1986, first edition, from Woodbury Press
Phil Hardy and company
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Movies
Original and purchase price unknown
Good condition hardcover with worn dustjacket
B
Considering how many books haven't lived up to my memories of them, it was an extra pleasant surprise to find that this book is the best work of film criticism I've read since Harmetz's The Making of "The Wizard of Oz." It's even more remarkable considering that I'm not a sci-fi fan and only bought this book to help in my collection of bad movies. Yes, there is a fair share of Plan Nine et al., some of which Hardy and his contributors greet with amusement, some with annoyance, but the capsule reviews are generally interesting, yes, even on the likes of A Clockwork Orange. They take a chronological approach, from 1895 (Lumiere) to 1985, with films alphabetical within each year.
Although this is a British publication (with such oddities as "blackman" as one word), most of the movies are understandably American. Still, they do have films from around the world, not just their own U.K. and of course Japan (Godzilla etc.), but even such curios as De Lift, a Dutch film about a killer elevator. (Weird, but maybe not any weirder than the American movie The Stuff, about killer yogurt.) There are good insights into the changing nature of cinema, not just sci-fi, and the book held my interest, despite being 400 pages of tiny font. And the book does capture that time when Star Wars had changed everything but computer animation hadn't yet come along.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
The Autobiography of Henry VIII
1986, 1987 Ballantine edition
Margaret George
The Autobiography of Henry VIII, with Notes by His Fool, Will Somers: A Novel
Original price $9.95, purchase price $7.00
Worn paperback
B-
George fails in her attempts to make Henry more sympathetic, but the novel is otherwise an interesting (and long) look at the life and times of the controversial king. True, there are some noticeable errors (misunderstanding of the intimacy of "thou," some anachronisms, including the age difference between Henry and his first wife doubling at one point), but she captures Henry's twisted heart and mind. The use of Somers (Henry's real-life jester) is also a mixed success, in that he's supposed to be providing another viewpoint, but he too often either disappears from the narrative or sides with Henry, including on the absolute wickedness of Anne Boleyn.
I couldn't get into George's Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles, giving up after a few chapters because it changes perspectives too often, but I like her The Memoirs of Cleopatra, which we'll get to in 1997. No, I haven't read the sort of sequel to this, 2011's Elizabeth I, but I do have I, Elizabeth (1994).
Margaret George
The Autobiography of Henry VIII, with Notes by His Fool, Will Somers: A Novel
Original price $9.95, purchase price $7.00
Worn paperback
B-
George fails in her attempts to make Henry more sympathetic, but the novel is otherwise an interesting (and long) look at the life and times of the controversial king. True, there are some noticeable errors (misunderstanding of the intimacy of "thou," some anachronisms, including the age difference between Henry and his first wife doubling at one point), but she captures Henry's twisted heart and mind. The use of Somers (Henry's real-life jester) is also a mixed success, in that he's supposed to be providing another viewpoint, but he too often either disappears from the narrative or sides with Henry, including on the absolute wickedness of Anne Boleyn.
I couldn't get into George's Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles, giving up after a few chapters because it changes perspectives too often, but I like her The Memoirs of Cleopatra, which we'll get to in 1997. No, I haven't read the sort of sequel to this, 2011's Elizabeth I, but I do have I, Elizabeth (1994).
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Missile Envy
1986, revised from 1984 edition, Bantam
Dr. Helen Caldicott
Missile Envy
Original price unknown, purchase price $3.50
Very worn paperback
C+
While I admire Caldicott's dedication to the anti-nuclear cause, I can only marginally recommend this book. It's not so much that it's dated (it's not like nukes have disappeared from the face of the earth), but rather a combination of too many dry statistics (which of course are completely outdated now), and some conclusion-leaping on other topics, from "pacifist" Christianity to machismo to Valley Girls. (Like, ohmigod, the Silicon Valley is not the Valley! Don't be a lame Aussie, Helen!) This would've been a C if not for the chilling but funny real-life scene where Caldicott meets a truly clueless Reagan.
I also own If You Love This Planet, which we'll get to in 1992.
