A sharp-eyed reader has provided Raincoast with a correction about this sharpshooter.

“On page 247 of your interesting chapter on Vital Statistics [in Uncle John’s Shoots and Scores], you state that Mario Lemieux only eclipsed the 2-points-per-game mark once in his illustrious career. Notwithstanding the fact that he never did manage to complete a full NHL season schedule, Mario averaged more than 2 points per game on no less than SIX occasions! In fact, his most prolific season on a points per game basis was the 1992/1993 campaign, when he tallied at a torrid clip of 2.66 for an astounding 160 points in just 60 games. Even if he had been healthy enough to play in the 20 games he missed that year—and was held off the scoresheet in each and every one of them—he still would have been averaging 2 points per game!

Love the book ...” --Seth, Ottawa

Thank you Seth. 

Saturday’s Globe and Mail featured an article by Hal Niedzviecki on the rise of the stupid/kooky book. Funny enough, Raincoast has a number of titles named in the article.

How To Survive a Robot Uprising, Tips on Defending Yourself against the Coming Rebellion, by Daniel H. Wilson.

Hey!: It’s that Guy, The Fametracker.com Guide to Character Actors, by Tara Ariano and Adam Sternbergh of Fametracker.com.

Get This Party Started, 50 Naughty Games for Twosomes, Threesomes, Foursomes and More, by Frances Hill and illustrated by Dan Sipple.

The entire Worst Case series by Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht.

Fuck This Book, public signs with mischieviously placed stickers, by Bodhi Oser.

Yoga for Regular Guys, The Best Damn Workout on the Planet!, by Three-Time World Champion Wrestler Diamond Dallas Page and Dr. Craig Aaron.

The Baby Owner’s Manual, Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance, by Louis Borgenicht, MD, and Joe Borgenicht, DAD.

Brick Testament, Stories from the Book of Genesis illustrated in Lego bricks, by Brendan Powell Smith.

Lost, Lost and Found Pet Posters from around the World, by Ian Phillips.

So You Want to be a Canadian, All About the Most Fascinating People in the World and the Magical Place That They Call Home, by Kerry Colburn and Rob Sorensen.

Everything I Ate, A Year in the Life of My Mouth, by Tucker Shaw.

Do you have a favourite quirky, strange or stupid book you’d like to recommend?

On November 16, Michael Ableman, author of Fields of Plenty: A farmer’s journey in search of real food and the people who grow it spoke at an event in Vancouver produced by Necessary Voices Society and the Vancouver Public Library.

The audio from the event is available on the Necessary Voices Society website by going to the audio streams section and clicking on the link.
Direct link to MP3 file

Fields of Plenty describes the growing community of farmers and food artisans, who are producing sustainable nourishment that is respectful to the land and rich in heritage, flavor and commitment.

Michael Ableman is the founder of the Center for Urban Agriculture, an education center and working organic farm in southern California that has become an international model for small scale and urban agriculture. His books include From the Good Earth and On Good Land. 

Win on-the-road training with a Lonely Planet author and be published in next year’s Lonely Planet Bluelist.

Enter the Lonely Planet contest by creating a Bluelist on a topic of your choice.

What is Lonely Planet Bluelist?
A book that captures the world’s hottest trends, destinations, journeys and experiences for the year 2006-2007.

For example, visit the Lonely Planet website for the Best Places to Get Naked, a list from the Lonely Planet Bluelist 06-07. 

An excerpt of We Are Iran: The Persian Blogs by Nasrin Alavi is posted on The Tyee

The Editor’s Note provides a great summary of the book, describing Nasrin’s work as part archive of the impact of 64,000 Iranian blogs on Iran and the world, and part example of an experiment in democracy and history writing.

Travis Smith also reviews the book on his website, and he admits that he was a bit skeptical of the book at first. “I’m not really a ‘modern Iranian politics’ kind of guy.” But he did find the book was more interesting than he first thought.

Individual voices, speaking about issues that are at once remote and yet universal ... a great tour guide to modern Iran.

