ReadInk

The recent publication and promotion of The Hollywood Reporter’s “100 Greatest Film Books of All Time,” has, unsurprisingly, agitated the blood of those (like me) who’ve been immersed in the world of film books, in one way or another, for most of our lives. Like any such survey-based “100 Greatest” list (in any category), it’s virtually an open invitation for readers to “take issue” with it, to discuss and debate, and to express their disappointment, disdain, and occasional disbelief at the inclusion or exclusion of this or that tome. I have my own opinions along those lines, but that’s not what I’m here to do.

Instead, I thought it would just be interesting to bring a little historical perspective to the discussion. A regular part of Sight & Sound’s decennial “Greatest Films of All Time” critics’ poll (the most obvious analogue), after all, is the comparison with the previous list: a gleeful (or outraged) analysis of who’s up/down/in/out, compared with ten years before. It’s irresistible, energizing, and loads of fun . . . even if a few people inevitably take it a little too seriously.

Anyway, the S&S poll/list has been going on since 1952, and has a worldwide reach – but I wonder how many people are aware that THR’s stab at creating a “100 Best Film Books” has its own antecedent?

Back in 1993, a group called the Book Collectors Club of Los Angeles published a little booklet called “100 Books on Hollywood & the Movies.” Designed by the renowned L.A. book designer and printer Ward Ritchie, it was issued in a limited, numbered edition of just 500 copies, and quickly became a “collector’s collector’s item” – which is to say that, like many such specialized bibliographies, it came to a serve as a kind of shopping list for serious collectors in its subject area. (I know at least one collector personally who was fiercely dedicated to assembling a full set of the “Hollywood 100" books in collectable condition – with the original dust jackets, of course – and one still sees the bibliography cited in some booksellers’ catalogues and online listings.) Unlike the current THR enterprise, though, it wasn’t derived from some massive survey of hundreds of folks – in fact, it seems to have been primarily the work of three guys, one of whom, I’m delighted to say, is my buddy Kenneth Turan, the now-retired L.A. Times film critic. The other two were the late Andy Dowdy, whose wonderful little shop Other Times Books was a fixture on Pico Blvd. for more than 30 years, and the late Julian (Bud) Lesser, producer and the son of film pioneer Sol Lesser. There were quite likely additional “uncredited” consultants on the final list, but even if those three (all of whom I’m glad to be, or have been, acquainted with) did the whole thing, I could hardly think of a more qualified crew. And I’m pleased to note that Kenny Turan is also one of the 322 surveyed for the new list – possibly the only person who’s had a hand in both selections.

(I also happen to be acquainted, to one degree or another, with a pretty fair number of the other 321 jury members, which is one reason I’m avoiding taking my own “issues” with the current list: I just don’t want to get up in anybody’s business about their choices, or risk having a martini thrown in my face the next time I’m in Musso’s. Like I said above, some people take these lists way too seriously. I will, however, venture this somewhat scattershot comment, and hope it doesn’t hit anybody TOO directly who might otherwise think kindly of me: anybody who voted to put “Hollywood Babylon” on this list ought to be ashamed of themselves. You know who you are – all 58 of you – and I respectfully suggest that you do a little research, and educate yourself about the dozens of reputations which that execrable book has tainted or destroyed – posthumously, of course, because as Kenneth Anger DAMN well knew, The Dead Can’t Sue.)

Anyway, to get do the point (and I do have one) I thought it would be interesting to do a book-by-book comparison between the current THR list and the 1993 “Hollywood 100" list, to see what the changing times (and thirty more years of publication activity) have wrought. So I did, and below present some of my findings.

(1) Of the 100 books tapped by The Book Collectors in 1993, only 30 have survived and made it onto the 2023 THR list. Some of this attrition is inevitable and completely understandable, given that during the 30 years that have passed there’s been an ever-increasing flow of new books in the field – more histories, more critical analyses, more genre studies, more memoirs and biographies, more interview collections, more making-of accounts, you name it. But interestingly, although the carry-overs comprise just 30% of the full list, they make up 65% (13 of 20) of the top 20 vote-getters. While I might want to quibble with some of the (in my opinion) questionable selections from the more recently-published books, my takeaway from this is generally positive: that despite the march of time, there is still a healthy respect in the land for the “classics” of the genre. Real quality endures.

(2) As an aficionado of Hollywood-themed fiction (the “Hollywood novel,” in particular), I was sorry to see that the representation of that genre, writ large (including not just novels but also short stories, plays, and screenplays) has dropped considerably: from 14 examples on the 1993 list to just 7 today. The predictable (albeit worthy) survivors from the earlier list – West’s “The Day of the Locust,” Schulberg’s “What Makes Sammy Run?” and Fitzgerald’s “The Last Tycoon” – have at least been joined by some equally worthy titles that didn’t make the 1993 list despite having been eligible, notably “Play It as It Lays” and “Valley of the Dolls.” (A shout-out here to my friend Stephen Rebello for his vigorous championing of the latter and its notoriously awful-yet-beloved movie version, via his book “Dolls! Dolls! Dolls!”

(3) This piece is already long enough without me adding on a full list of the 70 books that didn’t make the cut, so to speak, between 1993 and 2023, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention at least a few personal favorites – if only because it might spur anyone who’s bothered to read this far to seek out some of these books. They’ll all be worth your while.

*I Lost My Girlish Laughter, by “Jane Allen” (pseud.) – a 1938 novel co-authored by Silvia Schulman (the future Mrs. Ring Lardner Jr.), presenting a thinly-veiled portrait of David O. Selznick, for whom she had toiled as a secretary; recently reprinted, and readily available.
*In Pictures, by Will Connell – a satirical photo-survey of Hollywood published in 1937, the text of which is a purported “story conference” transcript involving some of the wittiest screenwriters of the day, among them Gene Fowler, Nunnally Johnson, and Grover Jones.
*Talking Pictures: Screenwriters in the American Cinema 1927-1973, by Richard Corliss – partially a riposte to Andrew Sarris’s “The American Cinema: Directors and Directions, 1929-1968" (still on the list, as it should be), but also an extremely important and influential work in its own right; this is one omission from the new list at which I am frankly shocked.
*Kings of the Bs, by Todd McCarthy and Charles Flynn – an entertaining and enlightening 1975 survey of B-movies and some of their greatest (and awfulest) makers.
*The “Backstory” series of interviews with screenwriters, all by Patrick McGilligan, of which there have been four volumes, published between 1986 and 2006.
*Hollywood: the Movie Colony, the Movie Makers (1941), by Leo C. Rosten – an early, and highly readable, sociological analysis of how “this town” operated, back in the day.
*Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life (1981), by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, two of the Disney studios famed “Nine Old Men.”

If you want a full accounting of the 70 books from the 1993 publication that weren’t included on the 2023 list, you have two options: (1) seek out a copy of the original booklet (the editor’s name was Charles Heiskell, if that will help you search); it’s long out of print, but there are still a few copies floating around out there (but be prepared to spend $100 or more); or (2) ask me and I’ll email it to you. Because you deserve SOME reward for having read this far.

The 100 Greatest Film Books of All Time THR’s list of must-read tomes — determined by a jury of more than 300 Hollywood heavyweights including Steven Spielberg, David Zaslav, Liza Minnelli and Ava DuVernay — proves there’s one topic the supposedly reading-averse industry can’t get enough of: itself.

So here comes the 55th California International Antiquarian Book Fair (https://www.abaa.org/cabookfair)– at the Pasadena Convention Center this Friday-Saturday-Sunday -- for which ReadInk will be cozily ensconced in Booth 301. This will be the closest we’ve ever been to the main entrance at one of these shindigs, and by some miracle of random selection we’ve been placed immediately behind the booth of the venerable Maggs Bros. Ltd. of London, one of the world’s oldest, largest and most respected purveyors of antiquarian books, manuscripts, and other goodies.

This feels a little bit like we’re setting up a taco cart in the alley behind a 3-star Michelin restaurant – but hey, the world needs tacos, too! Anyway, I’m sure they’ll be good neighbors, and the contiguousness could even work to the advantage of us both: my modest and even slightly trashy offerings will make them look even more classy than they already are, and their ultra-high-end treasures will hopefully help my wares seem a bit more....affordable.

Although this is kind of a last-minute notice, I got to thinking “what kind of a 21st-century bookseller would I be if I neglected to put out a little social media content, to maybe gin up a little extra business?” The answer to that question came in an instant: I’d be no kind of 21st-century bookseller at all, and that’s just fine with me – the 20th century (particularly the decades between Woodrow Wilson and Richard Nixon) is much more in my comfort zone and area of interest, and stuff from that era makes up the bulk of my inventory. (I’ve got nothing against the 21st century, as such . . . scratch that. I do, actually, but let’s not get into that and ruin the mood.)

Anyway, speaking of tacos.....here are a handful of highlights that I’ll be bringing to this weekend’s show. (Most of which have not yet been offered online.)

* An inscribed copy of the first printing of renowned artist Ed Ruscha’s first book, “Twentysix Gasoline Stations,” that’s been pretty roughly handled, but is still (in my hopeful opinion) an object of desire for the broad-minded collector. As used to be said about unattractive people, it’s got a lot of personality! – and an intriguing (if highly speculative) backstory.
* A copy of the very uncommon World War II-era Armed Services Edition of James M. Cain’s hard-boiled classic “The Postman Always Rings Twice” – in an almost unheard-of state, in that it was inscribed by Cain (who refers to it as “the best edition”) to the producer of the 1946 film version of the novel. (You know the one: think “Lana Turner in a white sunsuit.”)
* A copy of the 1924 book “My Eskimo Friends: ‘Nanook of the North,’” inscribed by its author, the pioneer documentary filmmaker Robert Flaherty, to a Hollywood notable: M-G-M producer Paul Bern, the ill-fated future husband of the luminous Jean Harlow.
* A first edition of “The World of L’il Abner” (1953), inscribed by the comic strip’s artist/creator, Al Capp.
* A half-dozen or so vintage Agatha Christie mysteries, part of a large collection of mystery fiction we acquired last year. (And other selections from the same collection.)
* A copy, in the rare dust jacket, of the 1933 horror classic “The Werewolf of Paris,” by Guy Endore. Because werewolves are never out of fashion.
* Another book rarely found in its dust jacket (although mine is from a slightly later printing), H.F. Heard’s 1941 “A Taste for Honey,” one of the earliest and most highly-regarded Sherlock Holmes pastiches.
* A copy of the first American edition of Richard Loederer’s 1935 book “Voodoo Fire in Haiti,” in the rare first-issue dust jacket – with a graphic design so outré that I don’t dare post an image of it on Facebook. (Almost all other copies currently in circulation bear a later, much-tamed-down version of the jacket.)
* An exceptional copy of Man Ray’s famous debut book, “Photographies 1920-1934 Paris,” inscribed by him to a one-time model. (And another Man Ray item, also inscribed, with an original Ray photogravure.)
* A humorously-inscribed copy of Groucho Marx’s first book, “Beds,” published in 1930.
* A couple of boxes of vintage detective and sci-fi pulp magazines, containing works by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Erle Stanley Gardner, Carroll John Daly, and even a few authors who DIDN’T use their middle names!
* Inscribed and/or signed copies of books by Norman Mailer, Ray Bradbury, Philip Roth, Gore Vidal, Dawn Powell, Booth Tarkington, Jacqueline Susann, Marion Davies, Dalton Trumbo, Leon Uris, Felix Frankfurter, William Carlos Williams, R. Crumb, Meredith Willson, Baby Peggy, and Josef von Sternberg!

Some of the above are pictured here, for the pleasure of your eyeballs. There are more. There are always more. But you’ll have to drag yourself over to Pasadena to see them all, and to see me, too. I hope you will.

Iliad Bookshop needs help recovering from arson, organized by Daniel Weinstein On the evening of Thursday, November 3rd, around 11:30 pm, someone p… Daniel Weinstein needs your support for Iliad Bookshop needs help recovering from arson

The recent arson fire at Iliad Books, one of the city's treasures, is terribly upsetting, for multiple reasons. Below is a link to a GoFundMe that's been set up by the proprietor, Daniel Weinstein. Please give whatever you can to help get this GREAT store back on its feet.

Iliad Bookshop needs help recovering from arson, organized by Daniel Weinstein On the evening of Thursday, November 3rd, around 11:30 pm, someone p… Daniel Weinstein needs your support for Iliad Bookshop needs help recovering from arson

California International Antiquarian Book Fair This three-day event presents rare and collected books, manuscripts, letters, maps, photographs, original artwork, and all manner of paper ephemera from booksellers around the world, and features exhibits of four important private California collections.

I'd like to wish all my book-trade friends and colleagues (even those I don't know personally) a smashingly successful weekend at Rare Books LAX! http://rarebooksla.com/

And to any of ReadInk's friends or followers in the greater L.A. area: I hope you can find time to make your way over to the Proud Bird on either Saturday or Sunday, where I can GUARANTEE you'll see some fabulous books, prints and ephemera, and will enjoy interacting with the folks who are peddling them.

