uuuh .... is there a possibility to get the below in more legible format? Sorry for being a bother ... Wolfgang (active member, Denzlingen VFD, and still gloating over the idea of Tom Sawyer, fireman ...) On Thu, 6 Dec 2012 03:31:37 -0800 Richard Reineccius <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > A favorite librarian in San Francisco alerted me to this > book, just after m= > idnight, and sent this column from the Rupert Murdoch Bay > Area flagship dai= > ly - San Jose Mercury-News. The other books may interest > some of you.=0A(fo= > r the graphics, log MERCURYNEWS.COM)=0AOf course, the > other Tom Sawyer & Tw= > ain story was that a drinking buddy in North Beach & > Downtown SF had the na= > me Tom Sawyer. That one later opened a small wine & more > store called "The = > Original Tom Sawyer Spirits Shop"=0A=0A-Richard R, in San > Francisco. =A0=A0= > =A0 =0A*****************************=0A=0AESPECIALLY FOR > SF BAY AREA TWAIN = > FANS:=0A=0ABooks=A0- San Jose Mercury-News=A0=A0 > =0AGeorgia Rowe: Where Mar= > k Twain met Tom Sawyer=0A=0ABy Georgia Rowe=A0 > Correspondent=A0=A0=A0mercur= > ynews.com=A0 Posted: 12/06/2012 12:00:00 AM > PST=0A=A0=A0=A0 =A0=A0=A0 =0A= > =A0=A0=A0 =A0=A0=A0 =A0=A0=A0 Click to enlarge=A0=A0=A0 > =A0=A0=A0 =A0=A0=A0= > =0A=A0=A0=A0 =A0=A0=A0 =A0=A0=A0 Cover of "Black Fire: > The True Story of t= > he Original Tom Sawyer and of the Mysterious... ( Crown > )=0A=A0=A0=A0 =A0= > =A0=A0 =A0=A0=A0 =A0=A0=A0 =0A=A0=A0=A0 Tom Sawyer and > Mark Twain meet in S= > an Francisco in "Black Fire," Robert Graysmith's > fascinating account of tha= > t city in the 19th century. =0A=0AOther highlights among > this month's new r= > eleases by Bay Area authors=A0=A0=A0 include fiction, > poetry, a study of lo= > ve from the French point of view and a book of images now > in a time capsule= > orbiting the Earth.=0A=0A=A0=A0=A0 "Black Fire: The True > Story of the Orig= > inal Tom Sawyer -- and of the Mysterious Fires That > Baptized Gold Rush-Era = > San Francisco" by Robert=0AGraysmith (Crown, $26, 288 > pages). Before Tom Sa= > wyer was a fictional hero, he was a real-life one -- an > 18-year-old "torch = > boy" who raced ahead of San Francisco's volunteer fire > brigade, carrying to= > rches to light the way. This intriguing history by Bay > Area journalist and = > author Graysmith ("Zodiac") documents the fires, set by a > mysterious arsoni= > st known as "The=0ALightkeeper," which burned in the city > six times between= > 1849 =A0=A0=A0 and '51. A decade later, Mark Twain -- > then a reporter for = > the city's Morning Daily Call -- met Sawyer in a San > Francisco steam bath. = > Graysmith, whose drawings illustrate the book, links the > people, places and= > events that led Twain to write his first > book.=0A=0AOTHER BOOKS NEW BY THE= > SAN FRANCISCO BAY=A0=A0=A0 =0A=A0=A0=A0 "The Last > Pictures" by Trevor Pagl= > en (University of California =A0=A0=A0 Press, $27.95, 208 > pages). Every art= > ist hopes to create works that =A0=A0=A0 will endure, but > UC Berkeley's Pag= > len aimed high with "The Last Pictures." The > artist/scholar compiled a coll= > ection of 100 black-and-white photos that were etched on > a disc and sent in= > to orbit aboard the EchoStar XVI satellite last month. > Expected to circle t= > he Earth for 4.5 billion years, the images in this unique > time capsule refl= > ect art, nature, technology, political movements and > views of space from Ea= > rth.