Sunday, February 1, 2009

Paperpack 194: One Wild Oat / MacKinlay Kantor (Gold Medal 122)

Paperback 194: Gold Medal 122 (PBO, 1950)

[For Kathy P]

Title: One Wild Oat
Author: MacKinlay Kantor
Cover artist: Willard Downes

Yours for: $8


Best things about this cover:

  • "I regret that I have but one wild oat to sow for my country."
  • I looked up ENNUI in the dictionary and found this picture.
  • "Whatsa matter, baby? Don't you like it here in my cave?"
  • Neither liquor, nor cigarettes, nor, uh, whatever Native American bauble she's playing with there, could move Louise to give Rock Handsome the time of day.
  • This painting went up for auction on-line a couple of years ago
  • Don't you love it it when booksellers put price stickers directly onto the covers of vintage paperbacks covered in delicate, easily destroyed Perma-Gloss? I know I do. (Sticker is probably removable - I just never tried, as the Perma-Gloss on the cover is virtually undamaged)

Best things about this back cover:

  • "My dear girl" ... "abide" ... was she abducted by a randy English butler?
  • I'm guessing that "Middlefield" represents the Middle-class standards of Middle America
  • Love how the last paragraph reads almost like a non sequitur. So casual. Like she was contemplating hanging new curtains.

Page 123~

The scent of mulled wine was in her nostrils, the ringing of Prokofiev in her ears, as - shaking, still reluctant - she awarded herself to LeRoy for that sacred moment, and touched her face against his.


I'm sorry, but "nostrils" pretty much sucked the sexy vibe right out of the room.

~RP

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think those are flowers in her hand. But she looks supremely bored, while he seems quite confident that he's getting somewhere.

The quote leaves me a tad baffled. "[S]he awarded herself to LeRoy for that sacred moment (LeRoy? Seriously?) sounds like they had sex, while "touched her face against his" sounds like either a peck on the cheek or she just headbutted him.

Anonymous said...

This write-up makes me want to sing "One wild oat, give me just one wild oat" to the tune of Phil Collins' "One More Night."
Thanks for that.

Michael5000 said...

"That sacred moment"? Did page 123 land us at the very point where the wild oat was sewn?

Eunice said...

At first glance it looks like the smoke is coming out of her throat. Sexy!

Anonymous said...

At first glance it looks like the smoke is coming out of her throat. Sexy!

I suppose there are folks who have a fetish for tracheotomies (and thus this cover would satisfy Rule 34).

laura linger said...

Rex Parker: One Wild Oat.