But now for the sad part: I was all set to BE one of those folks. I had something like 500 or so books, a good mix of new inventory and old (but yet unsold) favorites, all boxed up and ready to schlep over to the RBLAX venue . . . but Old Man Covid had other plans for me, and I had to bail out at the last minute. So if you're over there browsing around, and wonder why Booth 906 is dark and empty, now you know.

BUT . . . I have also, this day, registered for this:
https://www.abaa.org/events/details/california-international-antiquarian-book-fair2

SO . . . I'll see y'all in February, in Pasadena!

(And in the meantime, I am still sellin' books over here: www.readinkbooks.com)

California International Antiquarian Book Fair This three-day event presents rare and collected books, manuscripts, letters, maps, photographs, original artwork, and all manner of paper ephemera from booksellers around the world, and features exhibits of four important private California collections.

ReadInk updated their phone number.

So, it's St. Patrick's Day -- but did you know that tomorrow, March 18, is Satan Hall Day? Nah, I just made that up, but I might as well mark it here at ReadInk, since I've just listed a nice little group of old pulp magazines: four issues of "Detective Fiction Weekly" from 1932 and 1933, each of which features a Satan Hall story by the writer who's acknowledged as one of the creators of the hard-boiled school of detective fiction, Carroll John Daly. In real life, Daly was a bit of a milquetoast -- "afraid of cold weather and dentists," in the words of one critic -- but in the pages of "Black Mask" and other detective pulps of the 1920s and 1930s he created some of the roughest, most brutal "heroes" of them all -- none nastier than Satan Hall, the prototype for numerous Dirty Harry-type rogue cops to follow. Satan (who was drawn by pulp artists to resemble his namesake) was essentially an executioner with a police badge: most of the criminals who ran up against him wound up conveniently deceased -- gunned down by Satan "while trying to escape" or "in the commission of a crime" . . . or at least that's how it went into the official report. Alas, such characters were never solely confined to the realm of fiction -- not then, not now.

About a year and a month ago, I was in the final feverish throes of preparation for the annual California Antiquarian Book Fair in Pasadena -- which (who knew?) turned out to be my last in-person bookfair before The Big Lockdown. Hopefully, someday, thousands of book-lovers will once again be able to swarm into a large, high-ceilinged venue and browse through the choice offerings of a couple of hundred purveyors of fine books, prints and ephemera. Until then, though -- in the spirit of "the show must go on" -- we're doing the thing virtually. And whatever your opinion of online vs. real-world bookfairs, there's no denying that this will be one of the biggest (256 dealers) and, hopefully, best of these events to be presented thus far. So come on over -- I'll be "there" -- starting at 9 a.m. Pacific Time on Thursday, March 4th.
https://fairs.abaa.org/

Virtual Book Fair from the ABAA: Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America of America You can be confident that when you make a purchase through ABAA.org, the item is sold by an ABAA member in full compliance with our Code of Ethics. Our sellers guarantee your order will be shipped promptly and that all items are as described. Buy with confidence through ABAA.org.

There’s a school of thought, prevalent in some corners of the book-collecting world, that a book with a previous owner’s name written inside, or bearing an old gift inscription from somebody’s mom (or dad or sibling or uncle or friend), is somehow less desirable/valuable as a collectible object than a pristine copy that appears to have never been touched by human hands. I’ll grant this point, but *only* if one’s sole desire is to bestow a “gift-quality” book on a friend or relative, and/or to avoid the perceived taint of a “second-hand” copy. Under almost any other circumstances, however, in my opinion this is a short-sighted, even foolish, attitude.

This doesn’t mean we should look indulgently upon every type of scribblement we might find in an old book – I draw the line, for example, at random crayon scrawls perpetrated by improperly-instructed children – but for the most part, such previous owners’ markings should be understood and appreciated as forensic evidence of a book’s history. Today’s case in point: this “photoplay edition” of the Fannie Hurst classic “Imitation of Life” – a novel (and author) not much in demand by today’s readers, yet embedded in our pop-culture consciousness by virtue of its two Hollywood-movie adaptations, the first in 1934 (starring Claudette Colbert), for which this edition of the book was a promotional tie-in, and latterly in 1959 (starring Lana Turner), directed by the great Douglas Sirk.

This tome has admittedly seen better days: the dust jacket is quite worn, both hinges are cracked, there’s a certain amount of schmutz on the covers, etc. In layman’s terms, it’s just an “old book.” But baby, it’s had a life, and it lets you know it!

