Ike-
The apartment is on Bush and Hyde - can’t recall the exact address. Bill has all kinds of supporting evidence, and the Hammett walking tour does recognize his place as one of those that can be proved to be places Hammett lived. Is your friend the guy who does the tour? I’ve met him, but can’t recall his name.
As for the statue in the park - I could ask my uncle, if it’s important… he was head groundsman (not the official title) for years and he started as a gardner. But, I don’t really talk to him that much
The reason gentlemen prefer blondes is that there are not enough redheads to go around.
I’m just starting Vol 7 of Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in the 8 volume Folio Society edition. It’s taken me about 2 years to get this far - the Turks are just starting to come onto the scene.
Gibbon is fun, if I’m in the right mood. When I’m not, I’m reading Sense & Sensibility.
A Civil War by John Feinstein, about the Army/Navy game and a year in the life of each football team, A History of God by Karen Armstrong, and Bully for Brontosaurus by Stephen Jay Gould–great!
I just realized that I’m reading all non-fiction. Hafta do something about that. Also, waiting with a burning need for the next Wheel of Time book by Robert Jordan. Good Christ, but I love that series.
Misanthrope - The editor of Virtual Histroy is Niall Ferguson. If you’re interested in the genre of alternate history you should definately check out the fiction of Harry Turtledove (in fact, you’d probably have a hard time avoiding him in the genre). His two main AH series are Worldwar and the Great War. The Worldwar series is about an alien invasion of Earth in 1942. The warring powers have to declare an armistice among themselves and reluctantly cooperate to fight the aliens. The original series set in the 1940’s contains four books (In the Balance, Tilting the Balance, Upsetting the Balance, and Striking the Balance). Turtledove has started a three volume follow-up series set twenty years after the first of which only the first book (Second Contact) has been released. The Great War series is based on the idea that the Confederacy won the battle of Antietam during the Civil War and forced the USA to recognize Confederate independance. In 1914 when WWI starts, the USA is allied with Germany and the CSA is allied with Britain and France. The series consists of a prequel (How Few Remain) set in 1881 when the two nations fight a war over Confederate expansion into Mexico and a four volume main series of which the first two (American Front and Walk in Hell) have been released. Turtledove also wrote several single volume AH books such as Guns of the South (time travelers help the CSA win the Civil War), The Two Georges (a mystery set in a world where there was no American Revolution), Agent of Byzantium (Mohammed converted to Christianity and the Byzantine Empire did not decline), and A Different Flesh (The Americas were inhabited by Pithecanthropi, a predecessor to the Human race, rather than American Indians).
Divemaster - Volume I of The Science Fiction Hall of Fame was edited by Robert Silverberg. The Science Fiction Writers of America was founded in 1965 and began giving out annual Nebula awards in 1966. This collection was chosen by the membership as the best short stories written before 1965. There is a two book Volume II containing the best pre-1965 novellas and a Volume III and IV containing the short stories and novellas that have won Nebulas since 1966.
Ukulele Ike - One of the novels I mentioned in my previous post (The Killer Inside Me) also is from a Library of America book. It’s a two volume set called Crime Novels. If you like the Hammett collection, you would probably also like these. The first volume (American Noir of the 1930’s and 40’s) contains The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? by Horace McCoy*, Thieves Like Us by Edward Anderson, The Big Clock by Kenneth Fearing, Nightmare Alley by William Lindsay Gresham, and I Married a Dead Man by Cornell Woolrich. The second volume (American Noir of the 1950’s)contains The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson, The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith, Pick-up by Charles Willeford, Down There by David Goodis, and The Real Cool Killers by Chester Himes.
Just finished Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy (actually read it twice in a row while on a week long vacation in New Hampshire, because I didn’t bring a second book), The Mote in God’s Eye and The Gripping Hand by Niven and P., and Anne Rice’s Violin and The Vampire Vittorio (very disappointing) and a book of Celtic mythology. Now I’m working my way through the Illuminatus! Trilogy.
Next on the nightstand are Watership Down and Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse.
To Frankie: Jitterbug Perfume was one of the lamest books I’ve ever read. Just my opinion.
Now reading: James the Red Engine, Allegra’s Window, Little Slam Dunker, Little Home Run Hitter, Reed’s Music Shop, Snoopy’s Things That Go Book, The Crocodile, Are You My Mother?, all multiple times per day. Yes, I’m a mom.
For myself I’m rereading The Hobbit (because of a post on these boards), and listening to Orson Scott Card’s The Treasure Box on tape during my commute, while sporadically dipping into The Last Plantagenets - the last of a really good series on the dynasty -by Thomas Constain.
Jitterbug Perfume was one of my favorites. To each his/her own.
As for me, I’m an English major, so the last thing I want to do in my spare time is read, at least during the quarter. I get to read 8 novels and 5 short stories in 10 weeks this quarter, and that’s just for one class! So right now I’m reading The Great Gatsby, and next week I’ll be reading The Sun Also Rises, and the week after that is devoted to The Sound and the Fury…
When I do find time to read, I generally go for nonfiction. I’ve been meaning to pick up Guns, Germs and Steel for a while, as well as that NY Times “Books of the Century” tome, which looks hellaciously interesting. I think they might have to wait, though.
Yes – it’s called (don’t kick yourself) Saint Joan.
I wish I had something to contribute to this list, but I have MA exams coming up in less than a month and absolutely NO time to read for pleasure. Alas.
Jim Thompson is great fun, an THE KILLER INSIDE ME is prolly his best…I don’t own those LofA volumes, 'cause I owned almost all the books in them anyway. I remember there being a big fuss over the inclusion of the Patricia Highsmith, as she doesn’t really fit the noir mold of the other included writers. Now that THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY is gonna be a big Hollywood production, though, we can see the marketing savvy of the editorial team.
Sassy:
No, my pal, Joe Gores, isn’t the tour guide (is his name Don Harron? The guy who wrote THE DASHIELL HAMMETT TOUR [City Lights Books, 1979]?)…as a matter of fact, he’s always been at odds with Harron about certain of the locations. According to Joe (I could give you all his credentials and bona fides, but too lazy to type 'em right now), the Hammett apartment where THE MALTESE FALCON was written is at 891 Post Street.
The guy I remember is Don. I checked the address tho’ and 891 Post is right. I don’t write to Bill, so I remember only cross streets. Bill is a Hammett nut himself, and even dresses like an old time detective (movie style.) We are proud of our heros here…
Terry Brooks A Knight of the Word
Elizabeth Gerge In the Presence of the Enemy
Tony Hillerman The First Eagle
just finished
Bill Watterson Tenth Anniversary Book
pending reads:
Nicholas Evans The Loop
Anne Rice Violin
But have to watch my timing, because on 4 October, I’ll be starting
Dick Francis Second Wind
And Zyada, you say:
like there’s something wrong with that! We’ve got pretty much one side of our garage entirely filled, and more loose books than we know what to do with…
Just reread the first three Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowlings:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry thinks he’s a normal kid, until he gets an acceptance letter to a boarding school for young wizards. Each book covers one school year; a total of seven are planned for the series.
They’re billed as children’s books, but neither the length nor the writing is childish. I find them extremely entertaining, and highly recommend them.