozy books are highly recommended including his latest one, Something Wicked, which you might consider it to be this week’s Book of the Week. Rushmore McKenzie was a policeman with the St. Paul, Minnesota PD until an unlikely event made him a millionaire and then a retiree. Since then, he’s been an occasional, unofficial private investigator, looking into things for friends and friends of friends. This and Housewright’s last book, What Doesn’t Kill Us, seem a little softer than some of the previous outings but it would make a good introduction to this series for a new reader. The alas, all-to-short five-book Holland Taylor series that ended in 2019 are just a little harder-boiled (just a little, it’s set n Minnesota after all) in tone and are really my favorites by this author. Nevertheless any new or used David Housewright book is a cause for celebration around my house.
If you would like to send me any books to review or any other stuff that could be used for these posts and my videos you can mail it to: Joe Farace, PO BOX 2081, PARKER, CO 80134
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