Friday, January 23, 2015

Paperback 853: Anna Becker / Max White (Bantam 830)

Paperback 853: Bantam 830 (1st ptg, 1950)

Title: Anna Becker
Author: Max White
Cover artist: Uncredited

Estimated value: $8-12

Donation to the collection from The Second Reader Bookshop (Buffalo, NY)

Bant830

Best things about this cover:

  • Who can forget Anna Becker's great novel, "Max White"? Or vice versa, I forget.
  • This cover raises one (and only one) very important question: Where Can I Get That Lamp!?
  • Anna had vowed to protect the Jesus Chair at all costs! ALL COSTS!
  • Ew, what is he doing with his right thumb?
  • Ew, "torn between fright and desire" is rapist talk, man. "She was shaking and resisting, but … ya know." Gross.


Bant830bc

Best things about this back cover:

  • So basically it's an exposé of the sexy librarian.
  • A "FRANK" exposé! Hell yeah, "frank"!
  • Sometimes I think paperbacks came to exist because hardback dust jacket cover art was just So Bad.


Page 123~

So when Harrison said he liked Anna better now, she was not prepared to see what he meant.

I understand, Anna. We all understand. P.S. run.

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

5 comments:

Karl said...

Is that the guy's pants, or is he being consumed from the floor up by some kind of fungus-monster?

And yeah, nice lamp.

John "Ol' Chumbucket" Baur said...

I don't even want to know what that is he's holding in his right hand, but Anna seems to know, and she's grossed out.

Zeke said...

"We are proud to include this fine, frank novel on our list along with the works of authors like Steinbeck, Hemingway and Marquand" = "We're more than just rape porn. Not much more, but more"

Michael5000 said...

"...when there's no one with her -- except her lover" is a mighty roundabout way of saying "when she's with her lover." Unless maybe the lover isn't important to the story.

--

"We are proud to include this fine, frank novel on our list along with the works of authors like Steinbeck, Hemingway, and... crap, we only have two Big Names."

DemetriosX said...

I'm thinking not so much "torn between fright and desire" as between ennui and mild distaste.