#charles chrichton

[nine-frames]

“Oh, how I loathe adventurous-minded boys.”

Hue and Cry, 1947,

Dir. Charles Chrichton | Writ. T. E. B. Clarke | DOP Douglas Slocombe

[onenakedfarmer]

Currently Watching [HorrorFest 2022 Edition]

DEAD OF NIGHT Alberto Cavalcanti Charles Chrichton Basil Dearden Robert Hamer UK, 1945

[frostyreturns]

Best And Worst Books From 2022

Top 5 Classics of 2022

5.) Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury 4/5

4.) Dracula - Bram Stoker 4/5

3.) Frankenstein - Mary Shelley 4/5

2.) The Screwtape Letters - C.S Lewis 5/5

1.) The Hobbit - J.R.R Tolkien 5/5

Bottom 5 Classics of 2022

5.) War Of The Worlds - H.G Wells 3/5

4.) Animal Farm - George Orwell 2/5

3.) Beren And Luthien - J.R.R/Christopher Tolkien 2/5

2.) Roughing It - Mark Twain 2/5

1.) Walden - Henry David Thoreau 2/5

Top 5 miscellaneous genre fiction of 2022

5.) The Road -Cormac McCarthy 3/5

4.) Misery - Stephen King 3/5

3.) The Girl Who Played With Fire - Stieg Larsson 3/5

2.) Batman No Mans Land - Greg Rucka 5/5

1.) Darkly Dreaming Dexter - Jeff Lindsay 5/5

Bottom 5 miscellaneous genre fiction of 2022

5.)  Splintercell - Raymond Benson 3/5

4.) Skin -Ted Dekker 3/5

3.) Pirate Latitudes - Michael Chrichton 3/5

2.) Skipping Christmas- John Grisham 2/5

1.) Small Steps- Louis Sachar 2/5

Top 5 Star Wars Novels of 2022

5.) Jedi Search - Kevin J Anderson 4/5

4.) Dark Apprentice - Kevin J Anderson 4/5

3.) Heir To The Empire - Timothy Zahn 5/5

2.) The Empire Strikes Back - Donald F Glut 5/5

1.) The Last Command - Timothy Zahn 5/5

Bottom 5 Star Wars Novels of 2022

5.) Dark Force Rising -Timothy Zahn 3/5

4.) Tatooine Ghost - Troy Denning 3/5

3.) Rogue Planet - Greg Bear  3/5

2.) The Courtship Of Princess Leia - Dave Wolverton 3/5

1.) Splinter Of The Minds Eye - Alan Dean Foster 3/5

Top 5 Young Reader Novels of 2022

5.) Charlie And The Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl 4/5

4.) Holes - Louis Sachar 4/5

3.) The Magicians Nephew - C.S Lewis 4/5

2.) The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe - C.S Lewis 4/5

1.) A Series Of Unfortunate Events: The Penultimate Peril - Lemony Snicket 4/5

Bottom 5 Young Reader Novels of 2022

5.) Bailey SK:Swamp Monsters Don’t Chase Wild Turkeys - Debbie Dadey 1/5

4.) Goosebumps: Go Eat Worms - R.L Stine 1/5

3.) X Men Cyclops And Phoenix - Paul Mantell 1/5

2.) Of Mice And Nutcrackers - Richard Scrimger 1/5

1.) Harry Potter And The Cursed Child - John Tiffany 1/5

Top 5 comics of 2022

5.) Calvin And Hobbes: Revenge Of The Baby Sat - Bill Watterson 5/5

4.) Calvin And Hobbes - Bill Watterson 5/5

3.) Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic Omnibus Vol 2 -  John Jackson Miller 5/5

2.) Batman Hush - Jeph Loeb 5/5

1.) Calvin And Hobbes: Attack Of The Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons - Bill Watterson 5/5

Bottom 5 Comics of 2022

5.) Archie Jumbo Digest 326 3/5

4.) Amazing Spider-Man Coming Home - J Michael Straczynski 2/5

3.) You’re So Smart Snoopy - Charles Schultz 2/5

2.) Marvel Comics Digest #2 Avengers 2/5

1.) Batman Serious House On Serious Earth - Grant Morrison 1/5

[cohenskicksposts]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: VHS SPACE 1999 ALIEN ATTACK 1975 Rare Sybil Danning's Adventure USA BIG BOX VHS.

