Friday, June 20, 2025

Paperback 1118: HUD / Larry McMurtry (Popular Library SP218)

 Paperback 1118: Popular Library SP218 (1st ptg, 1963)

Title: HUD
Author: Larry McMurtry
Cover artist: N/A

Condition: 7/10
Value: $15-20


Best things about this cover: 
  • HUD stands for "HUge Dude"
  • I love how defiantly HUD Paul Newman is. Like, "Yep, I'm HUD. Here I am. Cool as shit. Lean, handsome, ten feet tall. Perhaps you best run along..."
  • Patricia Neal's exercise routine was, let's say, unorthodox
  • Patricia Neal wins an Academy Award for Best Actress and *this* is how the book cover treats her? Like she tripped and fell over in the background of a Paul Newman photo shoot? Not cool.


Best things about this back cover: 
  • The only thing sexier than dry HUD is ... Wet HUD!
  • I hope he was not, in fact, "capable of rape." It's been a while since I've seen the movie, so I forget. (Looks like he attempts rape ... but the movie is mostly about foot-and-mouth disease in cattle—sexy!)
  • "Exciting." The period somehow makes it sound less than exciting.
Page 123~

    "Hud, who is it, hon?" Lily said. She was in the back seat.
    "Oh, snakeshit," Hud said. "Run get that pickup an' point it this way, so we'll have light. I can't turn mine aroun' in this road. I may a run over him."

~RP

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