Wed 9 Jun 2010
Reviewed by Walter Albert: JOSEPH NATHENSON – The Library of Alex Brandt.
Posted by Steve under Authors , Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Reviews[8] Comments
JOSEPH NATHENSON – The Library of Alex Brandt. Manor, paperback original, 1978.
In spite of this cover blurb, angled above a devilish bloke in a stage magician’s outfit, gesturing at an open book and some skimpy laboratory paraphernalia, the novel owes almost nothing to Lovecraft and is another of those endless tales of a loony-bin psycho who has a hangup about the “woman-whore” and does something violent and bloody about it periodically.
What gives this Manor cheapie some interest is that the psycho is also a book collector and there are splendid thrift shop book hunting sequences. The first-person narrator also has a sense of humor and introduces a brutish chap to mumble an unforgettable line when he is asked by the narrator if he is looking for an S. S. Van Dine thriller:
I was half tempted to give him a copy of Wilkie Collins’ detective classic The Moonstone that I held in my hand, but I was sure that he would have thought the story line concerned the Apollo Space Program.
I rather suspect Mr. Nathenson of throwing in the gore to ensure the publication of a highly subversive book that may lure some of the incipient psychos who drool over it to experience the even more sexually exciting pleasures of the Book Hunt.
Editorial & Bibliographic Comments: I have no cover image to go with this book, alas. When Walter sent me this review, earlier today, he said he wrote it in 1979, and “I didn’t keep a copy of the book, but if I had I would be inclined to reread it.”
I suspect that this is the only review that Joseph Nathenson received for any of the four books credited to him in the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin:
The Library of Alex Brandt (n.) Manor 1979
Radnitz (n.) Manor 1979
See Naples and Die (n.) Manor 1979
A Puzzle for Experts (n.) SOS 1985
He also wrote one New Age or sci-fi novel Deep, Very Deep Space: A Journey to the Infinite (Manor, 1978). He’s also generally considered to have been the author of Land of Dreams, a historical romance for Harlequin in 1995 under the byline of Cheryl St. John. (Other books by Cheryl St. John do not appear to have been by him.)
A brief obituary notice can be found here: http://www.jewishjournal.com/obituaries/article/obituaries_20061020/
[UPDATE] 06-17-10. A comment left by Cheryl St. John states that the book Land of Dreams is definitely one she wrote, not Mr. Nathenson.
June 9th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
There’s just something about a used-book store that adds class to anything. I still remember fondly the dusty stores in films like THE BIG SLEEP and QUEEN OF SPADES, the emporiums in THE HAUNTED BOOKSHOP and PARNASSUS ON WHEELS and even Barry Sullivan gunned down in front of a used-book store in THE GANGSTER.
June 9th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
I’ve always loved the bookshop in THE BIG SLEEP for reasons I can’t explain, but you probably can.
A more recent movie, one that’s rather unknown, that centers around a used book store is SECOND SKIN, which I reviewed here:
https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=638
You can get a glimpse of it here
http://www.videodetective.com/titledetails.aspx?publishedid=325283
June 9th, 2010 at 4:31 pm
Steve
I loved the used bookstore in THE BIG SLEEP too — not often you find one run by Dorothy Malone — the one in the book isn’t bad either, and I wouldn’t mind getting lost in the one in FUNNY FACE either, that looks to be the size of a small soccer stadium.
Somehow, while I have met some nice ladies I have yet to walk into a used bookstore run either by Dorothy Malone or Audrey Hepburn. Maybe I am hanging out in the wrong neighborhood.
June 11th, 2010 at 5:42 am
UNFAITHFUL shows used-book dealers as the sexy beasts they are…
June 11th, 2010 at 10:34 am
I’ve never seen it, but after reading the write-up on IMDB and your praise for it, Dan, I’ll make sure I do!
[Later.] Here’s the clincher. I also see that Margaret Colin has a small role in the movie.
June 16th, 2010 at 11:47 pm
Cheryl St.John here, and I can assure you that I am the sole author of Land of Dreams published by Harlequin. There are many different books with the same title, so perhaps you’ve confused one of them with mine.
June 17th, 2010 at 12:12 am
Thanks for setting me straight on this, Cheryl. The book you wrote certainly didn’t match the rest of Mr. Nathensen’s output.
I wonder how your book got mixed up as being one of his. As you suggest, perhaps he wrote a different book under the same title.
Note that if you do a Google search for
“JOSEPH NATHENSON” land of dreams
you will come up with several sites saying that your book is his!
June 17th, 2010 at 12:22 am
I googled it, and you’re right. How odd.
I remember googling Land of Dreams once, and the pages just scrolled, so there are a lot of books with the same title.
If there’s a movie made, I hope it’s from my book. LOL