I love the subtle, ironic sense of humor that's so often informs your video thumbnails. Wryly self deprecating, they bring a smile to the slow painful scroll.
Chandler has a cameo in the film of Double Indemnity. He's sitting outside of "Key's" office, reading a book, as "Walter Neff" exits, and passes by him.
Of course, I could not resist reading over your shoulder when you showed the text in that Raymond Chandler edition. “The girl slept on, motionless, in that curled up looseness achieved by some women and all cats.” 😸 I have GOT to get me some Chandler.
Great collection, Mike! I actually had the Poe one in my hand at the book fair after listening to you talk about these, but I put it back. I don’t own any, and told myself ‘be realistic, you’re not going to start a collection of these at this point.’ 😜
My encounter with LOA were from university libraries in Johannesburg and New York. Must admit they were elegant productions ( I remember reading Poe, Hawthorne, Hurston, Philip K Dick, classic sf from the 50s, as I recall) and certainly tough. Loved them.
I have a few volumes of LoA that are available on Amazon UK, but have been scribbling busily. I love the thin but strong paper, and the good bindings. Your video has encouraged me to look for more American history and literature. Steve Donahue's enthusiasm for Catton started me on your Civil War (I've long been interested in ours) and now I'm gradually reading your history alongside the literature. You video has been a great help. Thanks.
Michael, it was a pleasure, and I hope you come back, when you are ready. In the meanwhile, you have made a lot of excellent videos that I have not watched he'd yet.
Impressive collection. My own LOA collection includes most of these as well as volumes by/about Abe Lincoln, John Cheever, James Baldwin, Flannery O'Connor, William James, WW1, The Civil War, Vietnam, and Eudora Welty. Happy reading.
"... read them through the spaghetti sauce stains" lol. I will always be impressed with your wide range of reading tastes. The sci-fi box sets look interesting, not a fan of the thin paper though. I picked up The Haunting of Hill House (eBook) after seeing your Shirley Jackson book in this video - looking forward to reading this in October. :)
Love Library of America. I store the covers in a box and put the books on the shelf without them. I like the look better. Don’t know if it’s good for the book, but I haven’t noticed any fading.
Awesome LOA collection! I currently have only three, two volumes of Edith Wharton stories, and a volume with Cooper's sea tales The Pilot and Red Rover. Wish I had more (+ the shelf space!)
I have been collecting the LoA editions for awhile including the First Chandler volume, Hammett, Dick (all 3) and Kerouac collections. My favourite are the Sci Fi collection from the 50s and 60s since they have unique artwork. There is a Bradbury boxset coming in October that iam looking forward to.
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 the second volume is supposed to have the Illustrated Man, October Country and other stories. I think it will get released around the same time. I also want to grab the Octavia Butler collection.
Chandler also did the screenplay to The Blue Dahlia. I have it in an oversized trade paberback. The first copy I had was a mass market published by Paperback Library.
The mass market has an interesting introduction. When he was commissioned to write, someone else had a failed version of the script. Chandler was experiencing writer's block and was doubtful about doing the script. He proposed writing it while drunk with medical supervision, which is just what he did!
Another nice episode ..... I checked out their site ....also , I looked around my bookcases and I seem to have a few of their books including Hawthorne...Tales and Sketches ...I must have bought these used ...they are handsome and do hold up...several of these are pretty old... I love the ribbon bookmark ...
Some good collections there for future me to read, those boxsets looks rather nice too. I was eyeing up the two volumes of The Future Is Female! classic science fiction collections at the Library of America online, I think I would really enjoy those from the descriptions. I thought of you when I spotted them.. especially when I saw the cover featuring an astronaut with one of those glass bubble helmets like the Jetsons cartoon, nothing says space travel better than a fish bowl on your head.
In Library of America, I have a fairly complete Henry James collection (4 volumes), the John Cheever Stories volume, the John O'Hara Stories volume, and the Dos Passos volume that includes USA. I envy your Chandler and Hammett collections. Very classy books. I'm just finishing the _Memoirs of U. S. Grant_ (not LOA) - what a super read!
