Alphabet Crime: Letter C

Here we are kicking off another year of the Alphabet in Crime Fiction hosted by Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise.  Each week she expects participants to produce a post featuring a mystery/crime novel, mystery novelist, or crime fiction topic related to that week's letter.  In the past I have pretty much stuck to titles or authors, but this year I'm going to try and produce posts on various crime and mystery topics.

Zipping right along on our mysterious journey, we're already at the letter C.  And C is for Criminal Covers.  I've been admiring the pulp covers on my little square pocket-sized crime fiction collection. I do love those little pocket-sized book put out by Dell (Map Backs!) and Pocket Books (especially the World War II era books that were printed small in an effort to save paper for the war effort) and Permabooks and Bantam and Popular Library.  I'm mighty pleased whenever I come across one or two...or a stash...of those books in my used bookstore hunts.  I've been fortunate in my travels and have managed to collect a fair number.  And I just can't resist sharing some of these little gems with you.  My most recent read is the The Devil's Stronghold by Leslie Ford joined by others that are sitting companionably up on the shelves....

A-Z Blogging Challenge: Letter P

Now up to day 16 of the A-Z Blogging Challenge. Every day in April (except Sundays) I will be doing a post for each letter of the alphabet. It is my plan to make most of my posts reading &/or book-related. April 19th is brought to you by the Letter P.

P is for Pocket Size editions. I am really attached to the Pocket Size editions of books that came out in the 1930s-1960s and have managed to start a collection of them. I now have about 50 in varying condition. These smaller editions were printed on cheaper paper and were condensed in size (but not in content) and were often advertised as helping the war effort during WWII by conserving paper. The primary imprints for these Pocket Size editions are Pocket Books, Dell and Bantam. I love these smaller sized books--both as a curiosity to collect in and of themselves and because they so often have bizarre and interesting cover art. Here are my some of my favorite Pocket Size Edition Covers from those that I own:

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week features a Top Ten in the world of Books. This week' s topic is: Top Ten Favorite Covers. The Broke & the Bookish admits to judging books by their covers...but has good reasons, being a graphic designer. I can't say that I'm really into cover art...although I do find it a turn off if the cover seems to have absolutely no relation to the book (or it radically changes the hair color/appearance of the main character/s. So, I can't really go through all the books I've read up till now (or that I have on my TBR list and say "Here's the top covers that really grabbed me." I've decided to take this a different route. I am really attached to the pocket size editions of books that came out in the 1930s-1960s and have managed to start a collection of those. Here are my Top Ten Pocket Size Edition Covers from those that I own: