BUSTED BANK

Forbes.com just compiled a list worth taking a glance at- The Forbes Fictional Fifteen. Though I've just become privy to the knowledge of the list's existence recently, it is apparently one that Forbes compiles annually. It features the fifteen most wealthy fictional characters that they could come up with, though this year is especially exciting with six new additions to the previous, as if the economic crisis and slow climb back to stasis had perhaps hit the world of the imaginary as well. Hmmm.

It's funny trivia, the back accounts of the unreal. Bruce Wayne is wealthier than Jay Gatsby, though not NEARLY as loaded as Scrooge McDuck, but you know who's richer than all of 'em? Who else but Carlisle Cullen, a vampire in the bestselling Twilight series? Makes sense I guess. I mean, vampires live for however long they want and have time to amass fortunes beyond fortunes. More importantly I'm sure though, is that the character was penned by Stephanie Meyer, one author that certainly has a taste for the grandiose. I mean, one of her novels has a vampire giving a cesarean to girl who's pregnant with a super-strong psychic baby! Why shouldn't the Howard Hughes of the undead be rolling around somewhere between the pages?

Okay, anyway, check out this list. It's a laff.

Walk a mile in the shoes of another

Says Martin, a fine Green Apple bookseller:

One of the great joys of working at Green Apple lies is the fact that the store has been in the same location since its opening. As it has grown , it has absorbed other rooms in the building, taking on a second floor and an annex as the need arose. This organic growth gives the store its wonderful back rooms and stairs, nooks and crannies—but it also means that some great sections can be slightly hidden and easy to miss.

One such section is “Belles Lettres," which contains essays and memoirs, and is tucked in the upper southeast corner of the store, near the end of the reference section. Thus it does not get much in the way of casual browsing. However, there are some great books in this section, including some lesser-known titles by favorites such as George Orwell, Flannery O'Connor, and Chuck Klosterman.

Recently I have been reading a fair amount of memoir. Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman, an account of her year spent in prison, is one of the best memoirs I've read in a long time. It is an incredibly honest book, as Kerman, who admitted her guilt after being arrested, comes to terms with her (indirect) complicity in the drug trade. Losing Mum and Pup by Christopher Buckley and The Mercy Papers by Robin Romm both deal with the loss of a parent (in Buckley's case, both parents within the span of a year). Funny In Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas is an old favorite of mine, dealing with growing up in the US as a child of Iranian immigrants. This is a fun book (I’ve heard that Jimmy Carter is a fan of this one as well).

So the next time you have some browsing time in Green Apple, spend some time in some of the less traveled sections. There are treasures waiting to be found.
(photo by Robin Allen)

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!

And if it's not too redundant, "thank you" SFGate readers for voting Green Apple Books as the Best Bookstore in the Bay Area, as announced last week in the Best of the BayList Awards.

Topping this list becomes much sweeter when we realized that over 70,000 votes were tabulated in the Best Bookstore category alone, and that bookstores from all over the Bay were nominated!

Not to mention how wonderful the other bookstores in the Top 5 are; indeed, these are some of my favorites, and each one would have been a well-deserving winner. So congratulations also to Moe's (#2), Book Passage (#3), Builders Booksource (#4) and Dark Carnival (#5)

O.K. - maybe it is redundant at this point, but a big THANK YOU from all of us at Green Apple - we love this stuff!