Memorable books you have read!

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Memorable books you have read!; you can bung on snippets, too! :-D
Topic Started: Sep 24 2009, 12:52 AM (196 Views)
andarius	Sep 24 2009, 12:52 AM Post #1
Charter Member Posts: 3,398 Group: Members Member #55 Joined: September 19, 2005	I once picked up a paperback circa 1966 in F.W. Woolworth & Co. (the thruppence and sixpence store) for 6d. It had a bright color cover with a painting of the US Cavalry in 1870's Dakota and was titled Broken Lance by Frank Gruber; it was published in England by, IIRC, Lion Books with 'copyright reserved'; I remembered the name, Frank Gruber, from Tales of Wells Fargo many years before. And it was GOOD - it was the tale of John Leach, out for revenge, who gets involved with the 7th. Cavalry and the Battle of Little Big Horn; I wondered if it had been filmed. I lent the book to my pal, Nige, who was very knowledgable about the Old West and said he liked it, the book was accurate and did I have any more like it? One day, would you Adam and Eve it?, a film with a different title to my book showed up on TV; the hero's name was altered from John Leach to John Vickers (Edmond O'Brien), the co-star was Forrest Tucker and it was GOOD; my pal, Nige, also caught it and we wuz pretty chuffed we had read the book! I've still got it somewhere - must dig it out and re-read it!



Stony Brooke da Mesquiteer	Sep 24 2009, 09:03 AM Post #2
Balconeer Creeper Posts: 14,178 Group: Members Member #244 Joined: July 6, 2007	So, you're yearnin' for a book story eh? Well, pull up a seat (no, not on my lap Andarius) and I'll tell ya one... Back around 1970, my father bought what was to be known as "The Apartment House" (TAH for short). TAH had a basement, 2 floors and an attic. The main floor had 2 apts, the 2nd floor had 3, and the attic was one apt. My father got it for a song, because a murder had taken place on the main floor, and the victim was placed on a bed, and the bed was set on fire. The fire left a gaping hole in the main floor, and had spread all the way to the roof, leaving about a square foot hole in it. My father was a carpenter and he did all of the work hisself, well, with a little help from his sons, and sometimes their pals. After a few years, TAH was open for business, and business was a pay-by-the-week business. Many times tenets would get behind on their rent, and they'd skip out without paying, and many times they left behind various belongings. Those belongings were placed in the garage, and if payment wasn't made after a period of time, I got to take what I wanted from the left behind treasures, and the ones I was most interested in were 45 records and books. One day I was going through one of those old plastic milk crates, and I came across a paperback book that I didn't know what the title meant. On the front was the usual #1 bestseller stuff, and on the back was the "Soon to be a major motion picture" stuff. I was intrigued by the description on the back , so I read the book, and enjoyed it so much, that when the motion picture was released, my mother took me to see it for my birthday. She picked me right up as I walked out the door from high school. The movie was trippier than the book, and I had trouble going to sleep that night. It was The Exorcist, and when I saw the movie I just knew that the "Let Jesus have lunch with you" scene wouldn't make it to the screen from the book, but of course I was wrong. I thought the scene made my mother's head rotate though!!!
	"She's got style, she's got grace She's got long, long legs, she's got... Savoir Faire"


Zodiac	Sep 24 2009, 04:37 PM Post #3
Balcony Gang, Foist Class Posts: 174 Group: Members Member #334 Joined: January 17, 2008	About 15 years ago I was visiting my in-laws in NY. I really liked them, but it did get boring hanging out there. My mother in law was a prolific reader and always had a bunch a books around. I was going through her current stack and she told me that they were her rejects- I picked one up and starting reading it. I finished that night- it was relatively short. I have read it 2-3 times since. It was Ira Levin's This Perfect Day - I am sure you know about Rosemary's Baby- but I think this was a better story- SF and action. I may need to read it again- it has been about 15 years



andarius	Sep 25 2009, 01:27 AM Post #4
Charter Member Posts: 3,398 Group: Members Member #55 Joined: September 19, 2005	Great story, Stony - good film, The Exorcist - I also saw it when it came out but it was an '18' Certificate in England. I noticed that Linda Blair's Ouija Board was the same as mine - the little plastic pointer was made in Salem, Mass. Ouija Boards were marketed by Waddingtons of Monopoly fame in England circa 1970 and were the hit Christmas toy - according to the News of the World, they were withdrawn in England cos spooky things began to happen! I tried to conjure up something horrible in my office, but, sadly, the demons wouldn't play!



