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Habitual Reader Profiles - Page 1
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Name: Michael Allan Mallory |
| City & State: Minneapolis, Minnesota | |
| Vocation/Avocation: Computer Systems Administrator/Mystery Writer | |
| Website: www.snakejones.com |
Why I'm a Habitual Reader:
Curiosity makes me a habitual reader, curiosity about nearly everything. Books allow me to find out how things work, learn about ancient civilizations, the natural world, philosophy, mystical arts and science. How were castles built? How is flax made into linen? What is the origin of the word sincere? ( Literally the word means “without wax” and harkens back to ancient Rome and disreputable marble merchants. Eventually the Roman senate required high quality marble had to be sold sine cera, without wax, the genuine article, true.) The fact is I love to learn. Whether it’s new revelations about the German war machine during World War II or the versatility and socio-economic importance of table salt throughout history, it’s all the same—fascinating. I’m tickled to have read that the fossil record now appears to show that the relationship between wolves and human beings goes back a hundred thousand years earlier than scientists previously believed, about the time when humans were evolving into homo sapiens. Looking over the evidence, a group of Australian anthropologists even suggest that our species learned a lot from our interaction with wolves. We became more wolf-like, mimicking this apex hunter which has tightly-knit social relationships. The suggestion is that there are things humans do that other primates do not do, that in these instances we are more dog-like than ape-like. Preposterous? I don’t know. Thought provoking to be sure!
Another thing that makes me a habitual reader is enjoying a great yarn. Few novels have enthralled me as much as Raphael Sabatini’s Captain Blood, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and John Dickson Carr’s The Crooked Hinge. I first read these books when I was college age, each transporting me to a world of adventure and mystery. The only book I’ve felt this way about recently was Laura Hillenbrand’s marvelous Seabiscuit: An American Legend, a biography/history book that reads with like a novel. I’ve told people it’s the best book I’ve read in twenty years.
I have a great affection for the classic traditional fair play detective story. When done properly it is a work of art—and extremely difficult to pull off. I envy any writer who does it. Long ago I read a piece by an author who said that there are something like twenty-five common conventions used in mystery stories: such things as the least likely suspect committing the crime, or the brilliant amateur sleuth who outwits the police, or hiding an object in plain sight. Well, twenty of these twenty-five conventions were invented by Edgar Allan Poe in just five short stories! (The number may be more. I cannot recall the exact number nor, much to my annoyance, the author of the piece.) By the way, Charles Dickens invented the convention of gathering all the suspects at the end to name the killer, which he did in Bleak House. John Dickson Carr, master of the locked-room mystery and my favorite mystery writer, was a marvel at creating atmosphere and using misdirection. He once wrote that some mystery authors are afraid to reveal their clues, timidly keeping them close to their chests. Then, like a hand grenade, they’ll lob the clue at reader and run like hell away from it. Whereas Carr, always audacious, reveled in dangling his clues in the reader’s face, rubbing their noses in them. In 1939, under his pseudonym Carter Dickson, he came up with the most tantalizing title ever for a mystery novel: The Reader Is Warned. This book is a brazen challenge in which Carr, the master, announces his intention of bamboozling the reader.
I’m a habitual reader because I want to learn, to laugh, to be moved, to be thrilled. There is the famous moment in Conan Doyle’s Silver Blaze, which involves the kidnapping of a racehorse and the murder of his trainer. As Sherlock Holmes is about to depart the scene, Inspector Gregory inquires of him:
“Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?”
“To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.”
“The dog did nothing in the night-time.”
“That was the curious incident,” remarked Sherlock Holmes.
The first time I read that passage the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. It was magic, a thrill. I keep hoping to find more thrills like that.
My List of Ten: Top Ten Books That Blew Me Away
1. Captain
Blood
Author: Raphael Sabatini
Published in 1922, this swashbuckler remains one of my favorite books of all
time. I reread it every few years. The droll wit and panache of Sabatini’s
writing are an endless delight. The sweep of the story grabs me every time: in
1688, during the Monmouth Rebellion in England, an Irish doctor and one time
soldier is wrongfully arrested and sold into slavery. Shipped off to the Americas,
Peter Blood eventually escapes with his fellow slaves and becomes the most successful
pirate in the Carribean, gaining redemption and clemency at the end.
2. The
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The greatest detective of all time. Even 35 years later, I still recall
the chill when I first read these stories. Great atmosphere, intrigue,
and the most famous fictional character in the world.
3. Twenty-Thousand
Leagues Under the Sea
Author: Jules Verne
A fabulous world of mystery and imagination unfolds in this book, like an
interplanetary voyage except beneath the waves.
4. The
Crooked Hinge
Author: John Dickson Carr
My favorite mystery author. Carr was the master of the locked-room
mystery. This 1938 classic is among his best work. Carr had a
deft hand for creating atmosphere and manipulating the reader in the best
aspects of the fair play mystery. One of the few mystery novels to
make me say “Wow!” at the end. Simply put: Carr dazzles.
5. Seabiscuit:
an American Legend
Author: Laura Hillenbrand
The incredible true story of the famed racehorse that inspired a nation. Lyrically
written, this is the best book I’ve read in twenty years. The
movie couldn’t do the book justice. Hillenbrand has you cheering
for the homely little horse built like a cinder block with the spastic gait. Seabiscuit
was one of the greatest athletes of the twentieth century. This is
his story and that of the three men who rehabilitated him and, in the process,
themselves. An inspiring account of overcoming adversity and
finding your hidden potential.
6. The
Problem of the Wire Cage
Author: John Dickson Carr
A Carr classic from the 1930s. Another “Wow!” book. The
set up says it all: Brenda White sees the body of Frank Dorrance in the middle
of a damp clay tennis court after a hard rain. Running out to help,
she finds she’s too late. Frank’s been strangled. She
walks off the court where her boyfriend, Hugh, realizes something is terribly
wrong—the dead man’s footprints are clearly visible walking out
to the middle of the court, but the murderer’s footprints are missing. Yet
thanks to Brenda, two sets of prints go out across the wet clay and only
one set comes back. The police will never believe she didn’t
kill Dorrance. Hugh and Brenda race to find the murderer and explain
this impossible crime while Scotland Yard closes in on her.
7. Great
Expectations
Author: Charles Dickens
One of the most haunting, funny, thrilling works from the master storyteller. A
story of sacrifice and missed opportunities. This one gets under your
skin.
8. The
Odyssey
Author: Homer
It’s the Trojan War, stories don’t get better than that! You
want scope? Here’s scope! Larger than life characters,
too.
9. The
Princess Bride
Author: William Goldman.
The single funniest novel I’ve ever read. The movie suffered
from the same pitfall as all films made from Dickens’ novels: they
don’t have the book narrator’s voice. It’s the same
here; it’s the way the narrator tells the story that makes this such
a delightful read.
10. Death
Roll
Author: Marilyn Victor and Michael Allan Mallory
Oh, my book. This one blew me away because we actually finished
the thing, actually found an agent who liked it right off the bat and who
required no changes to the manuscript (very mind blowing) and found a publisher. Zoologist
Lavender “Snake” Jones in her first mystery novel.
Have you read any of these titles? Review one now.
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