New and Used Books
1986 - 2023
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Book Again is no longer in business.
Thank you for your support.

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Thank You!

And here is the column that I wish I'd never have to write...

After a wonderful run of 37 years, I'm afraid Book Again will be closing its doors. There are many reasons behind this decision, but simply-put, it is time for me to close. This is a very bittersweet moment for me, and I will miss every single one of you – many of whom have become very close friends.

As a special "Thank You," we will be selling our remaining stock at half-off until all books are gone. That's right, every day will be a Half-Off sale day! All books must go! Unfortunately, this also means that we will no longer be buying books, neither for cash nor credit. Not even books that you wish to donate.

Indeed, I would like to sell my entire inventory, and if you are interested, I am open to any and all offers.

I will cherish the memories of these past four decades. Yes, things have been tough lately with the pandemic and runaway inflation, but we've also shared so many wonderful times as well. Book Again has brought so much joy into my life, and I think we have really shared something special with the community. So thank you for 37 wonderful years! again.

—Sheryl

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From the Editor:
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Danny's News

 

Like most of you, I was very surprised to learn of my Mom's decision to close Book Again. But it made sense, and her reasons seem valid. Still, a sad time.

I remember back in the mid-80s when my Mom gathered us all together and told us how she wanted to open a small business. She wasn't sure what type of business, though, and asked for our opinions. We came up with a lot of ideas, but the top favorites were either a used record shop or a used bookstore. The bookstore idea eventually won-out and Book Again was born, taking its name from a song titled "Look Again," written by my brother Joe (Sheryl's oldest son).

All of Sheryl's sons worked the store on that opening day weekend in 1986. I worked there on and off during its first year with my brother Mike. Our brother Joe was in charge of this newsletter and also wrote the Folklore column, with Mike taking over the newsletter reins after a bit.

In later years, Sheryl's brother, Mike (not to be confused with her son, Mike), convinced her to make a website for the store. He designed the site and ran it for a decade.

Sheryl's son, Mike, ran the store for that first decade. When my Mom retired from nursing, Mike started work in the health industry. I eventually took over the website and newsletter around 20 years ago.

Book Again was my Mom's life. Not only did it keep her busy, but she truly loved all the relationships she made with the customers, and the business aspect kept her invigorated. I know this is a huge blow to her, having to close the store, but at the same time it comes as a relief, with the world getting more and more complicated at a time when she needs more stability and less stress.

I'm very proud of my Mom for the success she achieved with Book Again. A lot of businesses frankly don't come close to lasting as long as Book Again has. To simply survive the recent pandemic closures was an achievement in itself – I don't think she even took advantage of any of the emergency loans that were available to her during that time.

So join me in wishing a fond farewell to Book Again. It gave my family a lot of fond memories over the years. I hope it did the same for you...

—Danny

 
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We are no longer taking-in books.

All remaining stock is on sale every day for half-off our normal low prices!

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Book Again Feature Articles
by Staff

Don't miss these fantastic articles and cartoons, written over the years by various Book Again staff members.

Click on the link below to start browsing our Feature Article archive! Enjoy!

click here for our feature article archives

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Nolte Family Aebleskivers

  • 3 cups Bisquick
  • 3 tablespoons corn oil
  • 4 eggs, seperated
  • 1 quart buttermilk
  • apple sauce or your favorite filling


Beat egg whites and set aside.

Mix Bisquick, oil and buttermilk in a different bowl, then fold-in whipped egg whites.

Brush pre-heated aebleskiver pan lightly with oil.

Pour batter into holes, gently turning 1/3 around until all sides are browned evenly.

This recipe produces "plain" aebleskivers (a sort of round pancake ball). If you desire, you may add applesauce or diced apples or many other fillings during the cooking process, after you have made that first "turn" during the cooking process (when the aebleskiver has a hole for you to fill). Experiment with it. Some people stuff their aebleskivers with berries and jam, or banana bits, ham, cheese, grilled onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, or even bacon.

It may take a bit of practice to ensure the aebleskiver is fully cooked inside. Ensure you are using enough oil in each hole so that they turn easily. Brush each hole again with oil after each one is cooked.

This is not a traditional aebleskiver recipe. This is the recipe used by our family. Honestly, I'm not sure who came up with it. Possibly our Dad, although he may have gotten it from someone else.

This recipe makes great pancakes as well. If you find the batter too thin, use more Bisquick (although this will change the taste).

Want more delicious food ideas? Check out our Recipe Archive!

 


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"This is the first of what we hope to be a monthly newsletter. Our purpose is to make it informative, as well as fun. It's certainly been fun putting together this first one!

My oldest son Joe, who you may have seen working here back in March, has agreed to be our editor. His qualifications are excellent, as he edited all my papers through college a few years ago. He's agreed to fit the newsletter into his busy schedule of work & school on the condition that I let him write his own folklore column -- don't miss it, his interest is contagious."

With those words the tradition of the Book Again Newsletter began.

As I recall, it was November of 1985, and my brothers and I had assembled at my mother's for dinner. During the course of the meal, she announced that she planned to open a store of some sort, and asked us for ideas. I personally pushed for a used record store, but the winning concept was, as you well know, a used Book Store. Brother Mike and I volunteered to help set it up, and Mike further signed on as Store Manager.

On opening day all the brothers were there, helping out to an extent but mostly, I fear, just getting in each other's way. I believe Mom has proof of this on video.