Stony Brooke da Mesquiteer	Sep 25 2009, 03:16 AM Post #5
Balconeer Creeper Posts: 14,178 Group: Members Member #244 Joined: July 6, 2007	andarius Sep 25 2009, 01:27 AM Great story, Stony - good film, The Exorcist - I also saw it when it came out but it was an '18' Certificate in England. I noticed that Linda Blair's Ouija Board was the same as mine - the little plastic pointer was made in Salem, Mass. When it was released here, it was rated "R", which meant anyone under 17 had to be accompanied by an adult. When I was a kid (pre Exorcist), we had an Ouija board, but I never cared for it. I was not a believer in that sorta suff.
	"She's got style, she's got grace She's got long, long legs, she's got... Savoir Faire"


andarius	Sep 29 2009, 07:40 AM Post #6
Charter Member Posts: 3,398 Group: Members Member #55 Joined: September 19, 2005	Thanks, Zodiac - I've never read any Ira Levin books but must do - saw Deathtrap on the stage and the film with Michael Caine and, of course, Rosemary's Baby featuring the lovely Angela Dorian! Interesting about the 17 Certificate, Stony - an English equivalent would be the old Cert. 'A' in England - 16 or over or children accompanied by an adult; btw, The Exorcist was Cert. 'X' (18 or over) - the 18 Certificate was a later development. Around 1966, The Untouchables started showing on Friday nights on Southern Television in England at about 11.00pm; I missed the first couple of shows but caught The Big Train two-parter with Neville Brand as Al Capone - the train in question was carrying Capone from Altanta State Prison to Alcatraz and Eliot Ness (Robert Stack) was involved in preventing any rescue attempt by Capone's henchmen - I recall Neville Brand wearing a Bulova watch! 'Based on the book by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley' said the opening titles and a pricey paperback closely resembling the one featured at the start of the show went on sale for about 10/6 - my pal Nige's elder brother, Paul, bought one - I got a cheaper version for 3/6 at the Paperback Parade in Southampton. In the TV show, the Untouchables would burst into a brewery and the gangsters inside would open up with machine-guns and Ness's men would return fire and barrels would get punctured and there would be beer everywhere; in the book, Ness would be lucky to catch one or two brewery workers who would immediately surrender, everyone else having scarpered! One day, The Scarface Mob starring Robert Stack as Eliot Ness was on TV and, blow me down and pick me up, it was EXACTLY the same as the book! I told my pal Nige it was the same as the book and Nige said he knew cos his brother, Paul, kept telling him all through the film that this bit and that bit were EXACTLY the same as the book! Re-read it a couple of years ago and it's still GOOD!



andarius	Oct 1 2009, 01:17 AM Post #7
Charter Member Posts: 3,398 Group: Members Member #55 Joined: September 19, 2005	In Shake the Stars Down by Yolande Donlan, Yolande tells how, as a teenager maybe 15, she enrolled in a Hollywood dance school where there was a sandy-haired, grinning boy called Robert Stack... 'He was a better kisser than a hoofer - I know for a fact he was a better kisser than a hoofer'!