For starters, we know it was once owned by a fellow named Guy M. Harrington, of Macon, Georgia. We know this because Mr. Harrington took some pains to make sure we couldn’t miss it: inside the book, at various points, are his name/address label, a generic bookplate with his name typed in red ink, and five (count ‘em) examples of his signature (the "M" stood for Marvin, in case you’re wondering), along with various admonitions to "Please Return" (although honestly, I doubt if such a possessive guy would ever let the book out of his sight). There’s even an embossed seal on an upfront page – which at first didn’t seem all that unusual to me (I see a lot of such “From the Library of...” indicators) until I took a closer look and observed that it’s actually a Notary Public seal. So I’m thinking, “did this guy have his books notarized, for heaven’s sake?” – and then an even closer look revealed that Mr. Harrington was himself a notary: it’s his own seal! Further evidence contained herein reveals that he lived at at least three different addresses in Macon during the time he owned this book. (So which one should it have been returned to, I wonder, if lost-and-found?) And as a final lagniappe, at the bottom corner of the front endpaper (obscured by its placement within a photo-montage of scenes from the movie) is yet another embossed stamp, that of Brown's Book Store in Macon, quite likely where the book was originally purchased by Mr. Harrington. (And it might as well be additionally noted, as long as I've gone this deeply into it, that Brown's, operated by one Burr Brown, was located on Mulberry St., a mere 7-minute walk from one of the noted Harrington residences, at 220 New St. A parking garage now occupies the former bookstore location.)

It’s probably a good thing that most old books aren’t *quite* this festooned with evidence of their past lives. Despite my paean to this particular specimen, as a matter of regular course I’d much rather be handling nice clean copies of vintage books, as opposed to ones that have been obsessively marked (as this one certainly has) or beat to hell over the years (ditto). But that just heightens the pleasure of coming across such a charming and evocative exception, like this one.

ReadInk is happy to be participating in the first (but probably not the last) ABAA Virtual Book Fair, opening Thursday morning at 10 a.m. ET and running through Sunday. It's not quite the first event of its kind (there have been a couple of recent predecessors), but it will be the largest to date, with slightly more than 150 exhibitors on hand -- about one-third of the ABAA membership. The guiding principle for the show is "new" and "exclusive" inventory, i.e. material that has not previously been offered online, and which will be available only at the show, and only for the duration of the show. Another idea is that the booksellers will be available to interact with customers, via phone, email, text, or online platforms like Zoom; each exhibitor will post his or her own hours and methods of availability on their show home page. For my part, and despite being somewhat technologically challenged, I'm going to attempt to keep a Zoom meeting/link open throughout all four days of the show, so that anybody (using the meeting ID and password posted on my page) will be able to visit my "booth" virtually, chat about any of my offerings, ask questions, or whatever. Very excited to see how this goes -- do stop by if you're in a bookish mood!
https://www.abaa.org/virtualbookfair

Virtual Book Fair

I am podcast. The first segment of episode #136 of Esotouric's "You Can't Eat the Sunshine" podcast features yours truly, Mr. ReadInk, reminiscing about my own randomized memories of Hollywood bookshops in the 1970s, and more generally about the bookshop scene in Hollywood going back to the days of the fabled Stanley Rose. I am hardly the world's greatest authority on the latter topic, and all we could do in 20 minutes was to scratch the surface, but I do know a few things about a few things, and it was a pleasant experience chatting with Richard Schave about the subject. More importantly, though, my segment was a set-up and lead-in to an interview with Jeff Mantor, proprietor of the Larry Edmunds Bookshop, the last bookstore standing on Hollywood Blvd., which is fighting for its very existence these days, and whose GoFundMe campaign deserves your support.

YCES in Quarantine Episode #136: The Larry Edmunds Bookshop & the (Nearly) Lost World of Hollywood Book & Memorabilia Dealers Download Podcast Episode! You Can’t Eat the Sunshine returns with an all-new Quarantine format, inviting folks who are passionate about Los Angeles history and historic preservation to join us for …

I'm posting this plea for support for a bookselling compadre, Jeff Mantor at Larry Edmunds Bookshop. (I don't know why a link isn't automatically coming up, probably because my FB skills are deficient.) The shop itself is a Hollywood institution and (like many bookstores) a cultural treasure, and Jeff, who took over from the Luboviski clan quite a few years ago, has kept it going through an impressive combination of dedication, innovation and just plain hard work and hustle -- but with the current situation, and the shop itself being closed to walk-in customers and therefore dependent on mail-order sales, the business is apparently hanging on by the thinnest of threads. So if you've got some movie-related biography or history you've heard about, or have been meaning to read, for gosh sake DON'T buy it on Amazon (or from ReadInk, for that matter). Instead, call Jeff at 323-463-3273 or use the "Contact Us" form on the shop's website. Chances are pretty good that he'll have it in stock -- and if you have to pay "retail" (instead of that discount that you could get on Amazon, because they don't pay taxes and they work their lower-echelon staff half to death), then just suck it up and DO IT.

Vina Delmar was a novelist and sometime-screenwriter (her best credit was THE AWFUL TRUTH). Her 1928 novel "Bad Girl" was her breakthrough hit; that book and its several followups (of which this was one) sported terrific jacket designs by the great Arthur Hawkins Jr.

https://www.readinkbooks.com/product/20643/Kept-Woman-Delmar-Vina

Kept Woman [solid book, spine very slightly turned, some spotting/foxing to top edge of text block, vintage bookseller's label (City of Paris Book Shop, San Francisco) on rear pastedown; jacket shows minor wear at extremities, light soiling to rear panel, a couple of tiny edge-nicks to rear panel]. In the same...

When you start looking into it, you find that there were an awful lot of "career woman" novels being published in the inter-war years (1920-1940) -- usually, though not always, written by women. Here's a favorite:

https://www.readinkbooks.com/product/17192/Manhattan-Solo-Worthington-Marjorie

Manhattan Solo (price-clipped) [minimal shelfwear, very slight fading to cloth along top and bottom edges, one-time owner's pencil signature on ffep, another (unrelated) gift inscription on 2nd ffep; jacket bright and attractive, light edgewear, 2-inch diagonal closed tear at top of front panel]. Novel about a wom...

Fabulous illustrations in this satirical look at the cultural scene in England in the 1930s.

https://www.readinkbooks.com/product/20768/The-Modern-34Rakes-Progress34-West-Rebecca-illustrated-by-David-Low

The Modern "Rake's Progress" [moderate shelfwear, minor bumping/rubbing to top corners, slight exposure of board at bottom corner of front cover, Christmas gift inscription (non-authorial) dated 1934 on ffep; jacket somewhat edgeworn, small chip at top right corner of rear panel, some paper loss at top corners of spine, small c...

Tonight's offering (accept no substitutes, except this one):

https://www.readinkbooks.com/product/18184/The-Substitute-Bride-Sheridan-Clare

The Substitute Bride [nice tight book with minimal wear, slight dust-darkening to top edge, one-time owner's florid signature on front pastedown, and a neatly-clipped mailing label from The Ohio State Stove Corporation affixed to the ffep, also bearing the same previous owner's name and address; jacket shows a little we...

Here's an amusing tome by a one-time actress and stunt double, who later became a TV writer and also turned out half a dozen highly readable books, including "Dear Boris," an up-close-and-personal biography of her friend Boris Karloff. Sadly, when she died in 2007, only Variety took any notice.

https://www.readinkbooks.com/product/17036/Mother-Climbed-Trees-Lindsay-Cynthia

Mother Climbed Trees [nice clean copy, with no significant wear, just the slightest age-toning to the fore-edge; jacket lightly soiled, with a little abrasion along the right-hand side of the top edge of the front panel]. Somebody ought to write a history of the "my-whacky-parent(s)" memoir, which had its heyday from th...

Here's one from a California author (born in San Francisco in 1857), who set many of her novels and stories (although not this one) in her home state. A feminist and an advocate of social reform, she was a non-militant suffragist who also became a fervent anti-communist in the years following the Russian Revolution. She lived to the age of 90, and was a true grande dame of California literature.

https://tinyurl.com/urgjdxd

The Sophisticates [nice tight copy, apparently unread, just a trace of wear to bottom edge, vintage price sticker (from the famous San Francisco department store, The White House) on rear pastedown; jacket a little rubbed and soiled, with a few tiny edge-nicks, soft diagonal crease in rear flap]. Novel about the "you...

Another one from our online stock...

https://www.readinkbooks.com/product/20072/Alimony-Queens-Connelly-Vernie-E

Alimony Queens [a good solid copy, a little wear at the extremities, fain foxing to fore-edge; jacket has several closed tears at top of front panel, a few tiny chips surrounding the top of the spine, edgewear and some creasing along bottom of rear panel]. A Grosset & Dunlap original (although it may have been ser...