I don't think I've ever read a romance where I found both romantic leads so thoroughly boring. I had no interest in seeing whether they would work it out, was even sort of rooting for the devious and catty rival Muriel to knock Mary aside and snatch the indolent Philip away. And most likely make him miserable for the rest of his life. The charm of this book was in the peripheral characters and in the strong sense of place. Perhaps my favorite character was Phillip's half-grown spaniel pup, with his melodramatic moanings and joyful gambolings and callow slinkings and mournful mopings. 

Hardcover, third in a series, in which I have no desire to read further. I inherited this vintage 1949 book from my father, as one of the few mementos of his mother. I never met her, but from his accounts she was a loving and terrifyingly Sicilian lady who, with her cabal of equally terrifying sisters, kept all the rascally extended family in line. 

The book itself has some interesting features. I love vintage books. The yellowed and unevenly cut pages. The wonderful smell of musty old libraries. But this one also has the hardcover embossed with a leafy logo, the original price sticker from what used to be a fancy Austin downtown department store, and a delightful rant about teachers and public schools on the back cover. Also, I used one of my favorite old bookmarks, a fundraiser for The Wilderness Society, with a photo of a solitary live oak in a field of bluebonnets and Indian blankets. It is so very Central Texas that it always makes my heart ache a little. 

Really Mrs. Lacey had cause for concern. There was her elderly husband dancing like a sailor on the lower deck, with a young woman only partially clothed, and there was one daughter out in the darkness with dear knows whom, and the other daughter brazenly flirting with a divorced man. 

I'm not sure how it's possible for me to think both protagonists are too vapidly passive to be at all interesting, or even for me to wish well, but still enjoy reading the story. 

The Book Genie is determined to force me out of my comfort zone. She picked a 1949 Romance (3rd in a series I've never read before, of course) that's been on my shelves for a while. It's one of the books my dad gave me, that had belonged to his mother. This one has some interesting physical features, but I'll post those later. I'm anxious to get back to my reading chair and glass of wine!

Ha ha I've been trying to come up with an icon for my Book Genie*, and I had been envisioning him as a dark, mysterious, serious genie in a lamp, but I came across my silly old friend Jeannie and decided she was perfect. 

*actually a random number generator

Bloch’s first novel is styled as the written confession and diary excerpts of a serial killer. The misogyny is so vividly portrayed that I could only read so much at a time before needing to go scrub my brain and find something more pleasant to occupy it. The main character’s hatred, though targeted specifically at women, extends to his fellow men, himself, and society in general, and there’s just enough twisted truth in his observations to give him authenticity. It sucks you in with an amusingly cynical worldview, then pushes it several steps too far, so that the reader is along for the ride that becomes increasingly disturbing until you want out, but the doors are locked and you’re stuck there riding along with a madman filling your ears with his raving. It’s a fascinating look at 1940’s pop psychology.

In reading about the author and the writing of this book, I was interested to discover that Bloch was actually a protégé of Lovecraft and a member of the Lovecraft circle, and this book does have a bit of a gothic feel to it, although the horror is entirely psychological.

Apparently, Bloch re-released this novel in paperback, with some revisions and an all-new epilogue to end it that gives more insight into the main character. The darn book is out of print, but I’m so interested in comparing them that I ordered a copy from a used bookseller.

I read this for the 2018 Halloween Bingo square Free Read. Now I feel the need to go back and re-listen to Psycho, which I remember being outstanding on audio (read by Paul Michael Garcia), and for which I apparently neglected to write a review.

Previous Updates:

9/22/18 – Intro 

9/23/18 - 40/247pg

9/25/18 - 83/247pg