tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post2677225495574031175..comments2024-03-25T11:29:25.356-04:00Comments on Existential Ennui: The Porkchoppers by Ross Thomas (Hamish Hamilton First Edition), Bernard Higton, the First Things First Manifesto, an Unlikely Lewes Connection, and a ReviewNick Jones (Louis XIV, the Sun King)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17716508525331235684noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-87025313676137294152010-11-23T10:24:07.324-05:002010-11-23T10:24:07.324-05:00Aw, shucks, you guys. BG, your Ross Thomas connect...Aw, shucks, you guys. BG, your Ross Thomas connections are a bit better than mine; mine's only to the designer of one of his UK book covers! Still it was kind of a cool discovery. I'll have to have a rummage and see which Ivy books he designed.<br /><br />Olman, I suspect you may have hit the nail on the head there: the blurbs on the back are all for If You Can't Be Good, which is written in the first-person, so as with The Cold War Swap, I imagine it's fairly Chandleresque.Nick Jones (Louis XIV, the Sun King)https://www.blogger.com/profile/17716508525331235684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-37217394204044092302010-11-22T11:02:10.874-05:002010-11-22T11:02:10.874-05:00Great post, as usual. It must have been quite nea...Great post, as usual. It must have been quite neat to slowly dig up your six degree connection. Nice review of the book as well. It really is skilled the way he makes you feel a sort of affection for practically every character, no matter how pathetic or corrupt they are.<br /><br />I'm struck by the excessive reliance of "Chandler" in the blurbs on the back cover. Was he the gold standard of American crime fiction in Britain at the time, or had they just only read his first-person books?OlmanFeelyushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17521657876810568251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-65325853383062988182010-11-22T10:16:06.535-05:002010-11-22T10:16:06.535-05:00I started to write a comment yesterday on how grea...I started to write a comment yesterday on how great it is that you pay attention to the design and designers of dust jackets and how amazing it is that you are able to dig up what you do - but blogger ate my comment. After today's post on Bernard Higton, yesterday's (lost) praise is hereby doubled. Tripled, maybe.<br /><br />I, too, take great joy in finding connections - though this time, your connection to BH is quite spectacular. Most of my Ross Thomas connections are geographical - I live right in the middle of much of the Washington, DC that he writes about. For instance, in an hour I'm going over to the Hay Adams hotel, one of the hotels RT regularly uses in books. (No one at the Hay Adams seems to be aware of the Ross Thomas connection or remember anything about him.) I've been saving The Porkchoppers for a rainy day (that and Voodoo Ltd. are the only two I haven't read) but I think I'm going to have to read it next.<br /><br />So - are you going to raid the archives at Ilex and curate a look at the work of Bernard Higton or maybe an extended showing of illustrations linked to First Things First?Book Gluttonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14569975755798562829noreply@blogger.com