Read the full post on Travis’ blog

And for anyone interested in other insider looks, I can recommend Baghdad Journal: An Artist in Occupied Iraq by Steve Mumford and Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea by Guy Delisle. Both published by Drawn & Quarterly.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanzaa ... However you celebrate at this time of year, we at Raincoast, Publishers Group Canada and BookExpress wish you all the best.

In lieu of mailing holiday cards, Raincoast sends e-greeting cards and makes a donation to the Vancouver Food Bank. View the card by clicking on the below link. The artwork is by Greg Banning, from the book Gretzky’s Game

To view the card at full size:
http://www.raincoast.com/seasons-greetings-2005.html

Dan Greenburg and his Secrets of Dripping Fang series will be featured on America Online’s kids’ channel, KOL, starting December 19.

Dan will be interviewed on Radio KOL, a live show that includes call-ins from kids, on Monday, December 19, at 6:30 p.m. E.S.T.  To coincide with the interview, KOL will feature his books in the Bookshelf area of KOL (Keyword: KOL Bookshelf), complete with a chapter excerpt, audio recording, and bio.

Bloomsbury UK announced today that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling will be available in paperback on 23 June 2006.

Canadian pricing, ISBNs and publication date is still to be confirmed.

Raincoast.com/harrypotter

On December 8, 1980, former Beatle John Lennon was shot dead in front of his New York apartment.

Read On This Day from BBC.

Do you remember the day Lennon was shot? Do you have other memories of John Lennon or of The Beatles?

James Henke’s Lennon Legend is the illustrated life of John Lennon. The biography features removable facsimiles of his handwritten lyrics and famous drawings as well as rare photographs, documents and other memorabilia drawn from Yoko Ono’s personal archives and other sources.

The biographical text runs chronologically from Lennon’s early years in Liverpool through to his death in New York City, with the focus on his life as a musician and artist. 

Saturday’s Globe and Mail Style section profiled Anna Pavord’s The Naming of Names as an ideal gift.

Marjorie Harris says, “replete wtih gorgeous illustrations, this is a book for plantaholics who long to know every detail. She proves that gardening is an intellictual pursuit.”

The Naming of Names is a thrilling adventure into botanical history by the author of the worldwide bestseller The Tulip.

Imagine a world without definition: a world where plants exist but their properties are unknown because there is no way to classify them. Are they good to eat or poisonous? Can they be used to cure an illness or even save a life?

The search for order in the natural world is traced in The Naming of Names. The book takes readers from Athens in the third century BC, to Constantinople, Venice, the Salerno medical school and the Pisa and Padua universities during the Renaissance.

Did anyone get a chance to see Anna while she was here in Canada? On December 2, she was at the Vancouver Planetarium.

Quill and Quire is reporting that Frontier College, a Canadian literacy organization, is hoping to raise funds by launching First eDitions, an online auction of signed first-edition books, through eBay.

The bidding on a signed, adult-cover edition of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince began at 5 p.m. on Dec. 2.

Each month thereafter, another first edition book will be brought to auction. The books will be chosen by bookseller Ben McNally of Nicholas Hoare and Globe and Mail books editor Martin Levin. Frontier College has committed to running the program for a year.

First eDitions can be accessed through eBay’s charity auctions page or through the Frontier College website.

To bid on the signed copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, visit eBay.ca.
Direct link to eBay bidding page for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

To receive Harry Potter News Alerts by email, sign-up at Raincoast.com
www.raincoast.com/newsletters/

Lonely Planet Bluelist. It’s the next big thing.

(blu, list) v. to recommend a travel experience

Places that BLUE you away. Vacations your friends took that made you GREEN with envy. RED-hot destinations. ORANGE you glad Lonely Planet BLUELIST is coming soon? 618 Things to Do & Places to Go.

Bluelist tells all.

Launching December 13, Lonely Planet Bluelist is a ground-breaking annual travel guide that will seek to answer three essential questions: “what’s hot?” “what’s not?” and “what’s next?”

Capturing the world’s hottest trends, destinations and experiences with authority and attitude, Lonely Planet Bluelist will set the agenda for the year ahead. Packed with inspirational travel ideas, Bluelist is Lonely Planet’s view of the world for 2006, as voted for by the extended travel community of authors, staff, readers and travellers.

Start thinking of your top 10 lists and see if they compare.