Dr. Helen Caldicott
Missile Envy
Original price unknown, purchase price $3.50
Very worn paperback
C+
While I admire Caldicott's dedication to the anti-nuclear cause, I can only marginally recommend this book. It's not so much that it's dated (it's not like nukes have disappeared from the face of the earth), but rather a combination of too many dry statistics (which of course are completely outdated now), and some conclusion-leaping on other topics, from "pacifist" Christianity to machismo to Valley Girls. (Like, ohmigod, the Silicon Valley is not the Valley! Don't be a lame Aussie, Helen!) This would've been a C if not for the chilling but funny real-life scene where Caldicott meets a truly clueless Reagan.
I also own If You Love This Planet, which we'll get to in 1992.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
One More Time: A Memoir
1986, 1987 Avon edition
Carol Burnett
One More Time: A Memoir
Possibly bought newish for $4.50
Very worn paperback
B
I've never been a huge Burnett fan but I grew up watching her variety show in syndication and I'm always pleased when she turns up (like as a voice in Horton Hears a Who). Here she talks about her early days, mostly pre-success, with a lot on her childhood, coping with her parents' divorce and alcoholism, as well as poverty. She doesn't seem to have held a grudge against them, or her tough but hypochondriac (yet Christian Scientist) grandmother. She seems to have had both low self esteem and incredible pluckiness. She's a good storyteller, not as funny as Rosalind Russell (one of the celebrities she idolized, growing up in Hollywood), but few people are. She wrote this book for her daughters, so it's sad that one struggled with drug addiction and eventually died of cancer. Burnett is still active at 79, and in fact wrote another autobiography in 2010.
Carol Burnett
One More Time: A Memoir
Possibly bought newish for $4.50
Very worn paperback
B
I've never been a huge Burnett fan but I grew up watching her variety show in syndication and I'm always pleased when she turns up (like as a voice in Horton Hears a Who). Here she talks about her early days, mostly pre-success, with a lot on her childhood, coping with her parents' divorce and alcoholism, as well as poverty. She doesn't seem to have held a grudge against them, or her tough but hypochondriac (yet Christian Scientist) grandmother. She seems to have had both low self esteem and incredible pluckiness. She's a good storyteller, not as funny as Rosalind Russell (one of the celebrities she idolized, growing up in Hollywood), but few people are. She wrote this book for her daughters, so it's sad that one struggled with drug addiction and eventually died of cancer. Burnett is still active at 79, and in fact wrote another autobiography in 2010.
Monday, March 4, 2013
The Cat Who Saw Red
1986, 1987 Jove Books edition
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Saw Red
Original price $2.95, purchase price unknown
Very worn paperback with split spine
B
This is the last of the box set I wrote about back in July. It feels like a longer gap than 18 years between Books 3 and 4, although it's set not long after the events of On and Off. Mary Duckworth is leaving town, but she recommends Qwill move into the building owned by Robert Maus, so he leaves a tearful Mrs. Cobb (luckily not forever) and meets new people, including husband-hunting chubby Hixie, whom we'll also see more of. (I think Mary disappears for good.) Arch is around, as boss and best pal, which is good because Qwill meets up with his old girlfriend (from ages 17 to 20), Joy. She's not too joyful though because she's a potter married to another potter who resents her greater talent, resents it enough to kill her. He's pretty obviously the murderer, but the method, gorier than usual for the series, will probably surprise you.
I liked the glimpse into Qwill's past, as well as his realization that he's been in love with who she was, not who she grew up to be. Also, Koko is further developing his mechanical aptitude, even typing! It may be the 1980s in the outside world, but Qwill still hasn't given up his typewriter. He's 46 in this adventure by the way. This time his assignment is restaurant critic, which is a problem because his doctor has put him on a diet. Yet he still manages to think unkind thoughts about Hixie's weight. He always holds women to a higher standard, although he does get points for dating Rosemary, a woman with grandkids in college!
A few words about Yum Yum. She's described on the back of this and many of the other books as "a lovable Siamese adored by her two male companions." That's about it, no special talents or qualities. Qwill calls her his "little sweetheart," and talks to her with (something like) "a tenderness that no woman in his life had ever heard." Also, she and Koko can be jealous of human outsiders. It's a weird dynamic. And then you've got Koko pretending violence towards her to get Qwill's attention, and her usually letting Koko eat first. I was grateful to Rosemary for pointing out that it might've been Yum Yum who boobytrapped the apartment with yarn. Qwill replies, "I bow to your feminine intuition. Forgive my chauvinism."
