The Maltese Iguana
Rereading last year’s Mermaid Confidential, there’s a scene, early on, and I just realized I did that. I was overly thrilled, looking at a coastal condo, maybe a decade back? Faux gold faucets in an apricot-tiled bath with a single, huge fiberglass shell scallop along the shower’s wall. Beautiful in its hideousness. “Kramer, you’ve really got to let the trailer park go.” That was me. The character responds the same way I did, loving the kitsch and (way) outdated designs. The worst of the 70’s and 80’s, condensed and glorified in early 90’s style.
Jimmy Buffet before Margaritaville. Another timely reference from rereading Mermaid Confidential along with its conclusion — ironic — that 2020 will be a good year.
The Maltese Iguana
For me, the only way to really justify a book purchase is if I know the author, I know the author’s canon, or I use the manual as a reference. Like, I’ll have several copies of Shakespeare’s complete works, one which is well-thumbed and annotated by me. I have two copies of Emma Smith delightful This is Shakespeare, digital and hardback. I’m weird like that.
I also have a near perfect collection of Tim Dorsey’s compete Serge Storms series, in hardback, plus assorted titles in digital form when I can nab them on sale.
But the true measure of classic?
Do I read it more than once?
In the case of the Serge Storms, &c.? Simple answer is “Yes.” The novels actually seem to hold up to a second or even third rereading, as there’s new material or old material that hits and lands differently. Then there is the sheer exuberant pace of the novels themselves, and I admire that. Manic. Never sleeps. Really crazy, but you know, it could be true.
The Maltese Iguana
The latest was delayed in its release. I’m used to a late January or early February publication date. Looking forward, I reread two or three of the older books, just to make sure I was up on it. The last half-dozen easily stand up to rereading with scathing social satire mired in the lunatic ravings of a serial criminal.
In the example of the latest, one has to wonder if the main character, Serge, is an anti-hero, a hero, a protagonist, an antagonist, or what. I’ll go with “Or what.”
CIA, covert operations in Central America, clandestine security services, paramilitary outfits, the movie history of Florida’s Keys, and then, normal sights in Florida, the ubiquitous Florida Man (cf., Naked Came the Florida Man).
I breezed through a digital library copy while weighing my buying options. Amazon was $30, full retail, and the local Barnes and Noble didn’t show it in stock except in far north Austin. The price slipped after a second or third try, to $27. On a whim, I looked at Half-Price Books site, and it was $21 (plus tax and shipping), which worked out to a little less than either Amazon or B&N.
When the actual book shows up, I’l reread it, as it was rather amusing romp through the seedy underside of modern life, and little bit of cosmic justice.
Too bad it’s all fiction.
The Maltese Iguana
“So now we’re drilling deeper into the 1970s movement of Harrison, McGuane, Thompson, and artists in different media like the painter Chatham, not to mention Jimmy Buffett, the fierce workaholic who marketed his unemployed-beach-bum persona into the economic might of a small nation.” Page 30.
