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Member: nickhoonaloon

Library111 books — see library

Reviews59 reviews — see reviews

Cloudstag cloud, author cloud

TagsSexton Blake (43), Africana Civil Rights Marxism (4), Africana Civil Rights Marxism Biography (2), Wodehouse once more (1) — see all tags

GroupsAnglophiles, Ask LibraryThing, Bits for Brits, British & Irish Crime Fiction, Brits, Crime, Thriller & Mystery, Detectives, Felony & Mayhem Press, Found in a Book, J B Priestley`s Good Companions — show all groups

Favorite authorsW. E. B. Du Bois, Arthur Conan Doyle, Shirley Graham, J. B. Priestley, Gordon Willis (Shared favorites)

About me Am vintage detective story buff (as you might tell) and music fan (jazz/blues/reggae, a bit of light classical).

The current pic on my profile page - Sherlock Holmes - is from a 1930s flyer I found tucked away in an old book some time ago. Ultimately the original`s going in a frame on a wall of our house (when we get round to it).

Sherlock`s great, but not necessarily my favourite fictional sleuth - I`m an enthusiastic Sexton Blake collector. The key rules to collecting Blake as far as I`m concerned are a) it`s meant to be fun and b) it needn`t be expensive. The Blake series ran 1893 - (sort of) the late `60s and involved many different writers. The early years are not a great big interest for me, though I do admire Pierre Quiroule (sometimes rendered as Quirole) aka W W Sayer. From the `40s my favourite Blake writers are John Hunter and Walter Tyrer, then after that I like Jack Trevor Story and one or two others. See my library and/or reviews for more on that.

The other thing I collect, though less frequently, is music connected with Jamaican record producer Duke Reid. At some point I may well ctalogue that sort of thing along with my books. Finding the time tends to be a problem.

Am also partner, with my wife, in an online bookselling business, Hoonaloon Books - details below, or for a more interesting approach, go to www.jacktrevorstory.co.uk, have a quick browse, then find us via the `links` page.

Am also member of Rambler`s Association - www.ramblers.org.uk

CURRENT READING - I`m curentkly reading Large Type Killer by `Richard Williams` (actually written by Jack trevor Story then revised by W Howard Baker). I`m also keeping In These Times by Bernard Levin (a selection of his newspaper articles) handy as a `dipping into` book, and reading Marie Smith (ed) Golden Age Detection
(a short story collection) on an occasional basis.

About my library I`ve never gone through every book I own catloguing them on LT. Partly this is a matter of not having the time, but truthfully it`s also not in my nature to do so. It does appeal to me to have an LT ctalogue with a theme - i`m considering ctaloguing just crime writing - we`ll see whether that idea actually comes to fruition !

Homepagehttp://stores.ebay.co.uk/Hoonaloon-Books

Real nameNick Osmond

LocationDerbyshire, UK

Account typepublic, free

Connection NewsConnection News

URLs http://www.librarything.com/profile/nickhoonaloon (profile)
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/nickhoonaloon (library)

Member sinceAug 14, 2006

Comments from other LibraryThing-ers

(Leave a comment.)

Thanks for joining. You're most welcome. Hope all's well and interesting, in the offline side of life.

posted by Eurydice at 12:40 am (EST) on Jul 18, 2008

I always consider it a challenge when I find someone who does not share any books with me. I will continue to catalogue and check your page to see if we have connected in any way. I do share your interest in mystery writers though so we are bound to connect in some way, eventually. So, hello and hope to say we do, in fact, share reading materials in the near future. Mary Beth

posted by mmignano11 at 9:26 pm (EST) on Jul 6, 2008

Nice to hear from you Nick. Of course you are right, as Einstein said "man is too concerned with the trivialities of life". I will unfortunately be missing an absolutely cracking gig because I have to work. This Thursday Johnny Clarke and Horace Andy are playing and I am fairly cut up about not being able to go. I am not sure I will ever have the chance to see Johnny Clarke again. Oh well, I will get over it.

