Rummanah Aasi
  As part of the Teen Book Scene promotional tour for Charles Benoit's Fall from Grace, I have Charles stopping by today to tell us what we would find in his teenage garage sale. The teenage garage sale allows us a chance to know authors on a personal level. Charles's teen garage sale is pretty eclectic and I had to share all of it. Enjoy!

Rummanah, you win the prize for “Strangest Blog Post Question” – take your pick of any of these fine items from my teenage-years garage sale!

  • Assorted albums and 8-track tapes—all guaranteed to be scratched and/or unplayable!
    • My 15-17 years old collection: Genesis, Yes, ELO, Kansas
    • My 17-20 years old collection: The Ramones, The Specials, Madness, The Slecter, English Beat, Elvis Costello, Desmond Decker
  • Concert T-shirts from shows I saw
    • Cheap Trick (2 times), Boston, Genesis (3 times), The Tubes, The Outlaws (designated driver), Joe Jackson, The Ramones (13 times)
  • Used books
    • The entire John Carter of Mars series by Edgar Rice Burroughs
    • The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks
    • The Hobbit (never read) by Tolkin
    • A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
    • The complete works of Jules Vern (half read)
    • Uncle Fred in the Springtime by P.G. Wodehouse (not for sale – love it too much)
    • 9th Grade Algebra text (never opened)
  • Turquoise ring, returned by ex-girlfriend—slight dent where it bounced off the windshield of a passing car, noticeable scratch where it was stomped into a sidewalk by a girls’ size 4 sneaker
  • Mustache and goatee—worn from 16 to 19, excellent if you need to look like a magician
  • Jean jacket with a black hoodie underneath—worn, non-stop, for entire high school career
  • Fake ID—will fool the guy who works late nights at the convenience store on Long Pond road.

 Thanks for stopping by, Charles! I'm getting the sense that are some really interesting stories behind the mustache and goatee as well as the turquoise ring. I would have love to have seen the Ramones in concert and I gotta love Cheap Trick! They are from Illinois after all. :)


Grace always has a plan. There’s her plan to get famous, her plan to get rich, and—above all—her plan to have fun.

Sawyer has plenty of plans too. Plans made for him by his mother, his father, his girlfriend. Maybe they aren’t his plans, but they are plans.

When Sawyer meets Grace, he wonders if he should come up with a few plans himself. Plans about what he actually wants to be, plans to speak his own mind for a change, plans to maybe help Grace with a little art theft.

Wait a minute—plans to what?
6 Responses
  1. Anonymous Says:

    LOL- oh my gosh I remember 8-tracks!!! My parents had them when I was like 4...and they had these things called records....hilarious!!

    :D


  2. BTW - The Ska albums are not for sale either. They're framed and hanging on the wall of my office.


  3. Jenny Says:

    Wow. Clearly things did not end well with the previous owner of that ring given that it was stomped on and launched at a passing car O_o I too have an unread copy of The Hobbit, I'm still hoping to get to it one day!


  4. That cracked me up, very entertaining. However 15-20 yrs ago put us in the eighties and nineties so eight tracks were way gone by then I think they would be cassette tapes. I want that turquiose ring with the dent. Dude! How can you not have read the Hobbit?? Better get after it before the movie comes out!


  5. Candace Says:

    I love these garage sale posts! It's so fun seeing what authors have (or had) and kind of get a good feel for their taste (and age ;) LOL.


  6. I want to know the story behind the turquoise ring! Lol, I love seeing this type of post and finding out what authors were like in their teens.


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