It's a New Year but we're still gonna have to deal with the residue that's been left over. Still, there is hope and it comes in a couple of different ways. First, there are vaccines that are being distributed to deal with the pandemic. It's a slow process but it looks like it will work. Second, we have a New President which, I hope, should bring some light into the darkness that we've been dealing with. These are things we'll all have to deal with going forward. Ona personal note, I intend to continue reading whatever interests me and letting you know about them in this blog.
Miscellaneous
The Continental Op - Dashiell Hammett ($13.95/$4.96, copyright 1974, 319 pages, Trade Paperback)
I've said before that I'm not a big fan of Short Story collections. I'm going to amend that statement. I do like collections that are centered on an individual person. For me, it's usually a Detective and I'll cite Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes works as a prime example. This collection illustrates why Hammett is considered to be the true inventor of modern detective fiction and the creator of the private eye. The Continental Op was his great contribution to the genre and these stories first appeared in the magazine Black Mask in the 1920's. They are first-person narratives given by an unnamed, self-described fat man who works for the Continental Detective Agency. He enjoys his work and he's good at it. In most of these, he's hired (or sent) to find someone or solve something like a missing girlfriend in "The Girl With The Silver Eyes" or a murdered rich man in "The Tenth Clew". In one, which I particularly enjoyed - "The House In Turk Street" - he stumbles into a touch situation while out going door-to-door looking for answers to something totally different. Hammett has created a great character and has used his personal experiences as a Detective with the Pinkerton Agency to flush out the plots. I enjoyed it.
Off The Shelf
The Devil In The White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America - Eric Larson ($16.00/$0, copyright 2003, 447 pages, Trade Paperback)
There is a new book by Larson that is getting a lot of positive reviews on several sites that I frequent and I'm interested but I'm cheap so I'm waiting until I can get a copy from one of the Discount sites I frequent. In the meantime, I dug this one out to reread. I actually got this for free years ago. I picked it out of a box of Free Books outside of a house on Green Street while walking back from the Dunkin' Donuts on Amboy. Larson intertwines 2 stories about what was happening in Chicago in 1893. The First is centered on Daniel H. Burnham, the architect responsible for the The Chicago World's Fair and the White City around which it was built. There were a lot of obstacles to overcome and Larson leads us through these until we reach it's successful conclusion and has also added appearances from some of the notables of the time - Buffalo Bill Cody, Susan B. Anthony, and Thomas A. Edison to name a few. The Second revolves around Henry H. Holmes, a Pharmacist and one of America's First Serial Killers. Larson details how Holmes created his World's Fair Hotel and goes about luring in over 25 attractive, young women who came to Chicago looking for work. This Hotel was fronted by several shops on the ground floor but the upper 2 held various rooms used for Holmes' purposes and the basement held a crematorium and a gas chamber. Larson tells these stories in alternate chapters which I found interesting and has included several pages of photographs which brings them to life. I enjoyed it.
That's it for now.
February is next and there'll probably be some very cold weather and some snow but I'm already reading a couple of books to tell you about then. Spring isn't too far behind. Till then -
Wash your hands
Wear your mask
Stay socially distant and
Keep Reading.