On the politics I have been discussing for a while with an American lady the upcoming election in the US. We were discussing a defector from the Democratic Party, who was supposed to be the libertarian candidate in the election called Mike gravel. I myself am Irish but have more of an interest in foreign relations than domestic. On the domestic side my tendency is to vote independent with a local candidate. I see the choice between major parties as merely representing what lobby group will be better represented for the next five years or so. Thanks to our 'constitutional irregularities' as SKY News have been calling it we were given a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Our NO vote is being represented as the collapse of European Civilisation :)

posted by FourSeasons at 4:42 pm (EST) on Jun 16, 2008

Nick,

I'm so sorry. I can't believe it's been two weeks! My downfall, as usual, was reading your comment right before I had to walk out the door. I thought about a response, without realizing later I hadn't also typed it.

Congratulations on your son! That's wonderful news! I hope you are enjoying him as much as I have seen with my sister's children, whatever sleep and optional-involvement havoc he may be wreaking. :) :) :)

The writing, for a long time, has not been going at all. But I've decided, just recently, that that's sheer laziness and avoidance of something I may fail in. So, I'm trying to get myself into a scheduled habit. Thanks for another prod, in asking.

Take care. All blessings on you and Anne-Marie and Adam; and I will enjoy seeing you, when you do happen in, here and there. (Even I can no longer sustain "indefatigable" posting!)

Julie

posted by Eurydice at 6:13 pm (EST) on May 30, 2008

I hope you are feeling better. You may be surprised to learn that Dubois isn't very well known here. Most people who know him best as a founder of the NAACP and a foil to the conservatve leadership of Booker T. Washington. The post WWII civil rights leadership was obsessed with purging the movement of anything and anybody that might taint it as un-American. Du Bois therefore was rarely mentioned. You might also be interested in Paul Robeson. I have few books about him, but I haven't cataloged them yet.

posted by odkins at 9:00 pm (EST) on May 28, 2008

How did you get interested in DuBois?

posted by odkins at 11:36 am (EST) on May 25, 2008

The GAD reviews:
Muir, Death on the Agenda
Cole, Death of a Star
Philmore, No Mourning in the Family
Lorac, Let Well Alone
Procter, Rich is the Treasure

This group's interest is the detective novel proper. It's a pity that thrillers are only marginal there, and SBs and the like don't exist at all for them. So I read mostly detective novels lately and only one Blake, Tyrer's ONE OF ELEVEN. But that's a very good one.

By the way, one John Hunter was translated into German. The titel re-translated is THE MYSTERY OF MONASTERY ISLAND. Maybe it's Hunter's THUNDER ISLAND of the 1920s. It first appeared here in 1933 and then, astonishingly, in 1943. I always thaught there were no English mysteries allowed here after 1939. No SB was translated into German before the 1960s.

Best wishes
Juergen

posted by Hansemann at 12:33 am (EST) on Apr 23, 2008

Very sorry to hear that, naturally that took priority over everything else.

Some of Max Romeo's earliest stuff i.e. late 60s was done with Perry, I am not sure did he change after that but I do not like his late 60s recordings.

Probably my favourite thing about Max Romeo is the sound that comes from the guitar. Some of the crispest I have heard.

posted by FourSeasons at 8:47 am (EST) on Apr 20, 2008

Thanks Nick - heading over to Anglophiles to read about your Bentley discoveries...

Twacorbies (Sean)

posted by twacorbies at 1:55 am (EST) on Apr 20, 2008

Funny you should mention Culture. I had my ticket to see them and was really looking forward to it, then two days before the gig Joseph Hill died. They came anyway and played; his son performed, which was remarkably brave and he put on an excellent show. There was a sombre mood at that gig. Nonetheless was one of the better ones I have been to.

posted by FourSeasons at 7:31 am (EST) on Mar 25, 2008

I was once apartment sitting for a friend who owned a slew of the old universal horror classics and watched them one after another. Great fun. They sure get daffy as their respective series progress.

posted by twacorbies at 12:22 pm (EST) on Mar 19, 2008

Yes, Max Romeo was very good. I would definitely recommend you giving a listen. He was produced by Perry the same time as Bob was. His song Chase the Devil was sampled by the Prodigy on their track Fire; probably what he is best known for. Anyway, overall it was a good concert.

I will recommend Max Romeo to you as up their with Burning Spear, Culture and Steelp Pulse (in my opinion one of the only British Reggae bands to excel to the quality of the Jamaican sound).