Hi, Michael. I enjoyed watching this video, it's a great video. Glad to know you enjoy Edgar's poem. I'm curious, do you like spiritual poetry, and the one that have dark themes?
I subscribed to LOA years ago and got about 75 volumes. I unsubscribed when I realized I would never be able to read it all, had no more room on my shelves, and grew less enamored with the idea of books as furniture. Mine are all in the nice white box slip cases. I was surprised at how little overlap there is between what you have and mine. So I decided to look up their catalog. They are up to about 380 volumes now, and I stopped getting them when the Hammett was published, which was about 125. Unfortunately for me, it looks like there is a lot of stuff they have now that I would like to get. On the other hand, they seem to be less completest than they used to be. They should just publish everything of Lovecrafts, for example. And Ross McDonald. And pretty much anyone else whom they deem worthy. Even so, its a great project they are undertaking.
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 id like to see Charles Beaumont have his work republished. I learned too late on this great hardcover from 2013 that had a majority of his works and he’s underrated. That edition I’ve seen go for $3,000 which is disappointing
One thing you didn't touch on: LOA is the perfect publisher for people with major book-spine OCD. Their jacket band and spine stamps line up with military precision, unlike certain other publishers of black spine classics who shall remain nameless. I keep suggesting a couple of "classic horror" sets from the 60s and 70s -- Rosemary's Baby, Carrie, The Exorcist, etc. -- but they usually just look at me askance and mumble something about rights issues. Come on, you're LOA, everyone wants to be in LOA (except for the estate of Edward Albee, apparently). I'd also like them to expand their scope to all of North America, just so I can get some nice new editions of Robertson Davies. Great video, BTW!
Lovely selection. I'm a little surprised you dont have "The Western volume. I only have a couple, the O'hara volumes. I wish the font they used was a little larger, I would have bought more otherwise.
I recently found an LOA copy of Nabakov at our bookstore here in San Miguel in mint condition for the exorbitant price of 50 Mexican Pesos. That{s about 2.50 in American money. I don{t when or if I will get around to reading it, but I am glad to have it on my bookshelves. I also have LOA collections of Faulkner. Lincoln, and Wallace Stevens all acquired here in Mexico.
I just discovered your RU-vid. I can’t get over all the books from around the’30s and then forward. Where did you find the oversized books. Keep the good work up.
I have the 2nd LOA volume of Raymond Chandler too. Lady in the Lake and The Little Sister are amazing novels. I have the Shirley Jackson one too. I need to get a Ross Macdonald volume. Which do you think is the best Macdonald LOA volume?
I found the LoA Dashell Hammet set in a used bookstore and turned to my wife and said "I'm going to Hammett up yuk yuk 😆".. She just rolled her eyes at me and walked off. I swear that woman has no sense of humor 😒
I have the Phillip k dick set. I realize these books are meant to be compact but I’m not too crazy on how thin the paper is. I prefer the paper to be thicker, feels better and easier to turn the pages
Wait a minute, Michael. How does buying new Library of America volumes not break the 500 Book Challenge (where you're not buying any new books until you finish 500 that you already have)? I'm a little confused or maybe I missed something.
Interesting list, which includes several that I'd already decided I needed to read at some point. The way you worded your description of the negative opinions on Moby Dick make me think you must have read one of my recent comments on another video. It is, I have to say, around 35 years since I read it, and I found it deeply irritating that every time I was getting really gripped by the story, Melville would interrupt it with one of those long asides. I may give it another go one day. I loved Frankenstein when I read it over 30 years ago. I'm pretty certain that was the 1839 version, so I really want to make time for the 1818 version.
Are you going to read your LoA books after finishing your SF? I started read LoA from the library in 2019, then the apocalypse happened and I haven't been back to the library.
Hey Mike How about non fiction? I’m slowly amassing a few books on the JFK assassination. Today “Twenty six seconds” - a book on the Zapruder film arrived.
Glad you are continuing after the Steve D. debate thing. I thought that you would be kowtowing to a bully if you left. Why do that? Steve is okay, but can be very snide and could stand to be a little more humble. Granted the guy raising all the stink lately could stand that as well. I'd just unsubscribe to his channel, and carry on. Not a biggie.
