Over the past two days, we've seen that Steve has some mighty swell books, and they just keep on a'comin'.
The first books visible on row Three are Donald Hamilton's adventures of Matt Helm. I can't read the titles--the best I can get are impressions. But I'm going out on a limb and say I have the impression two of them might be these . . .
Hm. I've never read a Matt Helm book. That blurb at the top of The Wrecking Crew makes me think I should.
Next up are Hammett's best book (left) and the one other folks think is his best (right). Read these more times than I can count.
After a copy of The Big Knockover and what I suspect is a later book called Nightmare Town, we find the hands-down most (left) and least (right) important Hammett story collections.
And two more less than vital but still interesting collections of artifacts. Among the next nine books is something by Ernie Hemingway (a story collection?) and a couple of Jack Higgins thrillers, including The Eagle Has Landed.
Then we find four REH titles, only two of which I can be sure of. The fourth has the same coloring as Berkley's Son of the White Wolf and Marchers of Valhalla, but the words don't seem to fit.
L. Ron Hubbard is not a name I expected to find here. Surprise, surprise. Following that are several unidentifiable E. Howard Hunt books and a Longmire adventure. It may not be As the Crow Flies, but the coloring is right.
Jumping to the next shelf, there's this one by Wm. Johnstone. Four books later there's another by the same dude, so it's a fair bet those in between are too. Then there are a few Frank Kanes. It almost looks like there's a Henry Kane in there too, but if so he's out of order.
We then encounter a Stephen King or two and a Dean Koontz or two before entering Joe Lansdale territory.
It looks like there are ten Lansdale titles, but I can only be sure of four titles, and pretty sure of three editions. I have no clue as to the addition of The Magic Wagon, third from the top in the stack.
Since this is the last pic in today's post, I'm glad it has a great cover.
Tomorrow: Row Four, and a fond farewell to the Mertz Library. See you then.
I think one of the two unidentified Howards might be Berkeley's The Last Ride, and the other might be a Breckenridge Elkins collection.
ReplyDeleteEvan, being an author and a fan and having a blog and such I've no doubt you get dozens of people telling you what you ought to read, and I imagine that can get tiresome.
But it's distressing that you haven't read any Matt Helm. Read the first one, Death of a Citizen, and then try to stop.
The first and third books are particularly powerful. Imagine Ian Fleming filtered through Dan J. Marlowe.
John
Thank you, sir. Your Howard impressions seem likely. The Breckenridge Elkins stories are my favorite REH works, but having the Donald Grant books, I never bothered with that paperback.
ReplyDeleteI'll be seeking Death of a Citizen.
Fans of Donald Hamilton's cynical Matt Helm novels must have really been disappointed in the campy Dean Martin movies. And fans of the movies would have been shocked by the novels. "Ian Fleming filtered through Dan J. Marlowe" fits.
ReplyDeleteRobert E. Howard is best known for his Conan series, but I once heard some critic say that his Westerns were the cream of his work, and the sword & sorcery stories were the dregs.
The only REH works I don't like are his detective stories.
ReplyDelete