LA Book Festival, Second Go-Around

This year I had been planning early to take Cass to the book festival on Sunday of the weekend's events. On Saturday of the weekend, I had an appointment at the Aquarium at noon and had the Boy as well, which was very cool except that noon is in the middle of a toddler's nap. We left after the most pressing parts of the meeting.

On Sunday, the napping turned out to be problematic, and I ended up going alone. Last year we went and parked and missed John Lewis. This year, on this Sunday, maybe due to Patton Oswalt being there talking about his late wife's book and writing projects, all on-campus parking was full, and I drove around looking for a street spot in the residential neighborhood around USC's campus. Just like home...

My friend Ruben was also on a panel, but as I didn't get the free ticket reservations early enough, I missed out on his talk. Sorry, Rubes.

Last year I spoke with the atheists and the socialists, and this year I found the anarchists:

Both of these books were published by PM Press, an Oakland-based publisher of radical works, many of which are anarchist. The Housing Monster, above, is an odd mix of the philosophical underpinnings of the way humans group up and construct society, the practical realities of a building house and building a city, and nearly sequential graphic images. That prosaic summary makes more sense when you notice that the writer is credited as prole.info, which is also a website of the same name. As in proletariat...

That was the first booth I went to and it took up three-quarters of my budget. I remember thinking that there was no problem finding something to buy in the very first spot. There was always going to be something to find and buy in nearly any booth, and these two books are so cool and random that it's a double score: awesome uniqueness and classic artifacts in the very first stop. No worries for the rest of the afternoon.

From there I walked around, thinking about how to spend the rest of my budget. I did find a very nice (see: new (non-used)) copy of Les Fleurs du Mal, but I'm not quite ready to tackle Baudelaire's classic. Having a copy would be nice, but not at the price they were asking. And used may even be better...

Eventually I did procure three more books, all for free:

Wild Animus was being handed out by the publisher. "Free fiction novel?" the guy said as I walked by. At the exact same time and girl was also walking by, and the hawker came under the impression we were together. That was funny. The book is hardcover and dust-jacketed, and after reading the jacket's summary, it seems much more interesting that I was guessing even ten minutes before. I won't paraphrase here.

An older gentleman was listlessly holding stacks of the organic cider-vinegar-maker Bragg's book Bragg Healthy Lifestyle et al, and saying to no one in particular, "Anybody want a free book...does anybody want a free book..." Obviously I answered in the affirmative.

There was the Muslim tent booth as well, and they were handing out Qurans. I'm sure they were around last year, and I would have grabbed one then had I seen them. This is my first copy of the Quran.

I had some visions about the campus and the development of the surrounding neighborhood that may find their way here later, and while I don't miss being a college student, walking around campus with debauchery on the brain has inspired some plans.

ALSO: Last year NO ONE RECOGNIZED MY PYNCHON SHIRT. This year---because I obviously wore it again---plenty of people recognized and commented on it. That was very cool and reaffirming.

Also also: I've got a Baudelaire thing on the burners...