At any rate, the store opened in March of 1986. Mom had been searching for a name for the store, and, mindful of a song I had once written called "Look Again," I jokingly suggested "Book Again."

She liked it.

That Summer I got my first computer (an IBM XT with a whopping 20MB hard drive!), and two months later Mom hit upon the idea of starting a newsletter. (If this sounds familiar, it should -- some eleven years later I would finally go online, and two months after that so would Book Again.)

She asked me to put the newsletter together, which I did, and continued to do single-handedly through the early '90s (with monthly contributions from Mom and Mike).

At the time I had been getting increasingly interested in folklore, and sensed a golden opportunity. I based my involvement on one stipulation -- that I be allowed to contribute a folklore column on a regular basis. She readily agreed, and it worked out to the benefit of all -- the column kept the newsletter from becoming just another throwaway bit of advertising -- it became something that customers would actually look forward to.

It became frequently a royal pain as well, especially as work and school took up more and more of my time.

I enjoyed it, however, and still do -- though I never would have guessed that I'd still be doing it so many years later!

A word about what I consider to be "folklore" is, perhaps, in order. Certainly the usual examples apply: myths and legends, roots of old sayings and songs, and the origins of holidays -- the latter a theme I would devote myself to exclusively for the first six months.

Folklore, to me, goes beyond that, however. Any historic or public figure, if colorful enough, inevitably has some small bit of apocrypha attached to their story, whether they be Presidents, gunslingers, pioneers, baseball players, or Rock Stars. From Abe Lincoln's seances, to Babe Ruth's "calling the home run," to Stuyvesant's ghost, even to my own great uncle Adam Walsh's exploits under Knute Rockne in the 1920's ... it's all there, and it's all wonderfully good -- and entirely appropriate to the world of Folklore.

Additionally, the origins of the art of the Magician, rumors of Secret Societies that may or may not yet wield influence to this day, the birth of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer -- all such matters, from the trivial to the profound to the occasionally spooky, are fair game for my musings.

Still with me? Faithful readers may have already noticed that most of the examples just cited have yet to make an appearance in one of these columns. Quite so, as the columns continue to this day. Consider the above a "teaser" -- a glimpse of things to come.

But I've rambled enough -- the blessing and curse of writing online, free of space constraints. Having said that, I must point out that all the columns prior to September of 1997 were written only for the printed newsletter, and as such they were frequently severely edited even as they were being written. I had no choice -- I only had a finite amount of space.

It is partly for that reason that no fewer than 16 of the original columns were reprinted and (usually) greatly expanded for subsequent online appearances. When such is the case you will not see the original column -- instead I'll interject as I'm doing now with a pointer to where the improved, expanded version may be found.

From October 1986 (our first issue) through the end of 1987 the newsletter and column appeared almost every month. In 1988 we briefly went bi-monthly, as we were mailing every single issue to customers, and postage was getting a little out of hand. In July of '88 we hit upon a compromise -- we returned to the monthly schedule, but elected to mail out only three issues a year. The remaining issues were available only in the store.

By January of the next year (1989) we were all just too busy to maintain any sort of monthly schedule, and so the newsletter and column went bi-monthly again, and would remain so until July 1991. That issue, there was no room for a folklore column, so instead I inserted a little box promising a return of the column "next time."

"Next time" would take six months to arrive. There were various logistic reasons for this gap, most notably being Mom's decision to move to Valencia, but for however many reasons (I recall being frightfully busy at school, for one thing) there would be no newsletter for the remainder of 1991.

We returned in January 1992, but would publish far fewer issues (four per year from 1992 to 1994), and on occasion there would be no folklore column. We were all moving on with our lives, and it seemed only a matter of time until the inevitable happened.

The inevitable happened in mid 1995, when I left the South Bay to move to the San Fernando Valley. None of us were online yet (the internet was still in its infancy), so any continuing contributions on my end became too much trouble to attempt. Mike was editing the newsletter by this point, and though issue #49 (Jan - May 1995) included the optimistic statement: "the folklore column will return in the next issue of the newsletter! (hopefully)." It was not to be. The September / December 1994 column would be my last for years.

The rest you know by now. Book Again's newsletter went online in September 1997, and the folklore column returned with a vengeance! Editing chores were divided between our Uncle Mike for the online edition and Brother Mike for the printed version. Then by 2004, Brother Dan (this is starting to sound like a monastery) took over the whole darn mess.

And, though circumstances forced a brief disappearing act on my part from May 2002 to March 2003, I have returned, and continue to write the folklore column (I have returned to the South Bay as well, incidentally). As always, I trust the best is yet to be -- but I have long wanted to make previous columns available to our readers.

With these words I now write, and the help of long-suffering Brother Dan, this dream is now a reality.

A quick legal note: All columns found herein are copyrighted to me, and should not be used without permission. My ode to Charles Schulz, "Charlie at the Bat," has found its way elsewhere on the net, and I have no problem with that as I was in communication with the webmaster of that site and a "copyright Joe Nolte" appears on the page. Generally I don't mind seeing my words take root in other places, but I strongly object to seeing my words without my authorship mentioned...

In short, if you want to cite any of this stuff, let us know first!

It's time to bid this overlong introduction goodbye, and get to the folklore! As I said, I spent the first six months delving into the origins of Holidays. To my delight, the first issue of the newsletter was to appear in October -- and Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. It was a good way to start things rolling...

click here to start digging into our Folklore archive
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"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies... The man who never reads lives only one."—George R.R. Martin


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