[andrealilli]

Un pesce di nome Wanda, di Charles Crichton (1988)

Un pesce di nome Wanda, di Charles Crichton (1988)

di Andrea Lilli – Come sta Wanda? Sempre in gran forma. Passate pure a trovarla ogni tanto, non delude mai. Due ore con lei ed esci sempre sollevato, più leggero. La vedi, la rivedi, tutte le volte è come se fosse la prima. Ti fa sempre ridere. Non invecchia, non annoia nemmeno se la sai a memoria. Tra i migliori distillati del british humour, dopo trentatré anni mantiene la freschezza, il…

[unateoriadegliautori]

hunted (1952)

[todaysdocument]

“ . . . we urgently appeal to our honored President, and hereby PETITION him to URGE the enactment into LAW . . . of either Senator France's or Representative Dyer ANTI-LYNCHING BILL.” Petition from the International Uplift League, 10/15/1922. 

File Unit: 158260 section 3 #1, 1904 - 1974

Series: Straight Numerical Files, 1904 - 1974

Record Group 60: General Records of the Department of Justice, 1790 - 2002

Transcription:

[HEADER]

The International Uplift League

(Organized 1911: Re-Organized and Incorporated, A.D. 1915)

Object:-To Uplift and Develop the Colored Race Everywhere.

Motto:-Justice, Knowledge (Material and Spiritual) Health and Wealth.

President, Rev. Dr. Robert W. S. Thomas, M.A.

Treasurer, Mrs. Ruth M. Collett

Auditor, Charles M. Dorsey, Esq.

Chairman of the Executive Committee, Rev. George L. White, D.D., M.D.

General Secretary, David N.E. Campbell, M.D., M.O.

1369 N. Carey Street,

Baltimore, Md., U. S. A.

New Address,

119 Lefferts Place,

Brooklyn, New York.

ALL MEN UP!

Roosevelt.

Amended Petition.  October 15th 1922.

A PETITION TO THE PRESIDENT

From

THE INTERNATIONAL UPLIFT LEAGUE.

To His Excellency,

The President of

The United States of America,

The White House, Washington, D.C.

Dear Mr. President:

For the GOOD and true HONOR of our beloved country, the United States of America, in the NAME of ALMIGHTY GOD, LYNCHING should be abolished.  Opinion seems unanimous that the United States Government possesses permanently the greater jurisdictional control (about 3/4) over each United States Citizen; and the State in which the citizen resides holds the remaining (1/4) jurisdiction.

Hence the elimination of LYNCHING, our most heinous STIGMA, should be accomplished through the Federal Government, because the respective States, for more than fifty years, have failed to suppress LYNCHING.  Therefore, we urgently appeal to our honored President, and hereby PETITION him to URGE the enactment into LAW, during the Extra Session of Congress, of either Senator France's or Representative Dyer ANTI-LYNCHING BILL.  By such worthy and magnanimous ACT, Mr. President, you will immortalize your NAME like the illustrious Lincoln when we signed the Emancipation Proclamation.  Amen.

For the Women.

(Miss) Emma J. Chrichton

For the Men.

David Newton E. Campbell

Secretary I.U. League

P.S. We hope to secure millions of signatures to this PETITION and forward same duly.

 VIce Presidents,

Rev. Dr. George F. Bragg, Jr.

Hon. Ernest Lyon, D.D., LL.D.

Rev. Dr. Wm. Sampson Brooks, D.D.

Rev. W.W. Allen, D.D.

Rev. Dr. Thomas F. Reed

Hon. George W.F. McMechen

Mrs. Mary F. Bond.

Rev. Junius Gray, D.D.

Rev. L.C. Curtis, D.D.

Rev. N.M. Carroll, D.D.

Charles B Rodgers, Esq.

Mrs. Alric R. Campbell.

Rev. Ananias Brown, D.D.

Rev. James R. Diggs, A.M.

Rev. Dr. J.A. Briscoe.

Rev. Dr. A.B. Callis, Washington, D.C.

Miss Nannie H. Burroughs.

Rev. William H. Dean, D.D.

Rev. J. Harvey Randolph, D.D.

Rev. M.W.D. Norman, D.D.

Rev. C. Harold Stepteau, D.D.

Dr. Charles H. Marshall.

Rev. Walter H. Brooks, D.D.

