While most readers probably seek out biographies to learn the intimate details of people’s lives and the history of different eras and cultures, there are some for whom autobiography is meant to be outright comedy. (Whether it was written comically or not!)  Which brings us to the off-Broadway production of Celebrity Autobiography.

Recently on CBC’s show Q, host Jian Ghomeshi interviewed the producer (?) and Saturday Night Live alum Rachel Dratch, one of the players from the New York production,  which is where we first heard about it.  The video below is a taste of the style, an odd and frequently very funny mixture of melodrama and witty spins on the personal stories of your favorite celebs.

A unique and fun way to put your biography library (or our collection) to fresh use, perhaps? You decide!

Certainly books are the most important thing to a bookstore  (of course!), but have you noticed how so many bookstores carry things in addition to books?  Everything from blank journals and stationary, to beautifully crafted bookmarks and other lovely things, can be found in our favorite stores around Vancouver Island.  And even here at Gallowglass — where we don’t actually carry journals or stationary — there’s always a few odd things around the store.

Taking inventory recently, I snapped a few photos…

The cards on this rack are all lovingly crafted by our friend, and long-time customer, Gwen Rawlins, a talented artist here in the Cowichan Valley. On the walls of the store you can also see various examples of prints and paintings (not pictured here) available for sale.

Above, you can see we keep a few audio books on hand, tapes and CDs. (Handy if you’re in the car a lot or like to take long walks!)

Recognize the books above? Well, they’re not books; they’re book boxes, actually. Particularly handy for hiding valuables. (Just be sure to buy a box of a book you really like… you don’t want to accidentally forget you’ve stored some cash in there before unthinkingly giving the book away!)

Finally, a wall hanging by Mary Rolls, another customer of the store and talented local artist. And below that photo, some stray book ends for the shelves.

Books are always the star of the show, but it seems other things have a way of slipping onto the shelves. And who knows… maybe one day we’ll even add some of those blank journals like a normal bookstore.

Everything at Gallowglass Books, from the $1 paperback beach books to the rarest of expensive treasures, is covered by our semi-annual 25% off sale.*

Come by and check it out!

*Sale is for in-store customers only.

So why this very unusual name anyways?  Where does it come from, why was it chosen and why do so many have so much trouble remembering it?

It’s been a pleasure fielding the constant inquiry about the meaning of Gallowglass over the years.  There’s been times where it has flowed quite naturally and times where even I have not felt confidant with my acute knowledge in this regard.

A quick Wikipedia search defines `gallowglass`as:

“The gallowglass were a mercenary warrior élite among Gaelic-Norse clans residing in the Western Isles of Scotland (or, Hebrides) and Scottish Highlands from the mid 13th century to the end of the 16th century. As Scots, they were Gaels and shared a common origin and heritage with the Irish, but as they had intermarried with the 10th century Norse settlers of the islands and coastal areas of Scotland and the Picts, the Irish called them Gall Gaeil (“foreign Gaels”).

They were the mainstay of Scottish and Irish warfare before the advent of gunpowder, and depended upon seasonal service with Irish lords. A military chieftain would often select a gallowglass to serve as his personal aide and bodyguard, because as a foreigner, the gallowglass would be less subject to local feuds and influences.”

Essentially The name “gallowglass” means servant, summarized as `one indebted to another’.

The Store Gallowglass Books has been in existance since it’s founding in 1990. It was started, and of course named, by a gentleman called Terry Malone. Terry was very well read in his Celtic history and folklore and revered the Gallowglass as bodyguards, protectors, per se, of the nobility that contracted their services. Perhaps, the metaphor of the ‘gallowglass’ being the protector of literature and books that span the ages, can summarize a possible purpose for his giving the name to the business.

For whatever reason, the name was truly chosen, I have been very comfotable with it’s unique nature and the connotation to service that defining the role of these medieval warriors can lead to.  In a time when service is somewhat compromised in place of perceived price discount and larger purchasing power, if this business were remembered for anything, I would wish it to be it’s dedicated and consistent focus on service.

GALLOWGLASS – in dictionary

Gallowglass: gal·lo·glass or gal·low·glass
Pronunciation Key (gl-gls) n. [Irish Gaelic gal-
loglach : gall, foreigner + oglach, soldier (from
óg, from Old Irish óac. See yeu in Indo-
European Roots).] \Gal”low*glass`\, n. [Ir. gal
loglach. Cf. Gillie.]

Galloglass or gallowglass (Irish gallóglach, from
gall, ‘foreigner’, and óglach, ‘young warrior-
servant’). An armed servitor or foot soldier in
ancient Ireland. Shakespeare speaks of kerns
and gallowglasses as coming from the Western
Isles of Scotland. See also KERN.

Bestsellers lists are a handy tool, not necessarily because we want to read what everyone else is reading, but because sometimes we have no idea what to read next! Since Gallowglass Books is primarily a ‘used books’ store, our inventory can be unpredictable. But that being said, there’s usually a fair number of recent bestsellers around, so drop by or give us a call if you’re looking for something in particular.

