Best of the Decade: 1980s

Editor’s Note: This year, our Half Price Books calendar once again features lists of books, movies and music. We’re heading into a new decade with a new focus…the past. Each month, we’ll share a list of events, inventions and, of course, books, movies and music, from every decade since the 1900s right here on the blog. Enjoy!

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Prince was big, Pac-Man was big…hair was big. We head back to the era when the keytar was king to bring you a list of rad, and radical, events, books, music and movies that made serious moves in the 1980s.

BOOKS

The Color Purple – Alice Walker
Lonesome Dove – Larry McMurtry
Beloved – Toni Morrison
A Brief History of Time – Stephen Hawking
The Joy Luck Club – Amy Tan
The Satanic Verses – Salman Rushdie
The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
The House on Mango Street – Sandra Cisneros
Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel García Márquez

Best of the Decade: 1960s

Editor’s Note: This year, our Half Price Books calendar once again features lists of books, movies and music. We’re heading into a new decade with a new focus…the past. Each month, we’ll share a list of events, inventions and, of course, books, movies and music, from every decade since the 1900s right here on the blog. Enjoy!

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Andy Warhol makes a statement with cans of Campbell’s soup and The Beatles cross the pond to bring a new sound to the American audience. This month, we bring you a few important events as well as the books, music and movies that set the scene in the 1960s.

BOOKS

To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
In Cold Blood – Truman Capote

Everything I Need to Know, I Learned from Reading Tolkien

March 25 is Tolkien Reading Day, a day dedicated to reading the works of the genius that is J.R.R. Tolkien. As I thought back on my previous readings of the epic adventure Lord of the Rings and, of course, my favorite Tolkien book, The Hobbit, I realized that everything I need to know in life, I learned from reading Tolkien.

It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door…You step into the road and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to. (The Fellowship of the Ring)—Any day can become an adventure.

Best of the Decade: 1920s

Editor’s Note: This year, our Half Price Books calendar once again features lists of books, movies and music. We’re heading into a new decade with a new focus…the past. Each month, we’ll share a list of events, inventions and, of course, books, movies and music, from every decade since the 1900s right here on the blog. Enjoy!

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Something cool came along when jazz was introduced to the masses and the literary scene got a leg up from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Get a good look at the grandstanding books, music and movies from the decade that left dancers flapping in the wind…see what we did there? You guessed it. It’s the 1920s!

BOOKS

The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald

Best of the Decade: 1910s

Editor’s Note: This year, our Half Price Books calendar once again features lists of books, movies and music. We’re heading into a new decade with a new focus…the past. Each month, we’ll share a list of events, inventions and, of course, books, movies and music, from every decade since the 1900s right here on the blog. Enjoy!

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Oreos arrived (arguably making cookie jars more interesting nationwide) and Uncle Sam asked for America’s best candidates to confront Germany as the U.S. entered World War I. This month, we’re taking a look at the events, books, music and movies that took America by storm in the 1910s.

Behind the Book: Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts

For our first Book Club pick of 2020, Half Price Books has selected Finding Dorothy, the fictional retelling of the true life of Maud Baum, wife to L. Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz. This a perfect read for lovers of all things Oz and historical fiction. We had the wonderful opportunity ask author Elizabeth Letts some in-depth questions regarding her inspirations, discoveries and insights into this wonderful book!

Can you tell us more about Maud Baum, the voice and inspiration behind Finding Dorothy? What made you decide to write a story inspired by her and from her point of view?
Frank Baum died in 1919, twenty years before his book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was turned into the classic MGM film. The only living link between the book and the movie was his widow, Maud, who was seventy-seven years old. Maud’s mother was one of the most radical advocates for the rights of women—she grew up with Susan B. Anthony hanging around her house. Her mother was constantly in the newspapers for organizing protests, and she got laws changed so that Maud could be one of the first young women to attend an Ivy League school. So what did she do with all that opportunity? Did she become a lawyer for the cause, as her mother had hoped? No. She dropped out of school to marry a very handsome but not too impressive young theater man named L. Frank Baum. To me, this was fascinating. Maud was clearly a powerhouse, strong enough to defy her overbearing mother. But I think it’s easy to overlook the incredible influence of women like Maud, who make their mark behind-the-scenes. We may not remember her, but every time we quote The Wizard of Oz, we are paying homage to her legacy.

Best of the Decade: 1900s

Editor’s Note: This year, our Half Price Books calendar once again features lists of books, movies and music. We’re heading into a new decade with a new focus…the past. Each month, we’ll share a list of events, inventions and, of course, books, movies and music, from every decade since the 1900s right here on the blog. Enjoy!

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Corn Flakes® became a breakfast staple on tables across the nation and up in the sky, it was a bird, a plane! No, really. It was a plane. Check out the interesting events that made our list beside the Wright Brothers’ first powered flight and see which books, music and movies were all the rage during the 1900s.

 

12 Humbugs for the Holidays

As someone who loves to celebrate strange, but wonderful holidays, I was excited to come across a “holiday” dedicated to making you feel better by allowing you to voice your frustrations about the Holiday season. That’s right. December 21^st is Humbug Day, when you can have 12 humbugs to vent your holiday frustrations.

The creators of this holiday also encourage the reading of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol to learn more about the man that inspired this day, Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge. Of course, Scrooge only says “Humbug” nine times in the book, and only two of them include the interjection “Bah!” Still, if we’re given 12 humbugs on Humbug Day, I say we take them. So here are my 12 Humbugs for the Holidays.

Humbug 1—The décor that goes on sale before Halloween.

Humbug 2—The lights on your neighbor’s house that seem a bit extreme.

50 Jolly Facts for the 50th Anniversary of the Rankin/Bass Frosty the Snowman

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the 1969 TV special Frosty the Snowman. It may not be as beloved as some other classic holiday shows, but Frosty (unlike its melt-prone title character) has proven its staying power. To celebrate, here are 50 facts, tidbits, observations and tangents about this animated TV classic.

Totally Random Lists 2019: Home Sweet Home

Editor’s Note: This year our Half Price Books calendar once again features books, movies and music grouped together in weird, unexpected ways. You might even call them Totally Random Lists, which is what we did because, well, we had to put something on the front cover. We like the lists so much, we’ll be sharing them on this blog throughout the year.

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We’re shaped by the home we grew up in. And once we’re grown, we obsessively shape and re-shape our homes to reflect who we are—or want to be. Home is definitely where the heart is, and there’s plenty of domestic bliss to be found on the list below.