Directors,

Joseph P. Evans, Esq.

Miss. Mary A.E. Bennett.

Joshua F.G.L. Duvall.

Arthur L. Macbeth, Esq.

Joseph S. Fennell, Esq.

William H. Bates, Esq.

Columbus Gordon, Esq.

Dr. Robert W. Brown.

Dr. Luther E. McNeill.

Rev. T.A. Thomas.

Prof. Howard M. Gross.

Dr. E.C. Morris.

Mrs. Mary F. Handy.

Dr. A.A. Terrell.

Mrs. Fannie Jenkins.

Mrs. Urania M. Ross.

Samuel Carroll, Esq.

Dr. John W. Derry,

Dr. E. Verry Stokes.

Dr. Harry F. Brown.

Dr. J. Edward Fisher.

Rev. William Holt.

Rev. S.A. Virgil.

Rev. J.C. and Mrs. S. Love.

[rantreader]

I went through my house and collected most of the books that I have not read. There are more, but I wrote a list of the 100 books that I want to read relatively soon. If I start the challenge today, it can progress throughout this year and go into next year. By the end of 2023, I want to have read all these books.

Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb

A History of the English Language by Albert C. Baugh & Thomas Cable

The Power of One by Byrce Courtenay

Hogfather by Terry Pratchett

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche

Criminology – A complete Introduction by Peter Joyce and Wendy Laverick

The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien

Heidi by Johanna Spyri

Tarzan of the Apes and the Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twainn

When Fashion Really Works by Marnie Fogg

Go the Distance – A Twisted Tale by Jen Calonita

The Museum of Things Left Behind by Seni Glaister

Trinity by Leon Uris

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Makers of Rome by Plutarch

A Game of Thrones by George R.R Martin

Difficult Women by Helen Lewis

The Wreckage by Michael Robotham

The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius

Traitors by Frank Walker

A Fortunate Life by A.B. Facey

Traitor to the Blood by Barb & J.C. Hendee

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Great Expectation by Charles Dickens

Heddy & Me by Susan Varga

No Silver Spoon by Katie Flynn

The Dance of Death and Other Stories by Algernon Blackwood

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Carrie by Stephen King

My Royal Story – Marie Antoinette by Kathryn Lasky

Theories of Race and Ethnic Relations by John Rex and David Mason

The Little Book of Psychology by DK

The World’s Greatest Idea by John Farndon

Don Quixote by Cevantes

The Survival Handbook by DK

Yes Yes Yes – Australia’s Journey to Marriage Equality by Alex Greenwich and Shirleene Robinson

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Wonder Woman Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo

The Fire of Joy by Clive James

Monsoon by Di Morrissey

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Conquerers’ Road by Osmar White

The Art Book by DK

How to Garden by DK

How Science Works by DK

German for Everyone by DK

The History of the World by Alex Woolf

Cathy by Cathy Freeman

Song of Survival by Helen Colijn

Pet Semetary by Stephen King

The Crime Book by DK

The Bone Collection by Kathy Reichs

Basic Mandarin Chinese by Kubler & Wang

A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Woolstonecraft

Joyland by Stephen King

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

Gulliver’s Travels by Johanthan Swift

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Japanese Myths and Tales by Epic Tales

Eleni by Nicholas Cage

Psychology of Human Behaviour for Nurses by Dennis

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

More Rules for Life by Kitty Flanagan

Watership Down by Richard Adams

The Little Book of Politics by DK

Jews Don’t Count by David Baddiel

The Road by Cormack McCarthy

A Royal Duty by Paul Burrell

Jurassic Park by Michael Chrichton

Dracula by Bram Stoker

English Grammar Usage by McGraw Hill Education

Night at the Circus by Angela Carter

The Confidence Booster Workbook by Martin Perry

Ancient Egyptian Myths by Catherine Chambers

The Girl in the Picture by Denise Chong

Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life by Miles Kelly

The Prince in the Heather by Eric Linklater

Simple Astronomy by DK

How to Kiss a Crocodile by Max Walker

The Fitness Instructor’s Handbook by Mark Coulson

Mool-nya-moonya Dreaming by Julie Tuckey

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

Pennies for Hitler by Jackie French

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

The Shortest History of England by James Hawe

Mental by Dr Steve Ellen and Catherine Deveny

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Work by Louisa May Alcott

Deranged Marriage by Sushi Das

Stranger the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

Emma by Jane Austen

The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott

The Book of Dust by Phillip Pullman

321 Seriously Smart Things You Need to Know by Mathilda Masters

Wish me luck.

