Rare Book Monthly

Articles - May - 2005 Issue

Stacked: The Bookshop Makes It To TV!

Pamela Anderson is an author herself, penning this tale of a young lady with a life not totally unlike her own.

Pamela Anderson is an author herself, penning this tale of a young lady with a life not totally unlike her own.

We discover that Pamela-Skyler has a problem. She is always falling in love with the wrong type of man. Despite a wealth of choices, she finds herself attracted to the abusive type. Her current boyfriend is an abusive cheater with a tattoo who plays in a band. At this point the show gets a bit creepy, as the parallels are obvious with Pamela's real-life one-time boyfriend, the abusive Motley Crue musician, Tommy Lee. Perhaps others find the parallel funny, but this melding of horrid reality with light comedy makes me uncomfortable. I hope this Tommy Lee character disappears before the next show.

Skyler has come to the bookstore to find a book on relationships, something to help her overcome her proclivity to choose the wrong men. Stuart quickly tries to hit up on Miss Skyler, but she seems oblivious to his moves. He slyly tells her he can be found in the store "under dangerous men," to which she replies, "so can I. That's why I need the book." Oh those double entendres!

Now in real bookshops we don't break for commercials, but books and lattes don't pay the bills at "Stacked." So onto the screen comes that grotesque Burger King king. You know the one with the mask head that shows up at this poor guy's door first thing in the morning with some greasy, cholesterol-laden breakfast thing. In one episode he even climbs into bed with the confused man. Is that Michael Jackson under the costume? Maybe it's just me, but does this "king" give you the creeps almost as much as Tommy Lee does? Aren't these the same people who gave us the infamous "Herb" campaign, featuring the repulsive character who was supposedly the last person on earth with sense enough not to eat at Burger King? He ended up driving customers away. Still, not even he was as creepy as this king with the fixed smile. He'd keep me from going to Burger King even if I didn't already know what the food was like.

If this isn't bad enough, it is followed up by a commercial for Pamela Anderson's Instant Lip Solution. The same Pamela Anderson who stars in our show is suddenly seen hawking some potion to make your lips look larger. Even this lady's lips are "stacked."

After this diversion, the return to "Stacked" is actually welcome. While Pamela's reading her self-help book, in walks nerdy brother's ex-wife and two children. He wants to win her back, but she has bad news for him. She is seeing another man, a doctor, and a urologist at that (I think he was a urologist, but maybe he's a neurologist). Not to be humiliated, the brother not named Stuart pulls Skyler aside and asks her to pretend she is his girlfriend. For any of you who run a bookshop, if you asked the most gorgeous customer to ever walk through your doors to pretend she/he was your girl/boyfriend, do you think that person would oblige? Well this is not a reality show, so Skyler does. The ex-wife is horrified by Skyler's blatantly provocative behavior towards her ex-husband. The son, precocious little brat that he is, responds, "way to go, dad." This further horrifies his mother. The daughter, more rational than the rest, asks Skyler, "are you Dad's midlife crisis?"

