Saturday

Today's Weekly Geeks is about examining a book (or books) which were published in your birth decade. Tell us about a book that came out in the decade you were born which you either loved or hated. Is is relevant to today? Is it a classic, or could it be?

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I'll focus on mysteries first, of course. I was born in 1966. Here are the Edgars of 1966:

The Grand Master of 1966: 1966 Georges Simenon

1966 Edgar Award Best Mystery Novel Winner and Nominees
Winner: THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM, by Adam Hall (Simon & Schuster)

Nominated:

THE PALE BETRAYER, by Dorothy Salisbury Davis (Scribner's)

FUNERAL IN BERLIN, by Len Deighton (Putnam)

THE PERFECT MURDER, by H.R.F. Keating (Dutton)

THE FAR SIDE OF THE DOLLAR, by Ross Macdonald (Knopf)

AIRS ABOVE THE GROUND, by Mary Stewart (Wm. Morrow)

1966 Edgar Award Best First Mystery Novel by an American Author Winner and Nominees
Winner:

IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, by John Ball (Harper & Row)

Nominated:

BEFORE THE BALL WAS OVER, by Alexandra Roudybush (Doubleday Crime Club)

THE EXPENDABLE SPY, by Jack D. Hunter (Dutton)

THE FRENCH DOLL, by Vincent McConner (Hill & Wang)

1966 Edgar Award Best Fact Crime Winner and Nominees
Winner:

IN COLD BLOOD, by Truman Capote (Random House)

Nominated:

A LITTLE GIRL IS DEAD A, by Harry Golden (World)

THE POWER OF LIFE AND DEATH, by Michael V. DiSalle with Lawrence G. Blochman (Random House)

MURDERERS SANE AND MAD, by Miriam Allen deFord (Abelard-Schuman)

THE CENTURY OF THE DETECTIVE, by Jurgen Thorwald (Harcourt, Brace & World)

1966 Edgar Award Best Short Story Mystery Winner and Nominees
Winner:

"The Possibility of Evil" by Shirley Jackson (SAT EVENING POST 12/18)

Nominated:

"Foxer" by Brian Cleeve (SAT EVENING POST 12/18)

"The Case for Miss Peacock" by Charlotte Armstrong (EQMM 2/65)

"Who Walks Behind" by Holly Roth (EQMM 9/65)

1966 Edgar Award Best Young Adult Mystery Book Winner and Nominees
Winner:

THE MYSTERY OF 22 EAST by Leon Ware (Westminster Press)

Nominated:

THE APACHE GOLD MYSTERY by Eileen Thompson (Abelard-Schuman)

THE SECRET OF THE SIMPLE CODE by Nancy Faulkner (Doubleday)

SECRET OF THE HAUNTED CRAGS by Lawrence J. Hunt (Funk & Wagnalls)

1966 Edgar Award Best Mystery Motion Picture Movie Screenplay Winner and Nominees
Winner:

THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD by Paul Dehn and Guy Trosper (Paramount)

Nominated:BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING by John and Penelope Mortimer (Columbia)

THAT DARN CAT by The Gordons and Bill Walsh (Buena Vista)

The Hugo Awards of 1966:

1966: Novel: ... And Call Me Conrad by Roger Zelazny and Dune by Frank Herbert (tie)

Short Fiction: " 'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman" by Harlan Ellison

Professional Magazine: If Professional Artist: Frank Frazetta

Amateur Magazine: ERB-dom (Camille Cazedessus, Jr., ed.)

Best All-Time Series: the "Foundation" series by Isaac Asimov

National Book Award of 1966: The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter
By Katherine Anne Porter (Harcourt, Brace)

Pulitzer Prize 0f 1966:

Fiction: Collected Stories by Katherine Anne Porter (Harcourt)
Drama: (No Award)
History: The Life of the Mind in America by the late Perry Miller (Harcourt)
Biography or Autobiography: A Thousand Days by Arthur M. Schlesinger
Poetry:Selected Poems by Richard Eberhart (New Directions)
General Nonfiction: Wandering Through Winter by Edwin Way Teale (Dodd)

So, what does it all mean? I think that prizes mean something to the winners but overall after 43 years, no one remembers who they were but they're in a list somewhere.

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I got my hair trimmed this morning. Then I went to Walmart; I got back and walked Tug. I've got laundry going and so forth. The nap I took kind of zapped my ambition now to accomplish anything more. The clouds are beginning to settle in so we can have the lovely day tomorrow in the 60s.

Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster