While I am on the subject of novels, let's talk about the title. A few years ago, I started paying attention to where the title came from in the book. In just about every novel you read, at some point you come across a sentence that contains the title. I was thinking about taking the time to jot down the page number on the end paper of the book.

But then I decided that with my penchant for noticing trends and patterns, I'd find myself making a spreadsheet that listed the author, title, the sentence from the text containing the title, and that page number where it first showed up. I would look at what is the average page number for a given author: is it usually found early or late in his books?

And then I would add a field for an explanation of what the title meant because maybe it wouldn't be so clear from the one sentence. Next thing, I'd be keeping track of trivia: how many steps to Nero Wolfe's front door, what was Paul Drake's code knock, how much did Donald Lam weigh?

And might as well create a field for a plot synopsis while I'm at it.

I would have created a time line that proved Archie Goodwin was a dirty old man when he was out dancing with comely young clients, and come up with a chronology for the Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö characters, notably Martin Beck.

But no, I'm not going to do this because I would start to fear I'd missed doing it somewhere (for example, the thousands of books I've already read). It would be too much like work, and when I looked at the data, I would fret about what was not there instead of being contented with what was there. And I would have Database Dreams, more like nightmares, where I would be trying to move the information around, and it wouldn't go.

I'll just enjoy (or get through) each story, put a check mark in the front of the book so I'll know I've read it, and move on to the next one.

Right now, I'm cranking through pulpy private eye yarns from the middle of the last century, by the likes of Mickey Spillane and Carter Dickson, seasoned with psychological semi-Gothic thrillers by Charlotte Armstrong, and various others. One of these days, I will have read each of my vast collection of books at least once, keeping only the ones I think I might want to read again.


This is only a few of them. They are sorted by author.