So he's at least moved into the 1970s, right? We'll revisit the issue of chronology as the series goes on.
Lilian Jackson Braun
The Cat Who Saw Red
Original price $2.95, purchase price unknown
Very worn paperback with split spine
B
This is the last of the box set I wrote about back in July. It feels like a longer gap than 18 years between Books 3 and 4, although it's set not long after the events of On and Off. Mary Duckworth is leaving town, but she recommends Qwill move into the building owned by Robert Maus, so he leaves a tearful Mrs. Cobb (luckily not forever) and meets new people, including husband-hunting chubby Hixie, whom we'll also see more of. (I think Mary disappears for good.) Arch is around, as boss and best pal, which is good because Qwill meets up with his old girlfriend (from ages 17 to 20), Joy. She's not too joyful though because she's a potter married to another potter who resents her greater talent, resents it enough to kill her. He's pretty obviously the murderer, but the method, gorier than usual for the series, will probably surprise you.
I liked the glimpse into Qwill's past, as well as his realization that he's been in love with who she was, not who she grew up to be. Also, Koko is further developing his mechanical aptitude, even typing! It may be the 1980s in the outside world, but Qwill still hasn't given up his typewriter. He's 46 in this adventure by the way. This time his assignment is restaurant critic, which is a problem because his doctor has put him on a diet. Yet he still manages to think unkind thoughts about Hixie's weight. He always holds women to a higher standard, although he does get points for dating Rosemary, a woman with grandkids in college!
A few words about Yum Yum. She's described on the back of this and many of the other books as "a lovable Siamese adored by her two male companions." That's about it, no special talents or qualities. Qwill calls her his "little sweetheart," and talks to her with (something like) "a tenderness that no woman in his life had ever heard." Also, she and Koko can be jealous of human outsiders. It's a weird dynamic. And then you've got Koko pretending violence towards her to get Qwill's attention, and her usually letting Koko eat first. I was grateful to Rosemary for pointing out that it might've been Yum Yum who boobytrapped the apartment with yarn. Qwill replies, "I bow to your feminine intuition. Forgive my chauvinism."
So he's at least moved into the 1970s, right? We'll revisit the issue of chronology as the series goes on.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
A Midwife's Story
1986, 1988 Ballantine edition
Penny Armstrong and Sheryl Feldman
A Midwife's Story
Original price unknown, purchase price $3.95
Very worn paperback coming loose from binding
C+
This is an autobiography, with help from Armstrong's long-time friend Feldman. You'd think with two writers someone would've caught all the typos, but I had to mark this down from a B-. As for the content, it's pretty interesting, with Armstrong telling of her experiences delivering babies in hospitals and in homes, especially for an Amish community. I found her a bit gushy about the Amish at times. Yes, there are admirable things about their lifestyle-- kindness, hard work, etc.-- but the conformity bothered me. She points out that the Amish people aren't "cookie cutter," but I couldn't help wondering, what about the people who really don't fit in, like gays? Are they among the teens who leave and never return? Also, while it's great that the women give birth without technology and (generally) surrounded by warm, supportive families, it is disquietening how close together the births are, with Armstrong referring to the "babies" and "toddlers" in plurals for a couple. Not that Armstrong is there to judge, but she seems to accept their lifestyle with almost no questioning.
I will say that this is one of the books that I read in my 20s that convinced me that I would employ a midwife if I ever had kids. The hospital births in this book, like those in the '50s women's fiction (The Group, Lessing's novels) are disgustingly dehumanizing. Perhaps they aren't always that bad, but I knew I would rather be in a warm, comforting environment, with people I cared about. At 45, it's increasingly unlikely I'll ever give birth, but I haven't changed my mind that it's not something I'd want to do hooked up to machines, and treated like a machine myself.
