One of the most enjoyable perks of living the bookseller life is certainly getting my paws on advance reading copies sent from publishers. All it takes is a couple of unexpected padded manila envelopes sent to my attention, and any random day at Green Apple becomes Christmas. Last month I had only heard rumors of a new Thomas Pynchon novel due to be published at the end of summer, but then after a well-placed 'please' to the visiting Penguin sales representative, here I am, 20 pages down the darkly psychedelic path of Inherent Vice. It's quite a departure for Pynchon, and I'm thrilled to be one of the first folks in San Francisco to read this highly anticipated novel! I'll tell you just this much about it: one of the characters is named Bigfoot. Which is just the tipping point that I need to decree 2009 "The Summer of Sasquatch".Seriously. May all the pirates just get eaten by zombies already, 'cause Bigfoot reigns supreme at Green Apple!
If you aren't sold on the majesty of Bigfoot yet, just flip through any of the funny, lovely, and weirdly poignant books from Graham Roumieu. It starts with Bigfoot: In Me Own Words, but Bigfoot: I Not Dead really brings it all home. And don't overlook the fact that there were not just one, but two scholarly tomes on my main man, 'Squatch, released last month. McLeod's Anatomy of a Beast from UC Press focuses on the meteoric rise of the mythology and pop appeal of our shaggy idol, while Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend from the University of Chicago attempts to uncover a more gender-relative sphere of influence. One of my colleagues has written on his shelf-talker for Anatomy of a Beast, "Maybe I'm all alone in this, but I'm doing what I can to make 2009 the Official Year of Bigfoot." Well, at least there are two of us now!(Beware The Yeti of 2010)
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