Starsky reads
May. 6th, 2017 10:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mortmereIt's always annoying when you can't quite see the titles of the books the boys have in their homes. And they both have a LOT of books. Usually they are old ones with no dust jackets, or paperbacks.
So far, I've identified THREE books at Starsky's place - two of them just a moment ago, so there's finally enough meat for a post.
I know the books were just randomly put there to fill the space, but it is fun to imagine how it'd change one's view of the character if these really were books Starsky thinks worth keeping around. Make your own conclusions. :)
In "Blindfold", there's one book title clearly visible: you can't see the author's name, and the dust jacket is gone, but it has to be the 1974 novel Embarkation by J.R. Salamanca. Here's a bit from the blurb:
This novel is the story of a father and his family- a father whose single-minded dedication is to the craft of boat building. To his consuming passion for perfection Poppa sacrificed the happiness of his wife and his three children though, unquestionably, he was devoted in his own way to all of them. As the story opens, Poppa has been lost at sea. Unbelievably lost in one of his own superb creations during a storm which even he could not conquer.
(And PLEASE: if anyone can figure out what the old book in the middle of the picture is, tell me! It's been driving me nuts. I've driven others nuts with it. Now I'm driving you nuts with it.)
Then there's today's haul, two books seen in the tag of "Starsky and Hutch Are Guilty".
One of them is The Fearful Master: A Second Look at the United Nations (1964) by G. Edward Griffin. The Wikipedia article on the author isn't a flattering one, and this, his first book, has been described a "conspiracy theory book, in a John Bircher vein; details the UNs actions in Katanga, and other places to show that the United Nations is part of a Communist conspiracy."
(Ah, how I wish my first impression had been right: I first mistook the UN logo for that of the United Federation of Planets...)
The other book is Rendezvous with Destiny: A History of Modern American Reform (1952) by Eric F. Goldman, who was a professor of history in Princeton. A review from 2001 praises it as "one of the most brilliant and dramatic historical narratives ever written about the American experience. Eric Goldman tells a story of the wise and the shortsighted, the bold and the timid, the generous and the grasping men and women who are the stuff of American reform. He begins in the years after the Civil War, when our tradition of dissent was fueled by industrialization and urbanization."
(Hmm. Starsky had these books in the same shelf in his bedroom as his Playboy collection that was stolen except for one or two issues.)
So far, I've identified THREE books at Starsky's place - two of them just a moment ago, so there's finally enough meat for a post.
I know the books were just randomly put there to fill the space, but it is fun to imagine how it'd change one's view of the character if these really were books Starsky thinks worth keeping around. Make your own conclusions. :)
In "Blindfold", there's one book title clearly visible: you can't see the author's name, and the dust jacket is gone, but it has to be the 1974 novel Embarkation by J.R. Salamanca. Here's a bit from the blurb:
This novel is the story of a father and his family- a father whose single-minded dedication is to the craft of boat building. To his consuming passion for perfection Poppa sacrificed the happiness of his wife and his three children though, unquestionably, he was devoted in his own way to all of them. As the story opens, Poppa has been lost at sea. Unbelievably lost in one of his own superb creations during a storm which even he could not conquer.
(And PLEASE: if anyone can figure out what the old book in the middle of the picture is, tell me! It's been driving me nuts. I've driven others nuts with it. Now I'm driving you nuts with it.)
Then there's today's haul, two books seen in the tag of "Starsky and Hutch Are Guilty".
One of them is The Fearful Master: A Second Look at the United Nations (1964) by G. Edward Griffin. The Wikipedia article on the author isn't a flattering one, and this, his first book, has been described a "conspiracy theory book, in a John Bircher vein; details the UNs actions in Katanga, and other places to show that the United Nations is part of a Communist conspiracy."
(Ah, how I wish my first impression had been right: I first mistook the UN logo for that of the United Federation of Planets...)
The other book is Rendezvous with Destiny: A History of Modern American Reform (1952) by Eric F. Goldman, who was a professor of history in Princeton. A review from 2001 praises it as "one of the most brilliant and dramatic historical narratives ever written about the American experience. Eric Goldman tells a story of the wise and the shortsighted, the bold and the timid, the generous and the grasping men and women who are the stuff of American reform. He begins in the years after the Civil War, when our tradition of dissent was fueled by industrialization and urbanization."
(Hmm. Starsky had these books in the same shelf in his bedroom as his Playboy collection that was stolen except for one or two issues.)
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Date: 2017-05-06 09:27 pm (UTC)I can't see the mystery book well enough to be sure, at first I thought a woman and man in some kind of historic or stereotypical costume, but I want to say that's 2 military men on the cover with a map? between them and an 'award laurel' on the bottom and a blue toned (excessively popular mid-century color) flag on the spine. Take any and all of that with a margarita's worth of salt, I'm legally blind without my lenses :)
no subject
Date: 2017-05-06 09:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-05-07 06:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-05-06 10:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-05-07 06:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-05-26 10:55 pm (UTC)I bow in respect to your detective work here---I adore that
no subject
Date: 2017-05-27 11:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-05-06 11:43 pm (UTC)I just love your observations and peeks into their worlds. Starsky is an eclectic reader with interests in a wide range of subjects. To me, that fits him so well. He's smart and observant on a case. It's so annoying when a small amount of fic writers portray him as dumber than Hutch. They are both intelligent in different ways.
no subject
Date: 2017-05-07 06:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-05-08 11:33 am (UTC)How long did it take you to figure these out? Incredible detective work!
no subject
Date: 2017-05-09 06:10 pm (UTC)Thanks - actually, these didn't even take that much time! Even the United Nations one, though the title was quite unreadable, was quickly identified with an image search with terms "books about united nations" and image color restricted to black. Voilà.
Sometimes this is almost too easy, and other times no amount of squinting and Google tricks gets one anywhere. Uh-huh, I've spent insane amount of time trying to track down some LPs from Hutch's small collection, but damn, there's too little go on.
no subject
Date: 2017-05-08 12:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-05-09 06:11 pm (UTC)