=0A=A0=A0=A0 =0A=A0=A0=A0 "How the French Invented > Love: Nine Hundred Y= > ears of Passion and Romance" by Marilyn Yalom (Harper > Perennial, $15.99, 41= > 6 pages). Do the French understand love better than the > rest of us? Yalom, = > a professor of=0AFrench and senior scholar at Stanford's > Clayman Institute = > for Gender Research, suggests that they do. Exploring key > events in literat= > ure, philosophy, art and drama, she traces the history of > l'amour from 12th= > -century courtly love to contemporary films by Claude > Lelouch. In chapters = > on Moli=E8re, George Sand and Alfred de Musset, Simone de > Beauvoir and Jean= > -Paul Sartre, Yalom makes her case with considerable > insight.=0A=A0=A0=A0 = > =0A=A0=A0=A0 "The Bird that Swallowed its Cage: The > Selected Writings of Cu= > rzio Malaparte" adapted and translated by Walter Murch > (Counterpoint, $24, = > 144 pages). Murch, a Marin-based film editor and sound > designer who=A0=A0= > =A0 earned Academy Awards for his work on "Apocalypse > Now"=A0=A0=A0 and "Th= > e English Patient," makes his mark as a translator in > this volume of short = > works by Italian author Curzio Malaparte.=0AAs a > journalist, Malaparte wrot= > e from the front lines of World War II; poet Robert Hass > has called him "on= > e of the most startling and unexpected chroniclers of the > violence of the 2= > 0th century," adding that Murch's translations are > "tone-perfect."=0A=A0=A0= > =A0 =0A"Nearly Nowhere" by Summer Brenner (PM Press, > $15.95, 173 pages). Ge= > orgia-born, Bay Area-based Brenner, whose earlier books > include the noir th= > riller "I-5," returns with this relentlessly paced novel, > whichopens in New= > Mexico. Kate, an artist, and her teenage daughter, Ruby, > are just scraping= > by, when the arrival of a troubled drifter turns their > lives upside down. = > Robbery and murder lead to the wilds of Idaho, with the > final showdown invo= > lving a gang of Neo-Nazi survivalists. "Nearly Nowhere" > exerts a powerful g= > rip right to the end.=0A=A0=A0=A0 =0A"I Saw Zombies > Eating Santa Claus: A B= > reathers Christmas Carol" by S.G. Browne (Gallery Books, > $14.99, 199 pages)= > . Andy Warner's been held captive for a year in a zombie > research facility = > in Portland, Ore. Disguised as Santa, he breaks free -- > and thus begins the= > newest chapter in the satirical "Breathers" saga by San > Francisco's Browne= > . Hilarious, horrifying and just in time for the > holidays, it's a must for = > anyone who can't get enough of the > undead.=0A=0ASHOWTIME:=A0=A0=A0 =0A=A0= > =A0=A0 michael, michael, michael:=0A=A0=A0=A0 Mrs. > Dalloway's presents "Thr= > ee Michaels," with Michael=0A=A0=A0=A0 Chabon, Michael > Pollan and Michael L= > ewis, Dec. 10, 7:30 p.m., in=0A=A0=A0=A0 Berkeley's Roda > Theatre, www.mrsda= > lloways.com,=0A=A0=A0=A0 =0AThe Top Ten: 2012 was a great > year for Bay Area= > authors. Here are 10 of the year's finest, still > available at your local b= > ookseller: "Telegraph Avenue" by Michael Chabon; "A > Hologram for the King" = > by Dave Eggers; "Some Assembly Required" by Anne Lamott > (with Sam Lamott); = > "Monstress" by Lysley Tenorio; "The Great Animal > Orchestra" by Bernie Kraus= > e; "Equal of the Sun"=0Aby Anita Amirrezvani; "What Light > Can Do" by Robert= > Hass; "I'm Your Man" by Sylvie Simmons; "Subversives" by > Seth Rosenfeld; a= > nd "Waging Heavy Peace" by Neil > Young.=0A=0A-0-=0A=0A=0A=0A=0A Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Hochbruck Dept. of English Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg Rempart St. 15 D-79098 Freiburg Germany