[smylealong]

Books that left a mark

In life, sometimes you come across things that leave an indelible mark on you. In this post, I present some books that I have read either in some critical junctures of my life or books that have changed how I look at a certain thing, or in some cases, how I look at life as a whole. These are some books that have shaped me. The books that have contributed to make me, me.

1. Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum): This is the first full-length novel that I read. It turned me into a bookworm.

2. Hobbit (JRR Tolkien): This was the book that told me that fantasy can be short, sweet and just wonderful. This is a book that makes me smile.

3. Fever (Robin Cook): I read this book when I was confronting mortality for the first time in my life. This book served as a reinforcement of the idea.

4. A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens): This is where I learned that I like a well-written darker character and Madame Defarge is just brilliant.

5. The Lost World (Micheal Chrichton): This book birthed my love for Paleontology. 'Nuff said.

6. The Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien): Do I even need to say anything about this book?

7. Many Lives, Many Masters (Dr Brian Weiss): I read this book while I was facing some professional difficulties many moons ago. This helped me gain a new perspective on life.

8. Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling): These books became the reason I fell in love with the genre.

9. The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe: I read Edgar Allen Poe as a 13-14 year old child and learned that I am a horror junkie.

10. House of Leaves (Mark Z. Danielewski): This is by far the strangest and scariest books that I have read. Describing this book will take much longer than the space here would permit.

A11. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini): I cried buckets. BUCKETS. This is the book I loved so much that I can never re-read it.

12. Tell Me Your Dreams (Sidney Sheldon): As an adult, I see the problems that this book has, but this little tale introduced me to mental-health issues as a seventeen year old.

13. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte): A tale of love, loss and betrayal, Wuthering Heights has stayed with me all my life.

14. The Bartimaeus Trilogy (Johnathan Stroud): No other book has made me laugh as much as this set of three books about a devious djinn has. Do give it a try. It is wildly different.

15. When Life Nearly Died (Micheal J Benton): A book detailing the Permian Extinction that took place nearly 252 million years ago, this book is one of my most treasured possessions. It also helped me through one of the toughest times in my life. Kept me sane.

16. The Story of Life in 25 Fossils (Donald R Prothero): The story of life is detailed in 25 small segments. Somehow, this book turned subject that is both heavy, and one that I love, easily accessible and understandable.

17. Pterosaurs (Mark P. Witton): Beautifully illustrated and well-written, this book allows me to understand a lesser-known but fascinating family much better.

18. Cambrian Explosion (Douglas H Erwin & James W Valentine): This dive into deep time gives some wonderful insights into one of evolution's most interesting and critical events.

[actingdogs]

A Fish Called Wanda (Charles Chrichton, 1988)

[contre-qui]

Books of 2019 Wrap-Up!

In this post:

My top 3 favorite books

My 3 least favorite books

My fastest read

My slowest read

Books I acquired in 2019

2019 as a reading year

Books I read in 2019

Top 3:

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

This is absolutely one of the best books I've ever read. It was so refreshing to see a romance novel about a young gay couple - especially because it included their Mexican heritage.I really just don't have enough to say about this book; I cried at the end because I was just so pleased and emotionally moved. I would highly recommend this if you can get your hands on it. It was just so sweet, angsty, and emotional that I couldn't keep a straight face.

City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

What an excellent book! I'd been looking for something exciting but not overdone and this fully fit the bill. The romance was nice, the plot was well done, and there was just enough action to keep things interesting. I also really liked the mythology, since I'm not super up to date on the mythology and folklore of the Middle East so this was an awesome inclusion of those aspects.

Sonora by Hannah Lillith Assadi

This was such an interesting, short read. It was definitely dark, but I really enjoyed it. The plot was extremely complex and dealt with a lot of the darker sides of growing up. The title that finally came into play didn't show up until the very end and not in a way that I expected at all. I just really enjoyed the play back and forth between different shades of the past and present, leaving the reader trying to figure out when different events are happening.

