Tuesday, March 09, 2004
Oh flam me a flim
I found this site, the official site for Glendon Swarthout, when I went looking for a link for Where the Boys Are earlier. It's an excellent site about the entire Swarthout family. And I got a surprise: Glendon Swarthout, author of my favorite book in 8th grade (Bless the Beasts and the Children), was also the author of my favorite book in 4th grade, TV Thompson. Clearly, I had good taste early on.
If you aren't familiar with Glendon Swarthout, you need to be. If you don't like westerns, don't start with his westerns (except maybe The Homesman). I'm going to try out my new Amazon affiliate links to get you started, but hey, if you'd rather buy them from his family, that's fine too.
So here's the shameless commercial part, where you can click through and impulse-buy your little heart out:
Bless The Beasts And Children, a novel that to this day remains my most-kept-by-people-I've-lent-it-to book. Seriously, you should look for this one at book sales with the great 1960s cover, or the one with the cover photo from the movie. And really, you can skip the movie unless you're a Billy Mumy fan. And the Carpenters' song? Ewwwww!
The Homesman, a good solid story with an interesting view of women in the west. Kind of like Larry McMurtry with an edge.
I can't find any sources for Where the Boys Are, but I got a really nice edition on eBay for a couple of dollars last year. Even if you know the movie, you don't know the book, trust me. It's my favorite Spring Break book of all time, featuring co-eds who converge on Ft. Lauderdale in search of sun, Ivy Leaguers, and Life, told in this completely wonderful 60s college patter--who knew "goodlooks" was an adjective?
I found this site, the official site for Glendon Swarthout, when I went looking for a link for Where the Boys Are earlier. It's an excellent site about the entire Swarthout family. And I got a surprise: Glendon Swarthout, author of my favorite book in 8th grade (Bless the Beasts and the Children), was also the author of my favorite book in 4th grade, TV Thompson. Clearly, I had good taste early on.
If you aren't familiar with Glendon Swarthout, you need to be. If you don't like westerns, don't start with his westerns (except maybe The Homesman). I'm going to try out my new Amazon affiliate links to get you started, but hey, if you'd rather buy them from his family, that's fine too.
So here's the shameless commercial part, where you can click through and impulse-buy your little heart out:
Bless The Beasts And Children, a novel that to this day remains my most-kept-by-people-I've-lent-it-to book. Seriously, you should look for this one at book sales with the great 1960s cover, or the one with the cover photo from the movie. And really, you can skip the movie unless you're a Billy Mumy fan. And the Carpenters' song? Ewwwww!
The Homesman, a good solid story with an interesting view of women in the west. Kind of like Larry McMurtry with an edge.
I can't find any sources for Where the Boys Are, but I got a really nice edition on eBay for a couple of dollars last year. Even if you know the movie, you don't know the book, trust me. It's my favorite Spring Break book of all time, featuring co-eds who converge on Ft. Lauderdale in search of sun, Ivy Leaguers, and Life, told in this completely wonderful 60s college patter--who knew "goodlooks" was an adjective?
permalink posted by The Vintage Reader @ 8:08 PM 
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