Lidgmatusk

Pride of bookshelf space goes to my Library of America editions of the novels of Wm Faulkner and the screenplays of Preston Sturges -- also, all the novels of Jane Austen (including "The Annotated Pride and Prejudice"). I don't keep up with current mysteries, but I have almost all the ones by Ross Macdonald, Raymond Chandler, and Rex Stout (as a comedy of manners, I think the ending of Stout's Nero Wolfe novel "The Silent Speaker" almost bears comparison to Jane Austen). My favorite Ross Macdonald novel is "The Chill." Also proudly displayed in my main bookcase are the two "Annotated Alice" volumes of Martin Gardner, "The Citizen Kane Book" by Pauline Kael (I am related to some members of the Missouri branch of the Hearst family), "Between Flops" by James Curtis (the best biography of Preston Sturges), "Virgil Thomson" by composer Virgil Thomson, "Death on the Installment Plan" by Louis-Ferdinand Celine, "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" by B. Traven, "Romantic Comedy in Hollywood from Lubitsch to Sturges" by James Harvey (my favorite book about movie history), "Bitter Music" by microtonal composer Harry Partch (43 tones to the octave!), and "Mawrdew Czgowchwz" by James McCourt (hilarious if you're a fan of Czech opera).

I retired as a cataloger at a public library in New England. Besides books, I also collect DVDs of classic films (especially "screwball" romantic comedies of the 1930s and 40s, the ones written and directed by Preston Sturges being my favorites). After retiring, I returned to my original hometown in the Midwest.