My New Favorite Bookstore

It's not what you would expect. The White Elephant Resale store in Lincoln Park is a great place to find gently loved books at an amazing price. Gently loved? Sorry, that sounds perverted. Anyway, in the back wing of the store they have four aisles of donated books. I've taken to stopping in every Monday after my research at Children's Memorial Hospital ends. Here's what I've added to my collection so far:

• Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky. A favorite of mine that I, gasp, surprisingly do not own. Until now. $1.
• Philistines at the Hedgerow by Steven Gaines. The back review was deliciously enticing. $1.
• A trilogy of Adam Daligilesh murder mysteries by PD James. I've only read one of them before but I never remember who did it anyway! $1.
• As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner. Kevin told me that this was his favorite author. Now I feel better having this in my bookshelf. $1.
• A Photographic Record: The Chicago World's Fair of 1893. Unbelievable. $1.
• The Murder Room by PD James. OK, so I'm kind of a PD James fan. $1.
• Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling (hardcover featuring his drawings). Was going to give it to my nephew, extremely tempted to keep it for myself. $2.
• Hardcover collection of Beatrix Potter stories. Illustrated. My nephew can keep this one. Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle was my favorite. $2.

The only sad thing about all the English murder mysteries I've been reading lately is that there really isn't anything to blog about. They're just my guilty pleasure!

Getting Into Guinness

This is a fascinating history of the world's most famous record book, the Guinness Book of World Records. Its inception was as a limited print encyclopedia for pubs in the UK. The brainchild of Sir Hugh Beaver (the assistant managing director of Guinness Brewery and philanthropist) the aim was to settle those never ending pub debates of which bird was the fastest game bird in England. It soon became a fixture of pub life, and then literary life, in the UK and has spawned umpteen volumes and TV shows since its first publishing in 1955. Larry Olmsted, the author and owner of two Guinness titles, starts the book off with an introduction to Ashrita Furman who currently holds 113 current records and overall has set or broken 300 Guinness World Records, more than anyone in history. Olmsted goes on to explore some of the fabled legends of Guinness including the guy who won the world record for holding live rattlesnakes from his mouth and the creepy fingernail guy that terrified me as a child (I can't even post a picture, it still makes me want to vomit).

The book covers the insane lengths that communities, cities and countries have gone to to earn a place for themselves in the book (the construction of a 28-mile long sausage or a village in Australia trying to host the world's largest pub crawl). Even more insane is the dedication, time and effort people put into winning or breaking records. Furman has done 131,000 pogo stick jumps in 24 hours, walking 80.95 miles with a milk bottle balanced on his head (never touching it or letting it fall), and somersaulting the entire length of Paul Revere's ride - over 12 miles in 10.5 hours.

The author talks about how some of the records have gotten stranger and stranger - fastest time to place six eggs in eggcups using the feet, most snails on face, heaviest vehicle pulled by eyelids, etc. The author himself has won two awards - one for the Greatest Distance Traveled Between Two Rounds of Golf Played on the Same Day (he golfed in both Australia and California on the same calendar day). His last record was for the Longest Marathon Poker Game at 72hr and 2min without sleep.

I found the stories about the crackpots who try and set new records (without getting clearance first) to be the most shocking - a Doctor in India let his 15 year old son perform a C-Section on an anesthetized woman in an effort to get him the title of "youngest surgeon." Also, some categories such as most wine consumed in an hour and most beer chugged while upside down have sadly (but smartly) been retired. One man, Frenchman Michel Lotito, has eaten the following in his quest to enter the book (and enter it again and again): eighteen bicycles, fifteen shopping carts, seven television sets, six chandeliers, two beds, a pair of skis, a computer, and an entire airplane (a Cessna 150).

So, it was a really interesting and fun read. I highly recommend it.