Greetings, my dear reader friends
and curious onlookers of random google searches; welcome to my humble corner of
the worldwide web. I’m Jimbo Brown and I love pulp crime novels. I love reading
them, collecting them, and trading them. It is here that I will randomly blog
about my passion for mid-century crime novels. I have to admit that I’ve never
regularly participated in forums, blogs, or social media, but I’ve always considered
myself a lurker, a watcher, or, appropriately for this blog, a peeper.
I follow several blogs for music and film and have always found myself intrigued by what stimulates other people. Not only that, I often find that those blogs inspire me to track down films and watch things I would not actively seek out. It’s also inspiring to see diaries documenting films watched throughout the year, but sadly, there are very few diaries for pulp novels. I thought I would take my cue and document the books that I read over the course of this year.
My scribblings are meant to be
entertainment. This blog should not be considered a formal criticism in any
shape, form, or fashion. I do not consider myself an authority on the subject,
nor an expert on crime novels. In addition, it should be pointed out that I will try and keep plot synopsis very brief as they have a tendency for spoilers
and tend to be outside my purpose of this blog. I also want to keep this fun, light,
and brief.
It’s not easy to find like-minded readers in person, so perhaps I will do it in the modern 21st Century way. If you’re not already a reader of the crime novel, then hopefully I can introduce authors and titles to folks that wouldn’t normally pursue them. Publishers like Hard Case Crime and Black Lizard have carried the torch for several marginalized crime authors. I also have to admit that many of the titles and authors that I have discovered I have rescued from Goodwill's, yard and estate sales, or, used booksellers. Surprisingly, older genre novels are getting increasingly hard to find. I do have to give props to my favorite used bookstore Rhino booksellers. I will occasionally mention a good find here and there, because sometimes a good find is just as exciting as reading the book.
I also have a tendency to purchase and collect things much faster than I can read them. I consistently have a stack of books that I am working my way through, as well as, movies. Embarrassingly, I often have to go look at my shelves just to remind myself as to what I have as I’m quite guilty of the DPS (Duplicate Purchase Syndrome).
Disclaimer space: I admit that I am not a speed-reader, I do
not blitz through a novel in matter of short hours in a single afternoon, and I
don’t stay up all night finishing cozies. It usually takes me three or four
days to finish a book depending on how good it is, so updates to this blog won’t
always be regular. They might come in spurts though and I don’t promise to
stick to only crime novels. I started tracking my novels at the beginning of this year and I have several to blog before I'm caught up. Nuff said.