Bottom 3:

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

I'm sorry to say that I absolutely hated this one. It felt trite, tropey, and overdone. I didn't like the plot, and Eliza was obnoxious. I liked that Zappia discussed anxiety and mental illness but the rest of the book was so obnoxious and over-dramatized.

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

This was such a struggle to get through; there was no real plot, the characters were somehow both dull and over-dramatic, and I truly just disliked the main character. I don't even know what else to say about A Confederacy of Dunces. I just plain didn't like it.

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

Killers of the Flower Moon was a required reading for my freshman writing class, and usually I don't mind class reading, but this just wasn't my favorite. It wasn't as bad as the other two - not by a long shot - it just was a little dry and a lot convoluted. It was designed to read as a mystery, but it just wound up confusing and difficult to follow. I liked the subject material and I liked what Grann was trying to say, but he just presented in a way that was difficult to keep track of and wasn't very interesting.

Fastest Read: The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman

This was mostly a short story in a book form, illustrated, so it was very easy to get through. It was a really interesting read though, and I enjoyed it a lot.

Slowest Read: Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie

I started this one probably a year or two ago and just kept putting it down for some odd reason. But I picked it back up to finally finish it, and I really enjoyed the ending. I've always been a huge fan of Agatha Christie, so I was glad to get to finish a Poirot novel, since I hadn't read one before.

Books Acquired in 2019:

The White Forest

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

The Age of Ice

The Magdalen Girls

The Pact

Jules Verne collection

Foundryside

Warlight

All the Ever Afters

Micro

The Paris Architect

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

The Queen's Dwarf

Shovel Ready

John Saturnall's Feast

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Killers of the Flower Moon

Social and Cultural Anthropology

The Headman was a Woman

The Savior's Champion

The Difference Engine

Blindness

A Room of One's Own

Four Great Restoration Comedies

Jane Eyre

Flowers in the Attic

2019 as a Reading Year:

I'm really proud of how much I read this year! I definitely fell into some distinct slumps, but this summer was especially productive for getting books finished. My goal for 2019 was to read 40 books, and I managed to finish 42! I'm really pleased that I exceeded my goal, especially because I was starting college and I wasn't sure how much reading I was going to be able to get done. I think I could have done better, but I'm still really pleased with how I did. There were a lot of times that I could have or should have read and I chose to go on my phone instead, which is something I'll be working on in 2020. But overall, I achieved my goal and I'm proud of how much I read and what I read; I was able to get through a lot of books that I had sitting on my shelf unstarted or unfinished. I'm excited to see how 2020 goes for me!

Books I Read in 2019:

Trickster's Queen by Tamora Pierce

The Female of the Species by Mandy McGinnis

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

The White Forest by Adam McOmber

Sonora by Hannah Lillith Assadi

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

The Age of Ice by J.M. Sidorova

Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card

The Magdalen Girls by V.S. Alexander

Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie

The Pact by Jodi Picoult

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Warlight by Michael Ondaatje

All the Ever Afters by Danielle Teller

Micro by Michael Chrichton

The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

The Shell Collector by Anthony Doerr

The Queen's Dwarf by Ella March Chase

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman

John Saturnall's Feast by Lawrence Norfolk

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann

(38.5) Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction by John Monaghan and Peter Just

The Headman Was a Woman: The Gender Egalitarian Batek of Malaysia by Kirk M. Endicott and Karen L. Endicott

The Savior's Champion by Jenna Moreci

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

[anythingstephenking]

Rocky Mountain High

After the monstrous mountain that was The Dark Tower, it was nice to leisurely stroll back down from that high on the back of a quick little story, The Colorado Kid.

The background of this is a bit fun, if you considering publishing juju interesting, which I do. In 2004, a man by the name of Charles Ardai was booting up a new imprint called Hard Case Crime, in the flavor of the paperback crime novels of the 1940s and '50s. I embarrassingly know what an imprint is because I watch the TV Land show Younger, but I digress. While I know quite a bit about mediocre television, I know very little about ol-timey novels from the mid 20th century, but I guess they were pretty fun. Fun enough to attempt to reboot the genre, through reasonably priced crime paperbacks with illustrations of hot women and smoking guns on the covers.

Ardai wrote King blindly, asking for a cover quote or endorsement of the imprint. Rather than simply saying “I love hot women and smoking guns, Steve King says buy this book”, our man Stevie decided to write his own story for humble submission to the Midnight Society.

