Card 847. Ivan Doig.

Somewhere between card #811 and 847, the cards started getting dated "2006" instead of "2005."

The book promoted on the card ended up being a New York Times bestseller.

Card 862. Andrew Vachss.

He's known by many as a mystery novelist but he did so much in his life (passed away in 2021). Of interest to many on Card Talk would be the comic books and graphic novels he wrote including, "Batman: The Ultimate Evil" (1995) and "Predator: Race War" (1993).

Card 878. Andy Summers.

Card 880. Simon Winchester.

"A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906" is the second of two books out of all 1080 books promoted with these cards that I have read. Either I need to read more or I have just been reading all the wrong books.

This one has relevance for me since I have lived my whole life in or near San Jose which is about 50 miles south of San Francisco. I experienced the Loma Prieta Earthquake in 1989 but that was apparently just a minor shake-up next to the 1906 quake. I hadn't read any of Winchester's books before reading this one. It's quite detailed and yet very readable. He tells real stories very well, and since he is a geologist, he knows the subject. A scientist doesn't always have the gift of being able to talk to a mainstream audience as well as talk shop with fellow scientists but Winchester has that gift. I recommend it to any science or history buff especially if you're interested in San Francisco/California history. However, after reading it, I've been thinking of moving to Utah or anywhere else hundreds of miles from the San Andreas Fault.

Winchester's book "The Professor and the Madman" is much better than any book about a dictionary has any right to be (has anyone see the movie with Mel Gibson and Sean Penn?).

Card 881. Annie Leibovitz.

Getting back to more Booksmith cards...

Card 883. Science writer, Mary Roach.

Card 895. One of the early cyberpunk authors, Rudy Rucker.

This is one of the early cards with the 2007 date.

Card 930. Khaled Hosseini.

Hosseini's first novel, "The Kite Runner" (2003) did okay as a hardback but the paperback edition really took off, selling over 1 million copies and was later adapted into an Academy Award-nominated film.

For some reason, The Kite Runner has become one of those books that is popular in high school English reading lists.
Very strange, since it includes a scene where an adolescent boy is raped by an adult man.

Card 935. Chuck Panozzo, Styx bass player.

I remember Styx having several hit songs, but like many 70's groups, you hear just one or two of their songs on the radio these days. I hear "Blue Collar Man" the most - less often, "Mr. Roboto" and "Too Much Time on My Hands." I had thought "Lady," "Come Sail Away," and "The Best of Times" were more popular but I guess not.

Card 942. Pamela Des Barres.

Unnumbered card. Kiara Brinkman.

Brinkman worked at Booksmith and later married another store employee, cartoonist Sean Chiki. Together, she wrote and he illustrated, the graphic novel, "Lucy in the Sky" (2021).