Recent Book Purchases

• Hollywood Babylon II by Kenneth Anger. © 1984
Comments: I'd been wanting this book for quite some time, but I'd never been able to find a decent copy. Well, thanks to Nathan, I now own a pristine copy. Great book full of photos of classic Hollywood stars and their scandalous pasts.
• Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Weirdos. © 2002
Comments: I bought this book at the local Kroger discount book bin for just 99¢! I couldn't resist. The drawings are SO great. The book shows you how to draw all kinds of classic monsters, from vampires to werewolves. Check it out at Amazon.com, where you can take a virtual tour of the book! Makes me want to start collecting all of Ed's books. Brilliant in its' simplicity.
• Dead Low Tide by John D. MacDonald. © 1953
Comments: Great pulp cover! [*See first image detail above]
• Mary Ann's Gilligan's Island Cookbook by Dawn Wells, Ken Beck & Jim Clark. © 1993
Comments: Derik gave me this for Christmas. I didn't have the heart to tell him I am not a fan of Gilligan's Island. Still,has some great recipes!
• The Hepburn by Jan Westcott. © 1951
Comments: Another great pulp cover. And get a load of this excerpt:
"His eager fingers reached for her! She let her gown slide over the lovely curve of her hips. In the firelight her white body gleamed. Then she walked proudly to him. "Have me!" she cried, and his arms were tight around her."
Would you like some nachos with that cheese? Olé!
• The Finishing Stroke by Ellery Queen. ©
Comments: I must admit I was sucked in by the great cover art of this one. Having never been a fan of Ellery Queen and/or Agatha Christie's style of writing, that's the only reason I can imagine I bought this book. That and it looked/sounded like a promising Christmastime read. Man, is it S-L-O-W. Jesus Christ, get to the fuckin' suspense already!

• The Professional Chef by LeRoi A. Folsom. © 1969
Comments: GREAT-awful color and B&W pictures. Originally a textbook. LARGE book. I love it.
• Climb Every Mountain, Bounce Every Check: A Cathy Sunday Collection by Cathy Guisewite. © 1984
Comments: Love her or hate her, I've grown up with Cathy. It's strange, but I'd rather own the books and read the strips that way, than to read them in the newspaper. Maybe that's because the Dallas Morning News only prints the strip on Sunday. Great book. I can SO relate to it. Cathy is one of those comic strips that people usually hate, when I mention it. I'm not sure why, but it's true. I also like Ziggy, which is another one that a lot of people seem to have some displaced anger towards. Well, I like 'em. I even have a Ziggy lunchbox. So there. Nyah!
• James Cagney by Andrew Bergman. © 1973
Comments: Sigh... they don't make books like this anymore. Heck, they don't make movie stars like this anymore. Great read. Tons of pictures. Love it.
• A Year At The Movies: One Man's Filmgoing Odyssey by Kevin Murphy. © 2002
Comments: Nathan bought this for me for Christmas. I really like Kevin Murphy (whatta cutie). I started to say "love," but I just finished reading the book, and it turns out that his fooficity factor was higher than I had anticipated. If it weren't for the snob factor, I could honestly use the word 'love.' For those who may not be familiar with Kevin, he was the voice of Tom Servo from the cult TV show (and one of my personal favorites) Mystery Science Theater 3000.
On the one hand, the book is a great read (I only skipped the chapters on types of films I had no interest in, and which Kevin felt compelled to impress the reader with his cinematic wisdom) and I can SO relate to about 95% of it. Of course, being written by Kevin, it's funny as hell. A wickedly accurate observation of the moviegoing public at large and their accepance of anything 'blockbuster.'
On the other hand, I grew weary of Kevin's constant need to remind us all that he's Irish (we get it, already), repeatedly mention the obscure (thus fabulous) brands of beer that he likes and/or drank and his interspersed compulsion to mention his family and how wonderfully insightful a group they are (again, we get it).
Overall, a good read. Foofoo factor aside, I'd recommend it, especially if you love movies.
• Pure Drivel by Steve Martin. © 1998
Comments: Nathan to the rescue yet again. Nathan said he found this book at Dollar tree for 99¢. How cool is that?! I love Steve Martin (though I can't say the same for his most recent movies), so I'm sure I will love this book as well. I already snuck a peek at one chapter and it had me laughing out loud. Recommend!
• The Brothers Mad by William M Gaines. © 1976 [*Not shown]
Comments: A great anthology of cartoons from Mad Magazine. The cover is a classic Mad, with Alfred E. Neuman portraying all three Marx Bros.: Harpo, Groucho and Chico. Received from Nathan as a Christmas gift.