My favourite reads of 2022! These are in no particular order and come with the beginning to give you a taste of the style. The last one is my own translation from German, so all errors are mine.
Laura by Vera Caspary (1943): noir, crime, detective fiction
"The city that Sunday morning was quiet. Those millions of New Yorkers who, by need or preference, remain in town over a summer weekend had been crushed spiritless by humidity. Over the island hung a fog that smelled and felt like water in which too many sodawater glasses have been washed. Sitting at my desk, pen in hand, I treasured the sense that, among those millions, only I, Waldo Lydecker, was up and doing."
Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar (1951), translated from the French by Grace Frick and the author: historical fiction, philosophy
"My dear Mark, Today I went to see my physician Hermogenes, who has just returned to the Villa from a rather long journey in Asia. No food could be taken before the examination, so we had made the appointment for the early morning hours. [...] It is difficult to remain an emperor in presence of a physician, and difficult even to keep one's essential quality as a man."
The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien (1954): fantasy, adventure
"When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bad End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton."
Let Me Tell You What I Mean by Joan Didion (2021): essays, culture
"The only American newspapers that do not leave me in the grip of a profound physical conviction that the oxygen has been cut off from my brain tissue, very probably by an Associated Press wire, are The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Free Press, the Los Angeles Open City, and the East Village Other."
Dune by Frank Herbert (1965): science fiction, adventure
"A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct. This every sister of the Bene Gesserit knows. To begin your study of the life of Muad'Dib, then, take care that you first place him in his time: born in the 57th year of the Padishah Emperor, Shaddam IV. And take the most special care that you locate Muad'Dib in his place: the planet Arrakis. Do not be deceived by the fact that he was born on Caladan and lived his first fifteen years there. Arrakis, the planet known as Dune, is forever his place."
Schachnovelle by Stefan Zweig (1942): philosophy, war
"On the big passenger steamer, which was set to leave at midnight from New York to Buenos Aires, reigned the usual business and movement of the last hour. Guests from the land bustled about to escort their friends, telegraph boys with crooked hats zipped through the society rooms calling out names, bags and flowers were being dragged about, children ran up and downstairs, curious, while the orchestra was playing unwaveringly to the deck show."
Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, and Lew Morphy in Laura (Otto Preminger, 1944)
Cast: Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Price, Judith Anderson, Dorothy Adams. Screenplay: Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein, Elizabeth Reinhardt, based on a novel by Vera Caspary. Cinematography: Joseph LaShelle. Art direction: Leland Fuller, Lyle R. Wheeler. Film editing: Louis R. Loeffler. Music: David Raksin.
Laura is a film noir spin on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, with a Henry Higgins called Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb) whose protégée is an Eliza Doolittle called Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney). It's also a spin on the classical myth of Pygmalion, who fell in love with the statue of Galatea he had sculpted, bringing her to life. This Pygmalion is a detective, Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews), who falls in love with the portrait of Laura, who he thinks has been murdered, and is startled when she walks through the door, very much alive. Classical underpinning aside, Laura has become such an enduring movie because of its well-scripted story and sardonic dialogue (some of it contributed by an uncredited Ring Lardner Jr.) and the performances of Webb, Tierney, and Andrews, along with Vincent Price as the decadent Shelby Carpenter and Judith Anderson as the predatory Ann Treadwell. But most important of all, it was directed with the right attention to its slyly nasty tone by Otto Preminger, one of the most underrated Hollywood directors of the 1940s and '50s. Like such acerbic films as The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941) and All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950), Laura is full of characters one would be well advised to steer clear of in real life, but who make for tremendous entertainment when viewed on a screen from a safe distance. It makes a feint at a conventional happily romantic ending, with Laura supposedly going off with McPherson, but do we really believe it? Laura Hunt has shown dubious taste in men -- whom McPherson characterizes as "a remarkable collection of dopes"-- including the desiccated fop Waldo and the smarmy kept man Shelby. So it's hard to believe the social butterfly Lydecker has created is going to settle down happily with a man who, as Waldo says once, fell in love with her when she was a corpse and apparently has never had a relationship with a woman other than the "doll in Washington Heights who once got a fox fur outta" him. Laura is notable, too, for its deft evasions of the Production Code, including Laura's hinted-at out-of-wedlock liaisons, which are at the same time undercut by the suggestions that Waldo and Shelby are gay -- another Code taboo. (Shelby, for example, has an exceptional interest in women's hats, including one of Laura's and the one of Ann's that he calls "completely wonderful.") This shouldn't surprise us, as Preminger went on to be one of the most aggressive Code-breakers, challenging its sexual taboos in The Moon Is Blue (1953) and its strictures on the depiction of drug use in The Man With the Golden Arm (1955), and giving the enforcers fits with Anatomy of a Murder (1959). In addition to the contributions to Laura's classic status already mentioned, there is also the familiar score by David Raksin. (Johnny Mercer added lyrics to its main theme after the film was released, creating the song "Laura.") And Joseph LaShelle won an Oscar for the film's cinematography.
