Clunes Booktown Festival 2016

Well here we are 2016, and it's time for the annual Clunes Booktown Festival. This years motto/slogan is “Journeys through time & place”. …obviously not Huc & Gabet time and not Huc & Gabet place, as once again the festival organizers have chosen to keep this bookseller out of all of their festival literature both on line and in print. Yep, once again this bookseller and his business are out of the programme*. Nothing on line and nothing in print about The Huc & Gabet Bookotorium, it's as if I don't exist. I am a little dissapointed.

Well I do exist and I am here and I will be open over the booktown weekend despite not existing on any map and there being no indication that I am a permanent bookseller here in Clunes all year round. For the first time ever The Bookotorium will be open all day**, ready and waiting for anyone who may stumble upon us. (Without any advertising it really will be a “stumble upon us”.)

If you are reading this and are heading to Clunes for the festival and want to visit the Bookotorium (that's code for Huc & Gabet headquarters), go to the IGA (Supermarket), continue along Fraser Street away from the festival on the same side of Fraser Street as the IGA. Continue along for approx 10 metres and you will find a drive way. I'm at the end of the drive way. It should be fairly obvious. Entry is free, you won't need a festival pass. 

If you get really lost phone me 0437 444 212.

I look forward to seeing you...

* They did the same thing last year.

** Normally we are only open by appointment

Slaughterhouse Five or The Children's Crusade: A Duty Dance with Death by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.. The Folio Society 2008

Slaughterhouse Five or The Children's Crusade: A Duty Dance with Death by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.. Hardcover book with pictorial boards (no dust jacket) with slipcase published by The Folio Society 2008, 170 pages with a few colour illustrations.

I wrote about Kurt Vonnegut a while ago (click here) and despite my best efforts was unable to sell the book in question on line at the time. It has sold since then and despite the length of time it took to sell, I wouldn't hesitate in picking it up again (...or any other Kurt titles) as all it ever takes to sell a Kurt Vonnegut book is for a fan to realise that this bookseller has something they don't have, especially in hard cover.

Talking about something most people don't have... The Folio Society have done this great repackaging/reissue of Slaughterhouse 5. This is the first copy i've ever found of this edition and as with many of their publications, they have done an excellent job of it. It's the sort of thing that would look good on any bookshelf... even my bookshelf.  Over the years I have found Folio Society publications to be a bit of hit and miss. Some titles sell incredibly well and some don't. Some have an aesthetic that appeals to this bookseller and some don't. This one does appeal, it's also a title that I have read and have recommended to others to read. Yep, i'm a fan. The movie (1972) is fairly watchable as well.

I won't go too much into the bombing of Dresden at this point in time but I can tell you that each time I have visited there (I have family that live there) I do reflect on Slaughterhouse 5... not so much the alien stuff but more about Billy Pilgrim's (the main character) experiences during the firebombing and thereafter. In case you didn't know, Vonnegut was a prisoner of war in Dresden at the time of the bombing and witnessed the whole thing. He was also one of the first (possibly the first) writers to write about it which all gets really interesting as the book was published 24 years after it happened... and it is a science fiction novel, not non fiction. If you want to know more about the bombing click here.

If you're not a fan of Science Fiction then i'm not sure if this book is for you. If you are a fan of Science Fiction and have an appreciation for nice looking books that have stood the test of time...