Laughing Gravy	Oct 3 2009, 06:23 AM Post #8
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,070 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	I have finished my autobiography of "Big Chuck" Schodowski, Cleveland TV legend, and have moved on to William Shakespeare, Avon legend. I'm reading "Measure for Measure". ""Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall." Say... Did that Shakespeare fella know Pa Stark???



panzer the great & terrible	Oct 3 2009, 01:42 PM Post #9
Mouth Breather Posts: 10,351 Group: Members Member #13 Joined: September 3, 2005	Except for A Winter's Tale, my fave Shakespeare play. He didn't cut the aristocrats much slack, did he? Boy, that Duke; what a jerkola.
	We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater


panzer the great & terrible	Oct 3 2009, 01:45 PM Post #10
Mouth Breather Posts: 10,351 Group: Members Member #13 Joined: September 3, 2005	Except for A Winter's Tale, my fave Shakespeare play. He didn't cut the aristocrats much slack, did he? Boy, that Duke; what a jerkola. As for Ira Levin.don't forget A Kiss Before Dying, the unfilmable book that they tried to film twice anyway, with predictable results.
	We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater


andarius	Oct 3 2009, 03:26 PM Post #11
Charter Member Posts: 3,398 Group: Members Member #55 Joined: September 19, 2005	panzer the great & terrible Oct 3 2009, 01:45 PM Except for A Winter's Tale, my fave Shakespeare play. He didn't cut the aristocrats much slack, did he? Boy, that Duke; what a jerkola. As for Ira Levin.don't forget A Kiss Before Dying, the unfilmable book that they tried to film twice anyway, with predictable results. The first time you see Robert Wagner kiss Joanna Woodward - wow! Great part for Wagner.



Zodiac	Oct 3 2009, 03:30 PM Post #12
Balcony Gang, Foist Class Posts: 174 Group: Members Member #334 Joined: January 17, 2008	Also- remember Levin wrote the Boys from Brazil - my favorite Gregory Peck film because he was not "Gregory Peck" - a decent film but only enjoyable because of Peck and Olivier



Chandu	Oct 3 2009, 03:30 PM Post #13
Knowledge Seeker and rascal at large Posts: 10,276 Group: Members Member #297 Joined: October 19, 2007	I�ve read John Jake�s Kent Family Chronicles, consisting of a dozen or so books, several times, his North And South trilogy twice, and most of his other books. Some of the �great classics� they ain�t, but some good historical fiction, they are. I was in the middle of my second trip through the North And South trilogy when I chanced to be sent to Shaw AFB, near Sumter, SC for a care and feeding course on the F-16 ejection system. It was in March, so the weather was beautiful and since my weekends were free, I made several trips to Charleston, where I explored, took a boat trip out to Fort Sumter, toured Fort Moultrie and toured the plantation where the TV miniseries North And South was filmed. I also spent a couple of days touring the river road that runs along the Ashley river, where the ruins of some of the plantations burned by Sherman still remain, while others have been rebuilt. Anyone familiar with Jake�s writings knows this is the area many of his books are based upon, particularly North And South and it was a real treat to see in person the things he was writing about as I read them. Many of the old plantations along the Ashley were open to tourists and you could wander around and practically imagine the books coming to life right around you. I�ll probably never experience anything quite like that ever again.
	Not plane, nor bird, nor even frog. It's just little ol' me...


andarius	Oct 3 2009, 03:48 PM Post #14
Charter Member Posts: 3,398 Group: Members Member #55 Joined: September 19, 2005	Zodiac Oct 3 2009, 03:30 PM Also- remember Levin wrote the Boys from Brazil - my favorite Gregory Peck film because he was not "Gregory Peck" - a decent film but only enjoyable because of Peck and Olivier Hired the VHS cassette of that - what an unusual part for the excellent Gregory Peck!



andarius	Oct 3 2009, 03:53 PM Post #15
Charter Member Posts: 3,398 Group: Members Member #55 Joined: September 19, 2005	Chandu Oct 3 2009, 03:30 PM I�ve read John Jake�s Kent Family Chronicles, consisting of a dozen or so books, several times, his North And South trilogy twice, and most of his other books. Some of the �great classics� they ain�t, but some good historical fiction, they are. The late Patrick Swayze as Orry Main, the trouble-making Virgilia and a wonderful villain in Cadet Bent! I read that book - very long and very good!


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