“Once a man commits himself to murder, he will soon find himself stealing. The next step will be alcoholism, disrespect for the Sabbath and from there on it will lead to rude behaviour. As soon as you set the first steps on the path to destruction you will never know where you will end. Lots of people owe their downfall to a murder they once committed and weren’t too pleased with at the time.” ~Alfred Hitchcock
Ok, so this week’s quote has nothing to with reading or books, but it does come from a man who was a reader. Or at least he took his movies from books. How many books with their authors can you name that Hitchcock turned into film? How many of them have you read? Leave your answers in the comments, and enjoy today’s edition of the Saturday Review.
This fascinating excursion into Hitchcockian booklore is courtesy of the fact that Mr. Hitchcock was born on August 13, 1899. Happy Birthday, Hitch!
If you’re not familiar with and linking to and perusing the Saturday Review of Books here at Semicolon, you’re missing out. Here’s how it usually works. Find a book review on your blog posted sometime during the previous week. The review doesn’t have to be a formal sort of thing. You can just write your thoughts on a particular book, a few ideas inspired by reading the book, your evaluation, quotations, whatever.
Then on Saturday, you post a link here at Semicolon in Mr. Linky to the specific post where you’ve written your book review. Don’t link to your main blog page because this kind of link makes it hard to find the book review, especially when people drop in later after you’ve added new content to your blog. In parentheses after your name, add the title of the book you’re reviewing. This addition will help people to find the reviews they’re most interested in reading.
After linking to your own reviews, you can spend as long as you want reading the reviews of other bloggers for the week and adding to your wishlist of books to read. That’s how my own TBR list has become completely unmanageable and the reason I can’t join any reading challenges. I have my own personal challenge that never ends.
Linked to my review of Mark Steyn’s latest book After America. It’s a doozy.
The ones I can name off the top of my head:
Rebecca by Daphne duMaurier
Jamaica Inn by Daphne duMaurier
Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
The 39 Steps by John Buchan
The Birds was based on a short story by Daphne duMaurier, I think.
His films I remember are The Birds, Rear Window, Vertigo — and was North by Northwest one of his? But I don’t know which were based on books.
It’s a baseball book kind of week, people! Knuckler: My Life with Baseball’s Most Confounding Pitch, by Tim Wakefield. Who doesn’t love a good knuckleball?
I left a few reviews this week but I think I screwed up the link to one of them. I hope it’s self-explanatory enough to fix. As ever, thanks for hosting!