As for what to read? Here are some links to bestseller lists which might inspire you:

• The Globe & Mail bestsellers via Amazon.ca has a list of its top books. (The list is always discounted at 50% off, too, so if you can’t get a used copy with us, that’s a very affordable option.)
• Amazon also conveniently allows you to sort bestsellers into various categories, but in broad terms  here are the best of current fiction and non-fiction
• Other periodicals with formidable bestseller lists include the NY Times, The Guardian, Maclean’s and the LA Times.

Have you ever wondered what some of the best selling books of all time are? Fans of literature have updated the Wikipedia to include a range of some of the top sellers through history, to make for an interesting list.

For instance:

• The Bible is said to have sold at least 2.5 billion or as many as 6 billion copies.
• Some books said to have sold a minimum of 100 million copies, are: The Book of Mormon, A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens), Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien), The Koran, etc.
• In the 50-100 million copies category, we find: The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown), Le Petit Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry), Anne of Green Gables (Lucy Maud Montgomery), Black Beauty (Anna Sewell), and many others.

Religious tomes, thrillers, fantasies, world respected children’s classics… there’s certainly something for everyone on a bestsellers list.

Note: For readers in the Cowichan Valley, you can contact us by phone if you like, to find out if we have a book in stock that you’re looking for. And if we don’t have it, there’s always Ten Old Books, another fine used book store in Duncan, and Volume One Books which sells new editions.

And if none of us have what you’re looking for, there’s always Amazon and other online options.

Hello good people;

We have purchased boxes and boxes of books and books and books on religion, spirituality, philosophy, theology and world literature… all of them in great condition!  They range from Sufism, the Kabbalah and Hasidism, to early and Medieval Christian writings and Gnosticism, from the Pre-Socratics and Plotinus to Kant, collected writings of St. Thomas Aquinas and other Church Fathers, scholarly texts on methodologies in spirituality and psychology.  The Islamic faith is well represented, as are the Taoists and Buddhists in both theory and practice.

Here are just 5 of the 2000 new titles to whet the appetite:

(1) “Pure-land Zen, Zen Pure-Land, Letters from Patriarch Yin Kuang”, Translated by Master Thich Thien Tam, Forrest Smith, editor. On the Pure Land of Amitabha.

(2) “History of the Triune God: Contributions to Trinitarian Theology”, by Jurgen Moltmann.  A new discussion on God after Auschwitz is at the root of the author’s theological concerns. Jurgen Moltmann is a Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Tubingen in Germany.

(3) Moses Hadas’ “The Stoic Philosophy of Seneca: Essays and Letters”. Seneca’s themes are man’s relationship to himself, society and God, his attitude towards change, time and death, on the good and happy life, and others.

(4) “A history of Christianity in Asia” in Two Volumes, by Samuel Hugh Moffett.  Why did Mission work in Asia fail before 1500 AD?

(5) “Women’s Rebellion and Islamic Memory” by Fatima Mernissi, a leading Muslim feminist and sociologist. A small, intense book that reviews women’s place in Islamic societies to the present as well as the ‘construction of femininity in the Muslim unconscious’.

We are very proud of this collection and are writing as best we can about them on our regularly up-loaded web-site.  So many books have joined our rank and files that we have had to construct new shelving units to display them!  A hearty huge “Thank-You” to Ben Buss for his talented carpentry, and to our customers who were patient and didn’t mind wading through some wood-dust.

You can search for books of interest by using such keywords as Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Bible Studies and so forth.  Let us here at Gallowglass Books know what your needs are.

Bye for now, Richard.

Erik Bosee of The Aldredge Book Store in Dallas, Texas, has a very informative video series online where he talks about the basics of collecting, caring for and understanding rare books. The videos are short and informative, and bound to be very helpful for budding — and even some expert — collectors. Check out the complete collection on the Expert Village website where they’re freely available for everyone to enjoy.

Here’s one video from the series, titled “How to Care for Rare Books.”

Books of interest for those interested in literature studies who are well read or wish to be better acquainted with the literary universe:

1. Alberto Manguel’s “A History of Reading”, published by Knopf of New York in 1996 in hardcover (Inventory # 42861). It contains a treasury of anecdotes, stories and knowledge explaining what it might mean to be a reader and a lover of books. We are transported from Ancient Rome to medieval France, from great British and Persian Libraries, to book thievery and book burning, to the inventions of printing and eyeglasses, finally to hyper-texting in the computer age and modern reading habits. The Argentine author explores whether readers affect the books they read as much as the other way around, and if so then how. I can attest, for myself, that I have had certain books alter my perceptions of life….and therefore my life! If you wish to know which ones, and how, please come into our bookstore and we can chat.
2. “Fiction In Several Languages” edited by Henri Peyre, from the Daedalus Library Volume #9 in vg+ 8vo hb, published by Houghton Mifflin of Boston in 1968. (Inventory # 48585) A series of essays written by literature students from many different countries explore how the novel mirrors the deepest concerns of individuals and nations. The nations explored here are in Arabia, Brazil, the Philippines, Japan, Israel, Poland, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Greece. The essayists which to demonstrate that novels not only express the uniqueness of each culture but also contain universal features common to all people’s.
3. The third in our selection is Inventory # 55312 “The Transformation of Sin” by Patrick Grant, sub-headed as ‘Studies in Donne, Herbert, Vaughan and Traherne’ in 8vo hardcover, in Vg+ condition, first edition, published by McGill-Queens University Press in 1974. Four great British authors and poets are examined in terms of the spiritual and intellectual temperment or what Grant calls the “shifting firmament of values” bestirring 17th century England. The search for a new spiritual model is on…a model essentially we still are affected by to this day in the world of words and thought.
4. Last but not least: Donald Keene’s “World Within Walls: Japanese Literature of the Pre-Modern Era, 1600 – 1867″. (Inventory # 37998), published in New York by Holt, Rinehart & Winston in 1976 in very good condition. This is the first volume in a projected four-volume study covering that period in Japanese history when literature reached a broader public than it had in the past when the only access to literature was by the aristocratic elites. A work of considerable scholarship on the drama, poetry and fiction of Japan before any significant westernization occurred.

Up-Coming: Nigerian author Ben Okri on stories, creativity and the imagination.

Bye for now, Richard on staff.

Here are four of our latest arrivals that might tickle your curiosity:

1. We have a 1901 7-volume complete set in very good hardcovers of “The Italian Novelists” translated into English by W. G. Waters and illustrated in ink by E. R. Hughes and Jules Garnier.  The first four volumes are the works written by Giovanni Francesco Straparola called the “Facetious Nights of Straparola” (le piacevoli notti). Straparola was a fairy-tale collector who lived in the first half of the 16th Century.  The collection was first translated into Spanish in 1583, and it was modeled on Boccacio’s “Decamerone”. People at a 13-night party on the Island of Murano (think:glass) tell each other bawdy and humorous fables to pass the time.  These stories will help pass our wintertime as well.  This is number 413 of a limited edition printing of 1000 copies.
2. Our second selection is Kay Thompson‘s fourth in the Eloise series: “Eloise in Moscow”, rare indeed, written during the Cold War in 1959. It is a 4to hardback collectible first edition published by Max Reinhardt Ltd. and illustrated in color by Hilary Knight.  There are spies everywhere (you must spot the spy!) and a fold-out map of the infamous and shady Kremlin. Our heroine, a small girl somehow sets out on her own (!!) to visit the subway, the Bolshoi ballet, Moscow’s streets and the Russian Line-up for practically everything. I believe this book to be most realistic and least…fun.  Reading this we become familiar with a Communism that is now strained and somewhat weakened but by no means vanquished.  My father, who was born in the Soviet Union, can vouch for the line-ups!
3. Third, we have an usual 8vo hardback called “The Dorak Affair”, written by Kenneth Pearson and Patricia Connor in 1967. A British archaeologist is lead to to the Royal Tombs at Dorak in NW Anatolia (Turkey) by a mysterious Greek woman.  Lucky fella!  A muse?  After the find was published, both the treasure and the woman disappeared!  Did both really exist?  A book of archaeology and intrigue in very good + condition.
4. Finally (for now), “The Gospel of Father Joe: Revolutions and Revelations in the Slums of Bangkok” by Greg Barrett, with a Forward by Reverend Desmond Tutu.  Roman Catholic Father Joe Maier takes on poverty through the opening up of a school for both Muslims and Buddhist in the big city slums of Bangkok, Thailand.  Read this only if you want your heart warmed up and your sense of humanity renewed. Fine 8vo hardback with B&W photos.

Ciao for now, Richard on staff.

Note: For more information on these or any other books, feel free to leave a comment or contact us however you prefer.

Hello Readers;

We have four new books, amidst a well-organized stack, well worth the peek:

1. Umberto Eco’s “The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana” is one of them.  Translated from the Italian by Geoffrey Brock, the book is about a man who loses all memory save the stories from the novels he had read and hopes to piece his life together. Nostalgic and humorous.
2. The second on our list is called “Tigerland and other Unintended Destinations” which is a personal travelogue of Eric Dinerstein’s career as Chief Scientist for the World Wildlife Fund. He brings us to places from Nepal to Montana to share his mission. His mission is to…oh, well, you must read the book.
3. Our number three choice is Alexander N. Yakovlev’s unique take on Soviet history since 1914 called “A Century of Violence in Soviet Russia”. It is translated from the Russian by Anthony Austin and was complete after ten years of research in 2002.  The Cold War is still in the shadow of modern politics, and Yakovlev’s insights have not lost their relevance.
4. Finally, Idries Shah has written an historical novel about Britain in the Dark Ages which traces their culture backwards to a group of ‘nomades’ from an area in Central Asia called “Saksina”.  Primarily known for his Sufi tales and fables, Shah is trying on other clothes.

Bye for now.

Richard on staff.

Note: For more information on these or any other books, feel free to leave a comment or contact us however you prefer.