Penny Armstrong and Sheryl Feldman
A Midwife's Story
Original price unknown, purchase price $3.95
Very worn paperback coming loose from binding
C+
This is an autobiography, with help from Armstrong's long-time friend Feldman. You'd think with two writers someone would've caught all the typos, but I had to mark this down from a B-. As for the content, it's pretty interesting, with Armstrong telling of her experiences delivering babies in hospitals and in homes, especially for an Amish community. I found her a bit gushy about the Amish at times. Yes, there are admirable things about their lifestyle-- kindness, hard work, etc.-- but the conformity bothered me. She points out that the Amish people aren't "cookie cutter," but I couldn't help wondering, what about the people who really don't fit in, like gays? Are they among the teens who leave and never return? Also, while it's great that the women give birth without technology and (generally) surrounded by warm, supportive families, it is disquietening how close together the births are, with Armstrong referring to the "babies" and "toddlers" in plurals for a couple. Not that Armstrong is there to judge, but she seems to accept their lifestyle with almost no questioning.
I will say that this is one of the books that I read in my 20s that convinced me that I would employ a midwife if I ever had kids. The hospital births in this book, like those in the '50s women's fiction (The Group, Lessing's novels) are disgustingly dehumanizing. Perhaps they aren't always that bad, but I knew I would rather be in a warm, comforting environment, with people I cared about. At 45, it's increasingly unlikely I'll ever give birth, but I haven't changed my mind that it's not something I'd want to do hooked up to machines, and treated like a machine myself.
Friday, March 1, 2013
Once Upon a Time: A True Story
1985, 1986 Fawcett Gold edition
Gloria Vanderbilt
Once Upon a Time: A True Story
Original price $4.50, purchase price $3.50
Very worn paperback
D+
This is easily the worst biography I've read so far, which is a shame because Vanderbilt has led an interesting life. I never thought that I'd wish an autobiography had been written by someone else, but her annoying style kept making me want to scream, or slap her. She's covering from ages one to seventeen, so she seems to be trying to write from the perspectives of a baby, child, and then adolescent, but this means that she repeats phrases several times in a row (maybe because she had a stutter, although this happens even when she doesn't) and calls everyone by a cutesy nickname. Her beloved nanny isn't just "Dodo," she's "Big Elephant." Friends and enemies in her teens get "The" in front of their names. She adopts her mother's habit of calling people "Pooks." And so on.
On top of that, because she can't tell us anything she didn't know at the time, we never quite learn the juicy details of The Custody Battle. (I had to go on Wikipedia to clear up things up for myself.) Her mother seems to have been bisexual and was accused of a lesbian affair, so Gloria, who just wanted to stay with Dodo, grew up with her emotionally distant paternal aunt, mostly without Dodo. Gloria didn't know anything about this accusation until her date at a dance was expelled for being a "pansy." And Gloria herself had a butch friend who tried something (again, vague) with her and they could never be friends again.
The title suggests she led a fairy-tale life, and indeed she often gets lost in fantasies of love, romantic as well as filial, all of them over the top with little or no pay-off. I was far from enchanted, and this is also the worst book of the 1980s so far.
Gloria Vanderbilt
Once Upon a Time: A True Story
Original price $4.50, purchase price $3.50
Very worn paperback
D+
This is easily the worst biography I've read so far, which is a shame because Vanderbilt has led an interesting life. I never thought that I'd wish an autobiography had been written by someone else, but her annoying style kept making me want to scream, or slap her. She's covering from ages one to seventeen, so she seems to be trying to write from the perspectives of a baby, child, and then adolescent, but this means that she repeats phrases several times in a row (maybe because she had a stutter, although this happens even when she doesn't) and calls everyone by a cutesy nickname. Her beloved nanny isn't just "Dodo," she's "Big Elephant." Friends and enemies in her teens get "The" in front of their names. She adopts her mother's habit of calling people "Pooks." And so on.
On top of that, because she can't tell us anything she didn't know at the time, we never quite learn the juicy details of The Custody Battle. (I had to go on Wikipedia to clear up things up for myself.) Her mother seems to have been bisexual and was accused of a lesbian affair, so Gloria, who just wanted to stay with Dodo, grew up with her emotionally distant paternal aunt, mostly without Dodo. Gloria didn't know anything about this accusation until her date at a dance was expelled for being a "pansy." And Gloria herself had a butch friend who tried something (again, vague) with her and they could never be friends again.
The title suggests she led a fairy-tale life, and indeed she often gets lost in fantasies of love, romantic as well as filial, all of them over the top with little or no pay-off. I was far from enchanted, and this is also the worst book of the 1980s so far.
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