Hope to chat again soon

Tony

posted by FourSeasons at 6:48 am (EST) on Mar 5, 2008

Sorry I neglected Librarything and SEXTON BLAKE a bit as I became a member of GADetection and wrote 4 review for their Wiki. The group is fixed on classic detective fiction. I like that too but not exclusively. I'm sure I'll return to SB and his likes for a change. No, I don't know many prewar SBs. 3 or 4 collections I have, mostly unread, and 4 titles of the late '30s bound together. One of them is a Quiroule. Yes it's good.
Juergen

posted by Hansemann at 10:49 am (EST) on Mar 4, 2008

I'll keep checking in then. Weirdly low, low budgets usually lead to shows way weirder than ones with huge bank rolls for special effects. Really, a siamese cat taking over your mind is infinitely more terrifying than a giant robot (and more entertaining).

posted by twacorbies at 9:19 pm (EST) on Feb 27, 2008

Hi Nick,
when we both deleted our Hunters and entered them again, do you think that would help? Sorry again to have caused so much trouble.
Yesterday I started reading "Death of a Star" by the Coles from 1932 or so and I like it very much. I usually switch between SB and the authors around "The Thriller" of the 30s and straight detective novels preferably the 'humdrums' Wills Crofts, Christopher Bush, John Rhode / Miles Burton, GDH & M Cole etc. For me they are not humdrum at all. But there certainlay is a marked contrast between the two genres.
I listed the titles you reviewed positively and keep looking out for them at Ebay.
All the best for you and your family
Juergen

posted by Hansemann at 1:35 am (EST) on Jan 25, 2008

Hello and welcome to 40 Something Library Thingers..:)

posted by MDLady at 10:06 am (EST) on Jan 7, 2008

Yes, absolutely I am agreeing with that 100 per cent. I was actually trying to convince people to come with me but it was just me and my mate who is a lover of reggae too. It was a great gig anyway.

Happy New Year and all that stuff :D

posted by FourSeasons at 10:20 am (EST) on Jan 4, 2008

Thanks for cleaning up the mess. I read Mark Hodder's essay actually before I read any SBs, it tempted me to try them. And I don't regret it. Recently I bought the collection "SB wins" with an introduction by Jack Adrian. The intro is eally good but I can't agree with "There's no getting away from the fact that the Blake of the early 1950s was a shadow of its former self". It depends on how you read them, what you expect from them.
A Happy New Year
Juergen

posted by Hansemann at 9:58 am (EST) on Dec 31, 2007

Hi Nick,
this morning I added a review of a JOHN HUNTER story (THE SECRET MAN) to Librarything. And as there are several authors with the same name I had the unhappy idea to try to seperate them. Somehow I made mistakes there. The result is that your three HUNTER-titles appear as mine. Unfortunately I'm not able to make it undone. Could you with your experience set it right again? I'm so sorry I meddled with it and would be very grateful if you could help.
A Happy New Year
Juergen (HANSEMANN)

posted by Hansemann at 3:17 am (EST) on Dec 30, 2007

Hi Nick,
Thanks for your kind comments about my reviews.I do try to be to the point as I think folk sometimes do not bother to read fairly long reviews.I know that I tend to have a rather short attention span.
Hope that you have a good Christmas and I look forward to speaking to you again in the New Year.

posted by devenish at 11:19 am (EST) on Dec 20, 2007

With a new child, your fun is cut out for you. Congratulations!

Best,
Loretta

posted by lorsomething at 11:14 pm (EST) on Dec 17, 2007

Black Uhuru and The Abyssinians. Pure Class. Got a t shirt signed by Bernard Collins, now one of my most prized possessions along with two Noam Chomsky books I got signed and a Bob Marley ticket from 1980 signed by Tyrone Downie.

posted by FourSeasons at 6:57 pm (EST) on Dec 13, 2007

currently viewing the world through a haze of exhaustion, but are basically very happy indeed.

Isn't it great?

