Today’s Post by Joe Farace
The Roman Republic’s Cicero said it first: “A room without books is like a body without a soul.
People have asked me how many books I own. The American Library Association (ALA) doesn’t specify the minimum number of books it takes to be considered a library but some experts suggest that a book collection should contain at least 500 books to be considered a “real” library.
The Biltmore Estate library, for example, contains 23,000 books. According to movers who carried many boxes of books into my house when we moved to Daisy Hill, we have 3,200 books. Keep in mind that I’ve acquired all of those books over forty years. Many of them are ensconced in three cherry bookcases located in my dining room but a lot more books can be found in the built-in and not-so-fancy bookcases in my home office. There’s also a bunch of books, mostly movie-related but some car books, in the unit housing my 65-inch OLED TV—check out my movie reviews on my YouTube channel—in our basement that Mary calls our “home theater room.” There are also some coffee table-style car books in the living room. OK, it pains me to admit that there’s a stack of read and unread books sitting on the “guest chair” in my office too.
Since moving to Daisy Hill thirteen years ago, I’ve added more than a few books to my collection but have also donated more than a few to the local county library system for resale, so I really don’t know how many books I currently have. (And I only count hardbacks not paperbacks.) In the last year or two, I have been collecting some Nero Wolfe paperbacks but after reading them tend to give them away to friends to “spread the word” about Rex Stout’s novels.
In Marie Kondo’s book , The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying—you can get a hard cover copy from Amazon for less than nine bucks— she suggests: “Let’s face it. In the end, you are going to read very few of your books again.” Hey, Marie. I’ve read many of my books more than once. All of them? No but. I’ve read Stephen King’s 11/22/63 three times! The first time when it was a library book, then I bought a paperback copy and read it immediately afterwards. Then I re-read that same book a year ago.’ I just love it. PS: I hate the Hulu mini series based on the book; it not recommended.
My TBR List
Mary recently ordered me two Nero Wolfe paperbacks from Barnes & Noble as part of her Mary’s Book-of-the-Month program and one of them—Three Doors to Death—remains lost in the postal system as I write this. She also ordered three other books for me that won’t arrive for a while, including Michael Connelly’s The Waiting, as well as Preston & Child’s sequel Angel of Vengeance along with Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman’s The Lost Coast. Another book on my TBR list is David Housewright’s Man in the Water. When I was unable to get a copy of Edgar Rice Burroughs sequel to Tarzan of The Apes from the library, The Return of Tarzan, I bought a copy on eBay and after a convoluted delivery, its sitting on that selfsame “guest chair.” Look for reviews of some or all of these books soon.
Dodge & Plymouth Muscle Cars
What a great car book! The Complete Book of Dodge & Plymouth Muscle Cars by Mike Mueller with Tom Glatch is the definitive work on the subject. The introduction focuses on the 1955 production of Chrysler “Letter Cars” and includes in-depth look at Dodge and Plymouth high performance engines.
While it seems unlikely I would ever drive, let alone own one, of these cars, It turns out that I did, in fact. own one. I bought a brand new 1964 Plymouth Barracuda in April 1964 for $2,660. Nope, no zeros are missing from that figure. The car would cost $26,949 in 2024 dollars, making it a heckuva deal even today. Back to the book.
The Complete Book of Dodge & Plymouth Muscle Cars is beautifully produced. The quality of the photographs, both from a standpoint of the image’s excellence and the quality of reproduction is first class. My only quibble is that the font and color of the caption text might be a challenge for some reader’s eyes. Even the paper the book is printed on feels premium. The writing? Let me tell you something about the writing. It may be the best written car book I’ve read this year, Mueller is easy-to-read and more often than not amusing in his commentary. Automotive writing doesn’t get much better than that. All together it make for a pleasant and downright informative reading experience. In fact, even if you’re not interested in Plymouth or Dodge but like muscle cars you’ll enjoy this book. And if you are already a fan of these two marques you are going to love each and every page.
What you have here in your hands is literally an encyclopedia on Plymouth and Dodge’s performance cars. The author contends, and I agree, that the Chrysler “Letter Cars” were the first muscle cars, not the Pontiac GTO as many people believe. The book goes on to burst other myths including that the Ford Mustang was not the first “pony car.” It was introduced to the public in April 17, 1964 but I was driving my 1964 Barracuda for two weeks before the Mustang’s launch.
Here’s a few highlights:
Number one for me is the chapter on the Plymouth Barracuda, for obvious reasons. I thought I knew a lot about these cars but I was wrong. The level of detail put into each of the cars in the book is truly comprehensive. The photos for what appears to be press images and those made by the author add immeasurably to the reading and learning experience.
Chapter 5, The Dodge Dart and Demon (1967-1971) takes a look at some compact (for their time) performance cars that I have fond memories of, starting with the stylishly wonderful 1967 Dart GTS. that was available in both hardtop and convertible models, Also featured in this chapter is the Dart Swinger 340 that used a smaller yet powerful engine producing a combination of power and handling for Chrysler’s A-body cars.
The last chapter looks at the reborn Dodge Challenger (2008-2023) and it’s many high high performance variations. This chapter, although brief, contains details on all of the amazing models Dodge has recently produced from Hellcats to the 2023 introduction of the awesome 1025 horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170. This must now be Stellantis’ most powerful modern muscle car with some Dodge dealers adding at much as a $200,000 in additonal dealer markup.
This book can serve as both a pleasant fireside read as well as a source of detailed information about these cars. especially their engines. When you go shopping for a muscle car, do not go participate in any auction—in person or on-line— to buy either one of these muscle cars without owning and reading this book.
- Publisher: Motorbooks (June 18, 2024
- Hardcover: 320 pages
- ISBN-10: 0760387281
- ISBN-13: 978-0760387283
- Weight: 4.2 pounds
- Dimensions : 10.05 x 1.14 x 11.35 inches
- Price: $42.74 (Prime, as I write this)