Here’s A New Book To Help Find Old Ones

If your literary interests run to used books, you might want to pick up a copy of “The Used Book Lover’s Guide to the Pacific Coast States” (Book Hunter Press, 472 pages, $18.95 paperback). The book, which was compiled by the husband-wife team of David S. Siegel and Susan Siegel, lists more than 1,350 stores, some 230 of which are in Washington (Idaho is not included).

Those culled from Spokane are: Agathon Books (by appointment only, 624-5624), Arthur H. Clark Co. (928-9450), Auntie’s (838-0206), Clark’s Book Store (924-0737), Cal’s Books (487-1206), Inland Bookstore (624-9064) and 2nd Look Books (535-6316).

The list is hardly comprehensive, and the authors admit that they don’t list those stores that sell exclusively paperback editions.

Still, for those bibliophiles who love to search out a bargain, this book offers several good starting points.

Comic consciousness

If you’re into comic books and other related items, you might want to check out a yard-type sale that runs Saturdays (8 a.m.-5 p.m.) and Sundays (1-5 p.m.) through Nov. 18 at 1311 E. Lacrosse.

Four comics fans are selling their private collections. Besides comics, sale items include videos, CDs, tapes sports cards, movie memorabilia, magazines “Star Trek” incidentals and more. For further information, call Tadashi Osborne at 489-2386.

Literary preview

Writing is a lonely process. That’s a cliche.

What makes the work worthwhile is the hope that someone eventually will read your words (which is why some of us gravitate to journalism where we we can get our fix daily).

The graduate students in creative writing who study at Eastern Washington University deal with their literary hopes even more directly: They hold periodic public readings of their works in progress.

One such reading will be held at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington. The event is free and open to the public.

And, one would hope, cliche-free.

A Kinesis contest

Speaking of writing, the Whitefish, Mont.-based literary journal Kinesis is holding a literary contest. Titled “If it moves…,” the contest calls for previously unpublished fiction, essay and/or poetry entries that imply motion.

“We’re looking for movement,” the editors say. “There are no theme or topic restrictions. We’re simply looking for writing that moves on the page and in our souls.”

Include a $10 reading fee per story or essay (2,000- to 6,000-word limit) or for each three poems (60-line limit). That fee also buys a subscription to the journal. Make the check to Kinesis and send it to: Kinesis Contest, P.O. Box 4007, Whitefish, MT 59937.

Winners will win: Fiction/Essay - $200, $100, $50; Poetry - $100, $75, $50.

Name, address and phone number should appear on the first page of each manuscript. Include an SASE if you want your manuscript back. Entry deadline is Dec. 9.

Telling tall tales

Krysten Lee and Eric Hurtt, who perform as the storytelling duo Tellers Two, will appear at 1 p.m. Saturday at Children’s Corner Bookshop, 814 W. Main (on the Skywalk level). Lee and Hurtt are graduates of Whitworth College, where they learned their craft from drama professor Pat Stien.

Searching for misplaced modifiers

In Umberto Eco’s new book, “The Search for the Perfect Language,” the translated version of Eco’s opening sentence reads, “The dream of a perfect language did not only obsess European culture.”

Actually, what the translator, a James Fentress, meant to write was, “The dream of a perfect language did not obsess only European culture.”

The search, clearly, is ongoing.

The reader board

Robert Heilman, author of “Overstory: Zero,” will read from his novel at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Auntie’s Bookstore.

Jess Walter, a Spokesman-Review reporter and author of “Every Knee Shall Bow,” will read from his book at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Auntie’s Bookstore.

Ursula Hegi, author of “The Salt Dancers,” will read from her novel at 7 p.m. Friday at the Davenport Hotel.

Michael Gurian, author of “Love’s Journey,” will read from his book at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Auntie’s bookstore.

Nadine Strossen, president of the American Civil Liberties Union and author of “Defending Pornography: Free Speech, Sex and the Fight for Women’s Rights,” will speak about contemporary challenges to civil liberties at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the University of Idaho College of Law in Moscow.

, DataTimes