Thursday, July 3, 2008

Paperback 121: Bucks County Report / Irwin Wallach (Tower 43-690)

Paperback 121: Tower 43-690 (1st ptg, 1966)
Title: Bucks County Report
Author: Irwin Wallach
Cover artist: uncredited

Yours for: $10


Best things about this cover:

  • "Frankly, Scarlett, this mattress is lumpy"
  • For such a hot topic (sex in suburbia) this is a terribly tedious cover. If it weren't for the tepid embrace there on the bed, it would look like a government report of some kind. "Bucks County Report: The Roads Have Been Repaved" ["Yay!"]
  • The publication of the Kinsey reports on male and female sexuality in the late 40s and early 50s created a public discourse on sexuality that (ironically?) gave license to sex fiction publishers to promote their work with cover copy appealing to people's alleged scientific / civic interest in the subject. Peyton Place + Kinsey Report => books like this one.

Best things about this back cover:
  • Awesome dated vocabulary: "jerkwater"! "squaresville"!
  • "... then along came Wilson" - I knew that guy was a perv

Page 123~

Bucks County parties were the easiest for Sam because he did not have to participate beyond having his body in attendance and a glass in his hand. But this particular party held a strangeness for him.


~RP

5 comments:

Orange said...

I once tried to hold a strangeness, but it was too slippery and it got away from me.

Anonymous said...

Wilson!

Michael5000 said...

Squaresville, Daddy-o!

G said...

I have a strange fascination with the recipe/experiment on the front cover. One bored blogger [me] + lack of sleep + a pinch of procrastination = explosion! At least that's how it's always worked for me.

The Shark Guys said...

And a fabulous use of a long dash, rather than a colon.