I read every single one of Burroughs' books that I could lay hands on. His
story from the perspective of the Roman emperor Caligula's personal body
slave (I AM A BARBARIAN) is actually pretty hard-boiled. Might have been
his best book.
I also devoured Robert E. Howard's work, Hammett, Chandler, etc., and Dumas'
stuff as well.
Brian
On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 1:22 PM, Kevin Burton Smith <
kvnsmith@thrillingdetective.com> wrote:
>
>
> Patrick wrote:
>
> > I suppose that the list of 20 books for boys in this article, like
> > any list of 20 anythings anywhere, is about selling new stuff rather
> > than tried and true stuff. In my experience TARZAN OF THE APES & A
> > PRINCESS OF MARS by Edgar Rice Burroughs swallowed my life whole
> > when I was 13. Dumas' 3 MUSKETEERS & THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO, I
> > just loved that stuff. It was then, too, I first read Conan Doyle,
> > Dashiel Hammett and Ian Fleming who also rocked my world.
>
> My reading history is very similar. I'd add in the Hardy Boys, The
> Three Investigators, William Campbell Gault's hot rod books, MY SIDE
> OF THE MOUNTAIN and a few others, plus a lot of comic books, but it's
> interesting how, somehow, so many of us gravitated to the xact same
> books.
>
> I know I'm not supposed to like Robert Parker (or anyone else who
> sells too many books to be considered "cool") but I thought his recent
> CHASING THE BEAR, a Spenser novel specifically aimed at young boys,
> was actually pretty good. It probably would have made a big impression
> on me at the time, revolving as it does around questions of courage
> and honour and love and how to be a man.
>
> Hell, it made a decent-sized impression on me when I read it a few
> weeks ago.
>
> Or maybe I'm still not finished growing up.
>
> According to a ALA report in PW a few months ago, reading has
> increased in most demographic groups, particularly among the young,
> but some of the methodology has been called into question. Seems
> they're counting online fiction as well as books.
>
> and Mario wrote:
>
> > I quote from a conversation overheard at a bookstore, between two
> > teenagers. "You know, life here is so fucking boring that I just
> > pick up books and read them". The other one: "Yeah, books are the
> > shit."
>
> Sounds like half my customers some days. After all, books ARE the
> shit. Though it'll probably never fly as a corporate slogan.
>
> > Lots of things go on that are not caught by "averages" or other
> > quantification mechanisms. And let's not forget that a good book can
> > make a reader for life. Schools don't really make readers except in
> > the most mechanical sense.
>
> Not necessarily so. A good teacher can make a real difference. Every
> now and then, someone suddenly gets blind-sided by a book and
> becomes... A READER!
>
> It's one of the joys of book selling (and, I presume, teaching):
> turning on someone to a good book.
>
> Kevin Burton Smith
> Editor/Founder
> The Thrilling Detective Web Site
> "Wasting your time on the web since 1998."
>
>
>
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