dragon books.

Last week, I saw an ad on Flavorpill for a signing of a new book called John Belushi is Dead at a place called Dragon Books. I have to admit I was about 30% intrigued by the book and 70% by an LA book store I had never heard of, in a truly unexpected location--nestled in the Bel-Air Canyon, just off Beverly Glen Road.

I couldn't resist. I had to check it out. what I found was the most gorgeous book store that specializes in rare and first editions. A first edition of Moby Dick goes for a cool $39,000, and a first edition of Tender is the Night is a bargain at $35,000. But the walls were lined, top to bottom, with interesting used volumes in the price range of your average Jane (me).

Who knew there was a place like this buried deep in the wilderness of Los Angeles? Not me.

The book being celebrated did interest me, and I bought a copy and had it signed by its pretty, bubbly Australian author, Kathy Charles. I can't wait to start it--it seems like a kind of offbeat beach read. And I overheard Kathy telling another patron that she was rejected by 18 publishers before the book was finally sold (yikes!). Go on, girl.

And I snapped up this one, mostly because I really enjoyed the cover art. And because I've never read Mencken, and I thought this might be a good place to start.