My husband and son are much more controlled in their buying. Today I feature a few of my husband's choices. He has provided comments on each book.
The Togakushi Legend Murders
Know nothing about it but can't resist Japanese police/detection/mystery dramas. Have had great luck with the genre: The Devotion of Suspect X, All She Was Worth, The Tokyo Zodiac Murders are among the most memorable.
Richard Armour humor
When I was young, Richard Armour's humorous history books were popular and plentiful. They now seem to be forgotten and very hard to find. Surprised to have found two at the book sale and am looking forward to revisiting and, hopefully, finding them still pleasurable.
A Spy Among Friends
Ben Macintyre writes spy/double agent histories and the one I've read - Operation Mincemeat - was excellent. I now have three of his unread - don't usually buy so many of an author due to often being burned but for this author it seems safe to have them all stacked up and waiting.
Ackermanthology!
A collection of vintage sci-fi short stories compiled by Forrest J.Ackerman, I don't usually gravitate to science fiction but Ackerman is (was) such an appealing person (Famous Monster of Film Land and his home, the Ackermansion) that I couldn't resist.
18 comments:
Oh, Tracy, these all look so good! I'm especially drawn to the Uchida; I really like learning from the way crime fiction is done in other places.
I know that my husband would have been attracted to the Sci- Fi book for the cover as much as anything. In general though he is much less likely to book binge than I am, which can be quite annoying!
I'll be curious if in the book Spy Among friends any mention will be made about James Jesus Angleton. He was the handpicked counter-intelligence expert in the CIA while Allen Dulles was director. Angleton struck up a deep friendship with Philby and was devestated that he had taken him into his confidence....when Philby defected to USSR. Angeton vowed to get his revenge. You must never upset a spy!
I know, Margot. I told Glen I was going to steal that one from him. Although actually the one I want is the Ackermanthology.
Yes, Katrina, husbands who are less susceptible to overdoing book buying are very irritating. But at least they do like books.
We checked the index to the book, Nancy and there are lots of references to Angleton, so yes, I would say that he is mentioned. I look forward to reading the book someday myself.
I read the Philby book, and highly recommend it. Ben MacIntyre writes gripping historical books, which seems to have excellent research behind them.
As for Richard Armour, I scrounged around in my basement just recently (because I was going to see Macbeth at Stratford) to revisit Twisted Tales from Shakespeare and, while I was down there, The Classics Reclassified. Yup, he had a neat turn of phrase, and his double entendres just snuck up on you.
You've got some great selections there, Tracy. A few of these I'm looking up myself. Looking forward to seeing how well these hold up. --Keishon
Susan, my husband was very happy to find the Ben MacIntyre book and I look forward to reading it once he is done. How nice to have some Richard Armour books in the basement.
I am definitely eager to sample some of those science fiction short stories, Keishon.
Tracy, it's interesting that you should highlight a Richard Armour book. I have been looking for his "humorous history books" ever since I read a couple of them more than a decade ago. I remember his keen wit.
I think my husband just stumbled on these books by Armour, Prashant, he did not expect them to be at the book sale. That is the fun of the book sale ... finding the unexpected.
Probably the MacIntyre appeals the most. I have a couple of books by him unread.
I have heard that MacIntyre writes well, Col, and I look forward to reading this one because of the subject matter. But I have a lot of non-fiction that I plan to read but continue to put off.
Haven't heard of any of these so I'll look out for your reviews. -K.
Sounds good, Keishon. I do hope to read some of these, even sample the Armour books which would not be my usual reading.
If your husband liked The Devotion of Suspect X, which I also liked, he should read The Salvation of a Saint by the same author. It's brilliant done, and the solution is one of which Sherlock Holmes would be proud.
Glen has read Salvation of a Saint, Kathy, and he agrees with you that it is very good. He also read Malice, by the same author, but not the same detective series. I haven't tried that one yet.
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