Paperbacks from Hell: Grady Hendrix

I loved this Book. The author has separated books from the 70's- 80's into themes, which are hilarious. I enjoyed the "Parenting the Homicidal Child" section so much that I had to share it...although that person just sort of smiled at me. I loved that the sections were short, so it was just enough time for the author to get you laughing and move on, there weren't any slow parts. I was sort of bummed that a lot of these books are out of print, probably because they would be scoffed at by todays readers due to technological and scientific advances. I had never read or even heard of a lot of the books. After reading this book you have a better appreciation for all those awful horror stories you've ever read as they all had a place and were a result of their times and what the fear was (communism, science advancements etc). Some of them sound so dreadful that I want to find and read them for that purpose. I loved that he could make a small comment about a book and then provide the title, so you learned about a lot of new books on every page. This book was more than just about the fiction stories (or non-fiction as some claim to be) The author also talks about the cover artists, the publishing companies, new styles of book covers, and some of the authors/what the story was based on. I learned that V C Andrews had only written a few books before her death and the rest was assembled by author Andrew Neiderman. Anne Rice was also born a male and wrote her first book after the death of her first child.-some of these author's lives seem more interesting than their books. I also like that King was alluded to, but not dwelt upon, because the book could have been entirely about him- which would be fun to read if Hendrix did that.