They all leave, but ex-wife, who only wants what she cannot have, returns begging her former husband to take her back. Meanwhile Skyler's boyfriend, dressed in the image of Tommy Lee, but with one of those Crocodile Australian accents (does Tommy Lee speak this way?) appears. While the boyfriend admits to having had a sleazy affair with some other women, he protests to Skyler that, "I was only thinking about you, and another you." Think back to the title of the show to get this joke. Somehow they get rid of both the boyfriend and the ex-wife, and the show comes to an end, but not before the lovely Miss Skyler is offered a job at the store. You can sense that, to regular guy Stuart's chagrin, something is going to happen between the nerdy bookseller and Pamela Anderson's character. Dream on, all of you booksellers out there. It's not going to happen to you. This is fantasy, something like Fox News. But be sure to tune in on Thursday evening to follow the adventures of one lucky bookseller who hit the jackpot. Pamela Anderson is worth the price of admission.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum Auctions
    Online: India
    Ends 19th February 2026
    Forum, Feb. 19: Lot 40
    Ramasvami (Kavali Venkata). A Digest of the Different Castes of India, 83 charming hand-coloured lithographed plates, Madras, 1837. £5,000-7,000
    Forum, Feb. 19: Lot 50
    Watson (John Forbes) & John William Kaye. The People of India: A Series of Photographic Illustrations...of the Races and Tribes of Hindustan, 8 vol., 480 mounted albumen prints, 1868-75. £4,000-6,000
    Forum, Feb. 19: Lot 53
    Afghanistan.- Elphinstone (Hon. Mountstuart). An Account of the Kingdom of Caubul, first edition, hand-coloured aquatint plates, a fine copy, 1815. £2,000-3,000
    Forum, Feb. 19: Lot 57
    [Album and Treatise on Hinduism], manuscript treatise on Hinduism in French, 31 watercolours of Hindu deities, Pondicherry, 1865. £3,000-4,000
    Forum, Feb. 19: Lot 62 Allan (Capt. Alexander). Views in the Mysore Country, [1794]. £2,000-3,000
    Forum Auctions
    Online: India
    Ends 19th February 2026
    Forum, Feb. 19: Lot 76
    Bird (James). Historical Researches on the Origin and Principles of the Bauddha and Jaina Religions..., first edition, lithographed plates, Bombay, American Mission Press, 1847. £3,000-4,000
    Forum, Feb. 19: Lot 100
    Ceylon.- Daniell (Samuel). A Picturesque Illustration of the scenery, animals, and native inhabitants, of the Island of Ceylon: in twelve plates, 1808. £5,000-7,000
    Forum, Feb. 19: Lot 123
    D'Oyly (Charles). Behar Amateur Lithographic Scrap Book, lithographed throughout with title and 55 plates mounted on 43 paper leaves, [Patna], [1828]. £3,000-5,000
    Forum, Feb. 19: Lot 139
    Gandhi (known as Mahatma Gandhi,) Fine Autograph Letter signed to Jawaharlal Nehru, Sevagram, Wardha, 1942, emphasising the importance of education in rural communities. £10,000-15,000
    Forum Auctions
    Online: India
    Ends 19th February 2026
    Forum, Feb. 19: Lot 140
    Gantz (John). Indian Microcosm, first edition, Madras, John Gantz & Son, 1827. £10,000-15,000
    Forum, Feb. 19: Lot 146
    Grierson (Sir George Abraham). Linguistic Survey of India, 11 vol. in 20, folding maps, original cloth, Calcutta, Superintendent Government Printing, 1903-28. £2,000-3,000
    Forum, Feb. 19: Lot 195
    Madras.- Fort St. George Gazette (The), No.276-331, pp.493-936 and Index to all of 1834 at end, modern half calf, Madras, 2nd July - 31st December 1834. £2,000-3,000
    Forum, Feb. 19: Lot 205
    Marshall (Sir John) and Alfred Foucher. The Monuments of Sanchi, 3 vol., first edition, 141 plates, most photogravure, [Calcutta], [1940]. £3,000-4,000
  • Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: HAMILTON, Sir William (1730-1803) - Campi Phlegraei. Napoli: [Pietro Fabris], 1776, 1779. € 30.000 - 50.000
    Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: [MORTIER] - BLAEU, Joannes (1596-1673) - Het Nieuw Stede Boek van Italie. Amsterdam: Pieter Mortier, 1704-1705. € 15.000 - 25.000
    Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: TULLIO D'ALBISOLA (1899-1971) - Bruno MUNARI (1907-1998) - L'Anguria lirica (lungo poema passionale). Roma e Savona: Edizioni Futuriste di Poesia, senza data [ma 1933?]. € 20.000 - 30.000
    Il Ponte, Feb. 25-26: IL MANOSCRITTO RITROVATO DI IPPOLITA MARIA SFORZA. TITO LIVIO - Ab Urbe Condita. Prima Decade. Manoscritto miniato su pergamena, metà XV secolo. € 280.000 - 350.000
  • Sotheby's Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: Balthus, Emily Brontë. Wuthering Heights, New York: The Limited Editions Club, 1993. 6,600 USD.
    Sotheby’s: Charles Dickens. Complete Works, Philadelphia & London: J.B. Lippincott Company & Chapman & Hall, LD, 1850. Limited Edition set of 30 volumes. 7,500 USD.
    Sotheby’s: John Lennon, Yoko Ono. Handwritten Letter from John Lennon and Yoko Ono to their Chauffer. 1971. 32,500 USD.
    Sotheby’s: Winston Churchill. First edition of War Speeches, Cassell and Company, Ltd., 1941. Set of 7 volumes. 5,500 USD.
    Sotheby’s: Andy Warhol, Julia Warhola. Holy Cats First Edition, Signed by Andy Warhol. 1954. 30,000 USD.

Article Search

Archived Articles