Of course Ardai was thrilled, and King adding to the collection certainly helped propel Hard Case Crime towards success, including selections from Brian De Palma (of 70’s John Travolta fame, among many many others) Michael Chrichton (RAWR), and another entry from King, Joyland, which I’ll get to in 9 novels.

King, whether existing as a character in one of his own books, or the real life thing, continues to showcase a complicated display of characteristics that make him so human, flawed and beautiful warped together, it hurts my head. “Oh sure man, but I don’t want to contribute a blurb, I actually want to write a quick little bop about an unsolved death, that ok?” “For sure my dude!”

Whatever King’s motivations behind his decision to pen The Colorado Kid, it was a fun little story that serves to frustrate some, enchant others, and actually serves as an interesting period on the end of the Dark Tower saga, whether intentional or not.

I haven’t ever explored pulp fiction (hey that’s a movie!) of days past, but after entertaining The Colorado Kid over the course of a single evening, I’d be open to reading more. It was fun and infuriating, in a good way.

The story, told in the third person by a couple old newsmen, is about a dead body found on a beach in Maine (duh!), and the ensuing 25-year-old mystery that surrounds the who what where why & how this guy kicked it.

I honestly don’t really feel like getting into it in too much depth, but while there is a hot woman, there’s no smoking gun in this one. For better or worse (I think for better) we don’t get a resolution. I won’t say there’s no ending, because there is, it just happens in your brain when you finish the book.

It was better going into this read knowing there’d be no resolution - our pal Charles tells us so in the forward (which also tells us how good-guy-steve saved his imprint). Not expecting a bow at the end sure makes it easier to open the present without it.

I can’t remember if it was Ardai in the forward or King in the afterward that put this idea in my head, but the sentiment was basically that the books that stay with you are the ones that leave you wondering, thinking and wanting more. While more successful novels do this through subtle themes which I touch up towards the end of my Dark Tower laments, The Colorado Kid does it through not resolving the main conflict, leaving you to wonder what actually happened. And wonder I did, nodding off last night, and when I woke up this morning. Why I don’t think I’ll ever “solve” the case, I am no Agatha Christie, it’s fun to be left speculating after the book has been neatly tucked back away on my bookshelf.

I love my living room bookshelf a whole lot.

The reminder that not all mysteries are solvable by hot women, the reader or police, serves as a gentle remind towards Dark Tower fans that the universe is vast and wide, and while there are many answers to many problems, right and wrong aren’t black and white. My pal Stephen knows this better than most.

8/10

First Line: After deciding he would get nothing of interest from the two old men who comprised the entire staff of The Weekly Islander, the feature writer from the Boston Globe took a look at his watch, remarked that he could just make the one-thirty ferry back to the mainland if he hurried, thanked them for their time, dropped some money on the tablecloth, weighted it down with the salt shaker so the stiffish onshore breeze wouldn’t blow it away, and hurried down the stone steps from the Grey Gull’s patio dining area toward Bay Street and the little town below. (Holy run-on sentence, Batman!)

Last Line: And the mound the little boy who had been pitching held his glove up to one of the bright circles which hung in the sky just below the clouds, as if to touch that mystery, and bring it close, and open its heart, and know its story.

Adaptations:

The novel was (very) loosely adapted into the TV show Haven for SyFy, which I’ve never seen but am always annoyed it’s the first result when I search for “Stephen King” on Netflix. I love bad tv but I don’t have time for 5 seasons of a SyFy show.

[ghassanrassam]

British melodrama, après la guerre..Charles Chrichton was a decent director..1954and Cornell Borchers was a good Swiss actress

[iamcaledonia]

The Book of Nightmares by Galway Kinnell

Picnic, Lightning by Billy Collins

Walking the Black Cat by Charles Simic

Anything at all by: Edwin Morgan, Tom Leonard, or Iain Chrichton Smith

Michael Pederson's Oyster

If and When We Wake by Francis Daulerio

Oh, and for proper classics, there's always Rumi.

Does anyone have any good poetry recs? I’ve dabbled in poetry but am just starting to properly read it. I really liked Autobiography of Red and am working on Nikita Gill right now

[crimecaper]

HUNTED (THE STRANGER IN BETWEEN)

[celestica19]

'K - k - k - k - Ken' -A Fish Called Wanda(1988) d. Charles Chrichton