Welcome to bookchat where you can talk about anything...books, plays, essays, quotes, words, magazines, and books on tape. You don’t have to be reading a book to come in, sit down, and chat with us.
"Who knows what evil lurks in the minds of men? The Shadow knows!" When I was a child, I listened faithfully to this radio program. It was thrilling and I could imagine all the things they talked about without seeing any of it. Could the Shadow be translated to TV and would it be as chilling, today?
When I was a young teen, I would go to the library and find brown books with three mysteries in each one written by Earle Stanley Gardner, Agatha Christie, and others. Later there were mystery magazines like Ellery Queen’s and Alfred Hitchcock’s.
Why do we like to read about trials and the hunt for bad people? One reason that has been mentioned is that it is like a puzzle with clues to put together to see if we can figure out the answer before the end. Another reason is that there is an ending and a resolution that might not happen in real life.
Usually, the bad persons are discovered and dealt with which is satisfying. At least that was true when I was young. There were consequences and heroes who always "got their man" as the Mounties say. Of course, it is well known that the butler did it. We have learned to keep an eye on him. We know all about red herrings that are used by the writer to make it harder to discover the guilty parties.
One of the most terrifying villains of all my reading life was Fu Manchu in stories by Sax Rohmer. He was evil incarnate, vile, a man who made you shiver by just hearing his name. The things he did to his victims were horrifying. It is a wonder that I was not scarred for life.
Generally, I try to keep the discussion open for all types of genre each night so we don’t get typecast as the site that only discusses one kind of book, but Marlyn wondered who people’s favorite detectives or PI’s were and it is a fun topic to think about. Thanks, Marlyn!
Remember that you can discuss any type of book, but if you have enjoyed mystery stories or true crime adventures, tonight is the night to share your favorites. Sherlock Holmes? Hercule Poirot? Tell us about them, please.
A site that lists various awards for mystery books and films...the Edgars named after Edgar Allan Poe, The Ellery Queen and others:
http://www.mysterywriters.org/...
The Grand Master Award list is here with all your favorites mentioned:
http://www.mysterywriters.org/...
2008 Bill Pronzini
2007 Stephen King
2006 Stuart Kaminsky
2005 Marcia Muller
2004 Joseph Wambaugh
2003 Ira Levin
2002 Robert B. Parker
2001 Edward D. Hoch
2000 Mary Higgins Clark
1999 P.D. James
1998 Barbara Mertz
(aka Elizabeth Peters
and Barbara Michaels)
1997 Ruth Rendell
1996 Dick Francis
1995 Mickey Spillane
1994 Lawrence Block
1993 Donald E. Westlake
1992 Elmore Leonard
1991 Tony Hillerman
1990 Helen McCloy
1989 Hillary Waugh
1988 Phyllis A. Whitney
1987 Michael Gilbert
1986 Ed McBain
1985 Dorothy Salisbury Davis
1984 John le Carré
1983 Margaret Millar
1982 Julian Symons
1981 Stanley Ellin
1980 W.R. Burnett
1979 Aaron Marc Stein
1978 Daphne du Maurier
1978 Dorothy B. Hughes
1978 Ngaio Marsh
1976 Graham Greene
1975 Eric Ambler
1974 Ross Macdonald
1973 Alfred Hitchcock
1973 Judson Philips
1972 John D. MacDonald
1971 Mignon G. Eberhart
1970 James M. Cain
1969 John Creasey
1967 Baynard Kendrick
1966 Georges Simenon
1964 George Harmon Coxe
1963 John Dickson Carr
1962 Erle Stanley Gardner
1961 Ellery Queen
(Frederic Dannay
and Manfred B. Lee)
1959 Rex Stout
1958 Vincent Starrett
1955 Agatha Christie
I have read twenty of the authors above...how about you?
The winners from 1946 until 2006 are here:
http://mysterywriters.org/...
Do you remember any of these?
1951 Best Radio Drama "Dragnet" James Moser, Jack Webb NBC
1953 Best Play Dial M for Murder Frederick Knott
1954 Best First Novel A Kiss Before Dying Ira Levin Simon & Schuster
1955 Best Motion Picture Rear Window John Michael Hayes Paramount
1957 Best Novel A Dram of Poison Charlotte Armstrong Coward-McCann
1958 Best Motion Picture Twelve Angry Men Reginald Rose Orion/Nova
1960 Best Motion Picture North by Northwest Ernest Lehman MGM
1961 Best Motion Picture Psycho Robert Bloch, Joseph Stefano Paramount
1963 Best First Novel The Fugitive Robert L. Fish Simon & Schuster
1965 Best Motion Picture Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte Henry Farrell, Lukas Heller Twentieth Century Fox
1965 Best Episode in a TV Series "The Fugitive series" Alan Armer ABC
1965 Best First Novel Friday the Rabbi Slept Late Harry Kemelman Crown
1965 Best Novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold John le Carre Coward-McCann
1966 Best Fact Crime In Cold Blood Truman Capote Random House
1966 Best First Novel In The Heat of the Night John Ball Harper & Row
1969 Best Juvenile The House of Dies Drear Virginia Hamilton Macmillan
1971 Best Play Sleuth Anthony Shaffer Comment: performed at the Imperial Theater
1972 Best Motion Picture The French Connection Ernest Tidyman Twentieth Century Fox
1972 Best Novel The Day of the Jackal Frederick Forsyth Viking
1974 Special Edgars The Onion Field Joseph Wambaugh Delacorte Press
1974 Best Novel Dance Hall of the Dead Tony Hillerman Harper & Row
1977 Best Novel Promised Land Robert B. Parker Houghton Mifflin
1978 The Raven Award Barney Miller Danny Arnold ABC
1979 Special Edgars Columbo and Ellery Queen TV series Richard Levinson, William Link
1979 Best Novel The Eye of the Needle Ken Follett Arbor House
1985 Best Short Story "By Dawn's Early Light" Lawrence Block Playboy
1988 Best Paperback Original Bimbos of the Death Sun Sharyn McCrumb TSR
1999 Best First Novel A Cold Day in Paradise Steve Hamilton St. Martin's Press
2003 Best Motion Picture Chicago Bill Condon Miramax
2004 Best Fact Crime The Devil in the White City Erik Larson Random House - Crown Books
2006 Best Motion Picture Syriana Stephen Gaghan Warner Bros. Comment: based on the book by Robert Baer
I have read or seen twelve of the above though I have heard about most of them. Your total?