PULP TODAY 68:
A great mystery novel with multiple narrators, turned into a great film with just one. David Avallone discusses the life and work of Vera Caspary, blacklists and greylists, and the impossibility of reading this book without imitating Clifton Webb.
Available on Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Samsung Podcasts, and more!
Okay, I’m going to go on a little tangent so I don’t have to abbreviate for the comments and it can be all be on one place!
Since you watched tbosbas, I would recommend asking for the book since you said you liked the film! I have the Barnes & Noble cover and the circles around the bird and snake is this sort of metallic looking pink and purple color, it reminds me of Lucy Gray’s character so I think it’s really pretty 💗 I can’t wait for break so I can finally dig into it— I only read one chapter :’(
And since you said you like thriller and horror, I recommend Laura by Vera Caspary and In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes. I read these two for a class I took in which me read classic detective novels and their film noir adaptations!
Laura is a short one- under 200 pgs- set and written in the 40s, if I remember, about the modern, independent, and beloved Laura who is murderer (or is she?) and the detective who is assigned to her case; told in four perspectives (including the detective, her friend and mentor, her fiancé, and Laura herself); and had a twist on how the femme fatale is usually depicted in detective novels and film noir. I enjoyed both the book and the film of this one! Caspary is screenwriter as well so I feel like the images she drew through her words were very cinematic because of that. Every characters pov is so distinct and it makes it fun to read!
Now, In a Lonely Place. Not for the faint of hearts. A psychological thriller that is definitely if that is something you’re truly interested in. Very raw yet beautifully written piece despite its content, which I think made it more horrific. I remember learning that this was one of the first novels in which the author truly decided to dive into the physiological, internal aspect of the killer and why they do what they do because it’s told from the main character’s perspective— how easily he finds it to lie, his processes, habits… This one also has a cinematic feel to it in my opinion. Maybe not the kind of escapism you need, so maybe for one day and not now depending on how you feel, but I do find the characters really fascinating and especially the female characters as well since a lot of detective novels of the time would often write women as the ones who corrupt the male characters.
And the last one I’ll mention is Never Let Me Go. I actually haven’t finished the book yet but the film is one of my favorites, beautiful and sad and extremely heartfelt. Definitely makes you reflect on your own life. It is dystopian, but leans into more of the coming-of-age aspect because it’s very much about the characters overall. I can explain what its about and why I might recommend but this is so long so I’ll digress for now. :’)
I actually bout tbosas already! I’m excited to read it over break. I’ll definitely take a look at the your other recs! They sound right up my alley💗💗
Assistir Filme Laura Online Fácil é só aqui: https://filmesonlinefacil.com/filme/laura/
Laura - Filmes Online Fácil
Baseado em um conto de Vera Caspary, este mistério sobre o assassinato da personagem principal mostra um detetive se apaixonando pelo retrato dessa bela vítima. Ele investiga três suspeitos para tentar solucionar o crime: um jornalista, o noivo de Laura, a vítima, e sua tia.
finally started reading "laura" by vera caspary, and never have i been more delighted to realize we'll be getting various first person narrations and that the first pov is waldo's, who says outright in the second chapter he's gonna be describing scenes he wasn't present for because he can. i love it when liars lie. and i love it when they're wrong. "mcpherson is the hero but not the interpreter, that is my omniscient role" you're not gonna like who narrates next buddy
Synopsis— Two sisters arrive in New York straight from the country and settle down in a boarding house. based on the play Blind Mice by Vera Caspary and Winifred Lenihan
Directed by Dorothy Arzner
Written by Zoe Akins
Company Paramount Pictures
Cast—
Judith Wood (June Thorpe)Dorothy Hall (Mae Thorpe)Charles ‘Buddy’ Rogers (Boyd Wheeler)Paul Lukas (Dr. Joseph Von Schrader)Stuart Erwin (Pat Kelly)Frances Dee (Louise Adams)Mary Forbes (Mrs. Johnstone)Frances Moffett (Lou Hollings)Claire Dodd (Jane)Dorothy Stickney (Loretta)Adrienne Ames (Bit)Edith Arnold (Verne)Mischa Auer (Elsie’s Boyfriend)Sheila Bromley (Carrie)Marion Byron (Ellen)Leonard Carey (Boyd’s Butler)Ruth Channing (Frieda)Pat Cummings (Singer with Megaphone