So far, Tom Nolan's Ross Macdonald bio is unputdownable. I
read 100 pages in
one sitting (or laying, as it was right before bed). Some
interesting
revelations: 1. seems that Lew Archer WASN'T named for Sam
Spade's murdered
partner, after all--although Macdonald used to lie about
later in his years,
because it made a good story. 2. Macdonald had a weird,
hot-cold relationship
with Alfred Knopf, who would alternately praise and belittle
his novels. 3. In
anecdotes here and there, it seems that Raymond Chandler
really, really
freaking hated Macdonald. 4. In their private moments,
Macdonald would insist
that Margaret Millar, his wife, spank him while reading
nursery tales, and he
would scream "Dirty! Dirty!" whenever there was a
rhyme.
Okay, I'm kidding about #4.
Anybody else reading it?
#
# To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to
majordomo@icomm.ca.
# The web pages for the list are at http://www.vex.net/~buff/rara-avis/.