Most of the thrift stores in our area are run by religious organizations and there is typically a cache of bizarre religious literature mixed in with their selections of books and magazines. In some respects, this material can be rather amusing and I have included a few examples below. But the more troubling selections (some of which border on hate speech and extremism) are better left unmentioned. All of the books mentioned below are real...I am not making any of these up, I promise! If you look hard enough, you can probably find most of these books in amazon.com or abebooks.com. On with the list...
The Joy of Celibacy
This was a very short book with some very strange cover art. Trust me on this one.
Slick Willie: Why Americans Cannot Trust Bill Clinton by Floyd G. Brown
I was really confused at first because I thumbed through this book and I found no mention of NAFTA, the failure of the Clinton Administration to deliver on the promise of universal healthcare or the Defense of Marriage Act. Then I noticed the book was published in 1992. File this one under “prophesy.”
El Ocultismo y La Biblia
I can’t read Spanish, but you get the idea.
How Could You Do That? by Dr. Laura Schlesinger
I think the title is really asking how someone can make millions of dollars just by being a self-righteous quack.
The 1980's: Countdown to Armageddon by Hal Lindsey
Actually, I didn’t buy this book because I already have a copy. Hal Lindsey is still in the “Armageddon” business today...Recently he declared that Hurricane Katrina was proof that "judgment of America has begun." No word on when the judgment of Hal Lindsey will begin.
Final Exit by Derek Humphrey
This is a famous book on assisted suicide that was authored by the founder of the Hemlock Society. The fact that I found a copy in a thrift store that specializes in estate liquidation seems to suggest that the previous owner got some use out of it.
Dangerous by Fabio The cover boasts that readers can win a “Fabio Fantasy Date!” Would you believe that there is actually an “International Fabio Fan Club”? On their web site, you can view an article and video from back when Fabio was smacked in the face by an errant goose as he was testing out a roller coaster at Busch Gardens.
Julio! The Loves, Life and Legend of Julio Iglesias by Jeff Rovin
I can’t think of anything funny to say about this one.
Listen to My Heart: Lessons in Love, Laughter, and Lunacy
by Kathie Lee and Cody Gifford
Oh, come on...Everybody knows that they didn’t write this book together. Cody probably wrote the whole thing himself for a cool 43¢ an hour.
The Cairo Connection: Egypt in Prophecy by Zola Levitt
In this work of "Biblical scholarship," Mr. Levitt puts forth the proposition that the Antichrist is Anwar Sadat. This is, of course, utterly preposterous seeing as how Sadat was assassinated in 1981, just a few years after this book was published. It’s also preposterous because we all know that Mikhail Gorbachev is the real Antichrist. Remember?
There’s really no shortage of strange and silly reading material in the shops that I visit, so I am sure I will have more titles to share in the near future. One of my favorite local spots has fallen on some hard times but hopefully it won’t be too long before I can get back there to look for new material.
