I read "Valhalla Rising" the latest Clive Cussler novel the other evening.
Always a twist in his books and the inclusion of one of the cars in his
extensive collection. This one touches on his '36 Ford hot-rod as well as
an older Packard.
The romantic feel of a fast, open car is wonderfully described by Leslie
Charteris. The "Hirondel" he invented to be driven by "The Saint" in his
early books first published in the 1930's can really ignite your
imagination. The books are period pieces that stretch your vocabulary as
well. Probably find them in your local library.
Some years ago in Automobile Quarterly there was a fun series of
illustrations by the great auto artists showing their ideas of what the
"Hirondel" would have looked like. Unfortunately they were all larger,
facing page drawings and, to my knowledge, were never reproduced in a series
that could have been framed and put on a wall. A real loss because the
drawings were so over the top they would have been great to frame.
"Whip Hand" by Dick Francis has to have one of the more chilling premises on
a very personal level of any mystery novel. His novels stand alone rather
than build on previous ones so you can get a good read with any of his
books. Some great horse racing descriptions in most of them.
Gordon Eliot White has a new biography of Frank Kurtis that is available
now. I'm waiting for the one I ordered.
The biography on Bob Bondurant and others about the great Grand Prix drivers
also give interesting things to ponder. Most of them were just hot-rodders
who drove on road courses and eventually got paid to do it when they finally
made the big time. With Christmas coming I'll have to stop buying books
myself and leave the purchases to the family.
Wes
on 11/15/01 5:36 AM, Dan Warner at dwarner@electrorent.com wrote:
> Don't forget that the second volumn of Leo Levine's excelent book 'Ford -
> the Dust and Glory' is now available.
>
> Volumn number one is also in reprint. It would be nice to get both so that
> your orginal vol. one doesn't get any more wear and tear.
>
> BTW, I looked at the price of my two copies of vol. one and see the orginial
> price to be $12.50. Some of these are now trading in excess of $200.
>
> I also like Tom Clancy and the history found in the fictional novels of the
> late James Michener.
>
> DW
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