< Previous page

The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps edited by Otto Penzler (Vintage, $25), is 1,200 pages of stories, novellas and alluringly lurid cover art from 1920s and '30s pulp magazine classics like Black Mask and Dime Detective. Perfect coffee-table book for a coffee table with a fresh corpse under it.

Dashiell Hammett Omnibus (Everyman's Library, $25) With an introduction by modern noir novelist James Ellroy, this collection includes some of legendary Dashiell Hammett's best work--"The Dain Curse," "The Glass Key" and selected stories in one beautifully produced volume.

Philip Marlowe's Guide to Life by Raymond Chandler (Knopf, $14.95) is a literally stocking-stuffable sampler of the sardonic Marlowe's more memorable flights of metaphorical fancy: "It was a blonde, a blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window." Or "I lit a cigarette. It tasted like a plumber's handkerchief."

The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and the Women He Loved edited by Judith Freeman (Pantheon, $25.95) Chandler buffs who want something more serious, but still fun, will love this. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll hear Chandler's hero Marlowe observe "They say lust makes a man old, but keeps a woman young. They say a lot of nonsense."

Bridgette A. Lacy suggests tuning in to these audiobooks:

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert. Read by the author. (Penguin Audio, $39.95, Unabridged, 13 hours.) An inspirational memoir, which turns into a voyage of discovery in pursuit of pleasure and inner peace and the balancing of both.

What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy by Gregory Maguire. Read by Jason Culp. (Scholastic Audiobooks, $34.95, 7 hours, 13 minutes) Maguire, the author of "Wicked" spins a delightful tale about tooth fairies.

Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo. Read by Arthur Morey. (Random House Audio, $44.95, 27 hours) Pulitzer Prize-winning author Russo explores the limitations of spending a lifetime in the same town.

< Previous page