Jim鈥檚 Year in Books

What did you read this year?

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2024

16,167

pages read

books read

Jim Dooley

1 like Like

Historical Footnotes of Lebanon, Ohio by John J. Zimkus

Shortest Book

pages

The Beetle and Other Works by Richard Marsh

Longest Book

1,013

pages

Average book length in 2024

317

pages

Most Shelved

1,988,727

people also shelved

The Karloff Compendium by Stephen Jacobs

Least Shelved

people also shelved

Jim鈥檚 average rating for 2024

4.0

His Story, My Story, Our Story by Brian Ahearn CPCU CMCT

Highest Rated on 欧宝娱乐

it was amazing

5.00 average

Jim鈥檚 first review of the year

it was amazing

Full Disclosure Right Up Front:

I am a huge fan of Boris Karloff. In fact, he is my favorite performer. Also, of the many books I've read about Boris Karloff, BORIS KARLOFF: MORE THAN A MONSTER by Stephen Jacobs was by far the best ... and has a treasured spot in my home library.

For the Reader who has a curiosity about Boris Karloff, but not enough to work through a detailed biography, THE KARLOFF COMPENDIUM: THE FILMS, TV, RADIO, THEATRICAL WO Full Disclosure Right Up Front:

I am a huge fan of Boris Karloff. In fact, he is my favorite performer. Also, of the many books I've read about Boris Karloff, BORIS KARLOFF: MORE THAN A MONSTER by Stephen Jacobs was by far the best ... and has a treasured spot in my home library.

For the Reader who has a curiosity about Boris Karloff, but not enough to work through a detailed biography, THE KARLOFF COMPENDIUM: THE FILMS, TV, RADIO, THEATRICAL WORK AND MORE OF BORIS KARLOFF is a superb alternative. It is exactly what the title advertises ... with short informative overviews of his life and work. It is also chock-full of wonderful photographs, many of which I had never seen before.

As a compendium, each highlight often involves a short description, interview quotes, some production side notes, and excerpts of critical reviews. I especially enjoyed the brief comments included from Boris Karloff about the topic at hand. It gave me the feeling of looking through a scrapbook while he provided observations he thought I would enjoy.

For fans of the original biography from Jacobs, there are some new discoveries. Foremost are the photographs, many of which came from personal collections and were, therefore, rarely seen. Jacobs also uncovered new evidence of Karloff's first film appearance ... and it is not the one that has been traditionally mentioned. The evidence? Proof that Karloff was in a theatrical troupe at the time, far away from where the production was filmed.

For those wanting a "deeper dive," the compendium only provides a lot of surface details. So, intriguing stories such as Susanna Foster not having a favorable impression of Karloff when they worked together in THE CLIMAX (despite his usually being well-liked by his colleagues and crew) ... or that Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss himself) didn't want Karloff to be associated with HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS ... are not even mentioned. Also, there is one blatant error about Karloff's appearance on the television show, "Shindig!" when he is identified as working with Jack Cassidy instead of Ted Cassidy ... as any fan of Lurch from "The Addams Family" television series would readily know.

Still. this book was a highly enjoyable read and one that gave me hours of pleasure revisiting many of the photographs. It is an excellent companion piece to BORIS KARLOFF: MORE THAN A MONSTER. ...more

闯滨惭鈥橲 2024 BOOKS

it was amazing

The Hammer Karnstein Scrapbook by Wayne Kinsey

Tales of Terror. Edited with an Introduction by Boris Karloff... by ed. Boris Karloff

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian by Robert E. Howard

The Mummy鈥檚 Tomb - Scripts from the Crypt collection No. 14 by Tom Weaver

it was amazing

The Mummy鈥檚 Ghost - Scripts from the Crypt Collection No. 15 by Gregory William Mank

The Mummy's Curse by Gregory William Mank

The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez

it was amazing

Tales from the Cult Film Trenches by Louis Paul

it was amazing

The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers

The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle

Rediscovering Turtle Island by Taylor Keen

it was amazing

A History of Hate in Ohio by Michael E. Brooks

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

it was amazing

Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again by Shigeru Kayama

Jim鈥檚 last review of the year

liked it

I must admit that this is one of those times when I sorely miss the ability to "bump up" to additional half-star ratings. The books themselves, GODZILLA and GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN, were written in the 1950's for a Young Adult Japanese audience and are filled with florid and breathless writing that occasionally wore me out ... especially with the second one that doesn't nearly have the emotional foundation of the first one.

That said, there is also ...more

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