You Can Judge a Book by its Cover

I heard this story from a co-worker. There was a family from a small, rural town that were visiting the big city of Des Moines. They were at the mall, and before splitting up, their Dad said, "If you see or hear any trouble, get your behind to the book store."

"Why?" asked the son.

"Because," he said sagely, "whoever is causing trouble sure as hell ain't reading books!"

The book stores didn't look quite so safe when I was a kid. That was during the horror boom, and the shelves were lined with paperbacks featuring lurid titles and shocking artwork. I loved it. You knew that covers with holes hid something scary, and they just begged to be opened.

"Gaa!"

When my family went their separate ways at the Empire Mall in Sioux Falls, my mom would always know where to find me later - at the Cover-to-Cover book store. I couldn't see the movie The Final Conflict in theaters, but I remember reading part of the book sitting on the floor of Cover-to-Cover. I read the ending to  Halloween while my mom shopped at Kmart.

My interest in these books was renewed when I read Grady Hendrix's Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction. 

"Page through dozens and dozens of amazing book covers featuring well-dressed skeletons, evil dolls, and knife-wielding killer crabs!... Horror author and vintage paperback book collector Grady Hendrix offers killer commentary and witty insight on these trashy thrillers that tried so hard to be the next Exorcist or Rosemary’s Baby."

I already had a few of the titles featured in Paperbacks from Hell.

But I keep an eye out for others when I see used books for sale. I don't know how many I'll read; I just like the artwork. Most cost a buck or less.

Let's open another one.

"Gaa!" again!

My mom, sister, and mother-in-law were visiting last weekend, and they went shopping with Daphne and Charlotte. That gave me some time to shop on my own. I found this at the Salvation Army.

Look at it from this an angle.

I asked Daphne to hold it "sleeveface" style. She's a good sport.

I put Nightlife on a book shelf to see how it looked, but it didn't stay there very long. "Uhhh, Dad? Could you put that book away? That guy is creeping me out."

I guess I won't display Nightlife all year round, but it will look pretty good by the Halloween books in October.