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RARA-AVIS: What are people reading? 

I hope people aren't being intimidated (or bored) by all this talk
about definining exactly what "hardboiled" is.  In case people want to
talk about something else, I wonder, is anyone reading anything good
these days?

I was lucky enough to get a copy of Charles Willeford's first volume
of autobiography, _I Was Looking for a Street_.  It covers his life up
until he's 14 or so.  His father died when he was 2, his mother died
when he was 8, his step-father ran off, and then more people died (but
not the uncle with the poorly-fitting glass eye).  He was sent to a
boarding school for a couple of years, then lived with his youngish
grandmother in Callifornia for a while, and had a very nice time with
her.  Then things took a turn and he just walked out.  He bummed
around for a year or two, riding freight trains, hanging out with
bums, hobos and transients, getting food where he could, sometimes
going into government projects (this was the middle of the
Depression).  At one point, after losing his virginity to a
prostitute, he gets plastered on mescal, passes out, and wakes up
absolutely naked in the bitter cold.  His two friends, a kid his age
and an older black man, have a good laugh but give him some of their
clothes.

It's a short book, but very well-written, and he captures perfectly
the outlook a boy has on life.  There a few memories of his later life
(for example, in a bit about hats), but mostly it's a young kid from a
strange family wandering around the southern and western U.S. with only
the clothes he wears.  This was all at about the time Hammett was
living it up, drinking and writing.  I think _Looking_ out of print,
but if you're a Willeford fan, it's certainly worth reading.  I'm
hoping to get his second book of autobiography, which covers his army
experiences - he was highly decorated.

There's a picture of him on the cover, and he looks like any sleepy
old man you'd see in some small Florida town.  But you know it's him,
so you look again, and there's something about his eyes.  They're
sharp, you can tell he saw a lot.  If I'd met him and didn't know who
he was, I probably would have thought he was just some old geezer, but
he would have read me like a book.

I don't know what novel I'll read next, but I'm still working my way
through _The Mammoth Book of Pulp Fiction_.  Some great stories in
there. 



Bill
-- 
   William Denton : Toronto, Canada : buff@vex.net : Caveat lector.
              http://www.vex.net/~buff/

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