My favorite TV shows over the years were Dragnet (which I had heard on radio, too), The Twilight Zone, Perry Mason, To Catch A Thief, Route 66, Barney Miller, Hercule Poirot on Mystery Theater, and Monk.
This winter, I bought and enjoyed the first seasons of Lovejoy, Magnum PI and MacGyver. I had never seen them because I was working nights or had small children when they were popular shows.
I have dozens of favorite detectives and PI’s. If you mention one, I will surely nod my head in agreement. There have been so many good ones. I like Cadfael by Ellis Peters, Elvis Cole in LA written by Robert Crais, Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee by Hillerman, Maisie Dobbs by Winspear, Falco by Lindsey Davis.
On my list of favorite mysteries:
- Break Up by Dana Stabenow
- What’s the Worst that Could Happen by Donald Westlake
- Double Cross Blind by Joel N. Ross
- The Devil in Music by Kate Ross
- Face of a Stranger by Anne Perry
- Death of a Stranger by Anne Perry
- Black List by Paretsky
- Faded Coat of Blue by Owen Parry and sequels
- The Eight by Neville
- Seneca Falls Inheritance by Miriam Grace Monfredo and sequels
- Spy Who Came in from the Cold by LeCarre
- O Jerusalem, Justice Hall, The Game by Laurie King
- Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier
- African Quest by Lyn Hamilton
- Hotel Paradise by Martha Grimes
- Booked to Die by John Dunning and the whole series
- The Charm School by Nelson DeMille
- LA Requiem by Robert Crais
- Maisie Dobbs by Winspear and the sequels
- Vineyard Blues by Philip Craig
A seal of approval from the newsletter realage:
http://www.realage.com/...
Don’t deny yourself the luxury of curling up with that murder mystery, tragic tale, or sci-fi thriller this weekend. Consider it self-defense class for your brain.
Being a bookworm doesn’t just make you smart. It makes you mentally tough. It builds so much cognitive reserve that bookworms’ brains may be bolstered against bad things like pollution and toxins.
Calling All Reserves
On cognitive tests, book lovers outperform people with lower reading levels. No surprise there. But the big news is that people who read regularly may develop a "cognitive reserve." What’s that mean? That they’ve got extra brainpower to keep the mind rolling when brain cells are under attack. In a study of factory workers, the brains of the big readers functioned just fine on cognitive tasks, despite on-the-job exposure to toxic substances, like lead.
One thing leads to another...
Last week it was The Panther by Rilke, and this week it is The Other Tiger by Borges.
The whole poem is here:
http://www.cs.rice.edu/...
... It strikes me now as evening fills my soul
That the tiger addressed in my poem
Is a shadowy beast, a tiger of symbols
And scraps picked up at random out of books,
A string of labored tropes that have no life,
And not the fated tiger, the deadly jewel
That under sun or stars or changing moon
Goes on in Bengal or Sumatra fulfilling
Its rounds of love and indolence and death.
To the tiger of symbols I hold opposed
The one that's real, the one whose blood runs hot
As it cuts down a herd of buffaloes...
The Lady and the Tiger by Frank Stockton is here half way down the page:
http://www.gutenberg.org/...
I had already written Bookflurries when Meteor Blades published his diary on Tuesday night, and I am sure most of you had a chance to read it, but just in case you missed it:
Mississippi Turning
by Meteor Blades
http://www.dailykos.com/...
To go along with MB's diary, I recommend Red River by Lalita Tademy. This is a fictional account of her family’s story, but it is based on truth and written with authority. Family photos, letters, newspapers articles, and records are included in the story.
The story is based on an event in 1873 in Colfax, LA. The men who had been slaves had been voting despite being threatened by the White Knights. After one vote, the locals refused to give way to the elected officials including a new sheriff. The men of Colfax took a stand trying to preserve the rights of the elected officials by holding the Colfax courthouse until Federal soldiers would arrive.
It is an important story, though hard to read. It is a testament to courage as was MB’s diary. We must not forget the way it was. We must bear witness so others who stood for the right to vote did not die in vain.
Book Review: "Shaku Maku: On The Ground In Occupied Baghdad"
by 4jkb4ia
http://www.dailykos.com/...
plf515 has a wonderful book diary on Fridays early and all day
sarahnity’s list of DKos authors:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Sea Story, with a Message
by boatgeek
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Essays to Senator Obama - The Space Economy Pt.3
by FerrisValyn
http://www.dailykos.com/...
The POLL has too few spaces for all our favorites so please mention yours in comments.