Junkbox Gems: Those Women!


As regular readers are aware, I try to rescue books one step away from the landfill, checking out the FREE BOOKS box outside the used bookstore downtown. Unfortunately, some books have received rough treatment and end up in the freebie box because even the landfill won’t take ‘em.

Case in point: A copy of the classic paperback novel, The Sucker, by Orrie Hitt. The copy I found is unreadable for the most part, binding dried out, missing pages, and the pages that are left are browned and crumbling away. But I picked up the remains because of the front and back covers. After all, Art must be preserved, even if it’s only saved digitally with a flatbed scanner.



According to the cover blurb, the protagonist has figured women from every angle – except one. Considering how he’s figuring the gal on the cover, I can’t imagine what angle he hasn’t tried.



And check out the back cover copy. What’s a pseudo-Lesbian? (If you find the copy hard to read, click on the image for a larger view.)



But I did find another paperback in much better condition: How To Be Outrageously Successful With Women. I haven’t read it yet, but the back cover copy does promise to reveal the new approach to the new woman – circa 1975, that is. I find self-help books to provide unintended humor because when such a tome comes on the scene, it’s The One Book With The Right Answers. Then a year passes and someone else writes The One Book. Seasons cycle, time marches on, and all of these One Books end up in the junkbox.





One would think that at least one of The One Books would be The One and that there would be no reason to buy any other titles. Apparently The Right Answers have a limited shelf life and New Right Answers have to be found – even though most of the time what passes for “new” is the same old bullshit dressed up in a modern crock.