We're plugging along. Our eldest turns 16 next week, our youngest turns 11 next month.
(In theory, "16" means she's old enough to drive; but we aren't actively encouraging this, not yet. It's a good thing I'm already gray.)

posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 6:07 pm (EST) on Dec 9, 2007

Yeah, my dislike for short stories is pretty inexplicable, that's why I started the thread. I was hoping others would be forthcoming about genres or authors or whatever that they tend to avoid, but might not even be able to articulate why. Some people think fiction is a big waste of time: why read about made up things when there are so many interesting things to learn about the world? There were a lot of cool responses.

I love reviews- thanks for the heads up, I will definitely check them out!

Twacorbies (Sean)

posted by twacorbies at 1:50 am (EST) on Dec 9, 2007

Wow, I have never heard of that one at all... Every site I have been to mentions the two novels only. Interesting. I'm not a huge fan of shorts- actually I'm not big on short stories of any kind (I made this the subject of a Talk thread once: What is your reading blind spot?) but this might spur me on to revisiting this author and picking up the sequel/prequel novel. Still trying to track down that first Innes' mystery too... Looks like a trip to the mystery bookstore up the street is in order this weekend.

Thank you for the heads up- interesting library you got here,

TwaCorbies (Sean)

posted by twacorbies at 12:39 pm (EST) on Dec 6, 2007

Hi Nick,
Thanks for the pointer towards Hansemann's library. I have had a quick look this-afternoon,and as you say it is quite interesting. When I have a little more time I'll go into it in more depth.
Thanks again

posted by devenish at 12:54 pm (EST) on Nov 22, 2007

Yeah that one will be sweet.

posted by FourSeasons at 12:05 pm (EST) on Nov 14, 2007

Hello Nick,
Thanks for the messages. You're right I am very interested in 'vintage crime',and am always pleased to hear about the life and times of good old Sexton Blake, Dick Donovan and the like. Of course as you know my 'Main Man' is Conan Doyle who after all this time still remains constantly in the public eye. Yet another biography just out (I already have quite a number of them already) and 'Conan Doyle : A Life in Letters' also just released. Now that is a great addition to the collection and a very useful book to boot.
Now,true crime on the whole doesn't interest me too much at the moment at least,so I will keep your offer on file,as they say. Thanks for it anyway.
Best wishes and do keep in touch.

posted by devenish at 1:44 pm (EST) on Oct 3, 2007

You can see how other folks get links working by going to a page with links, right clicking, and selecting View Source. Then, just search through the code for the right spot. Here's a simple example of a link to a really nice website.

If you add an < to the beginning and an > to the end, the code for the link looks like this:
a href="http://www.librarything.com" target="blank">really nice website

posted by NativeRoses at 2:27 pm (EST) on Aug 10, 2007

Congratulations! The custom here is to slap you on the back and (...formerly) to hand you a cigar. Consider yourself back-slapped, and welcome to the club. You'll be in for the ride of your life.

So go take a nap - the first years of parenthood are an experiment in sleep-deprivation, you should be stocking up now while you have a chance. Geat news.

- Bob & Maggie.

posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 3:24 pm (EST) on Jul 18, 2007

Hello Nick--

Thank you for your very balanced review of my book, THE WISDOM OF W.E.B. DU BOIS. I agree that it could have been more detailed and possibly formatted in a different manner to further enhance the book’s overall function and value. As it is, the publisher requested certain specifics to make the title part of its Philosophical Library Series, in which many of the books simply have single quotes per page with no other qualifying element. They also felt WISDOM OF W.E.B. DU BOIS would make a good companion title for my ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE (Facts On File) which it does. I actually took it upon myself to make the book much more substantial than it was originally intended to be and was particularly hopeful that youth of the Hip Hop persuasion would find it a useful title for dipping in and out of while introducing themselves to Du Bois’ life and teachings. I’m happy to say in that regard it has succeeded. Many of them, for example, knew nothing about the history of the use of the word “negro” in the United States until reading this book.

My latest release is more on the literary side, a fiction and poetry e-book titled VISIONS OF A SKYLARK DRESSED IN BLACK. I invite you to download a free excerpt at the following url: http://www.blackpoetrysociety.com/catalo... .

Take care. And thanks again,

Aberjhani

posted by Aberjhani at 11:02 am (EST) on Oct 31, 2006

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