Love-Hounds bookshelf

[IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@MITVMA.MIT.EDU]

 To: Love-Hounds
 From: Andrew Marvick (IED)
 Subject: Love-Hounds bookshelf

     While rummaging around in the 4-for-a-dollar baskets
at a Hollywood used bookstore, IED ran across an arresting
title: _The_Ninth_Wave_, by Eugene Burdick. Burdick was co-author
of _Fail-Safe_, for those who want to know. _The_Ninth_Wave_
was published by Dell Books in 1956, and sold over a million
copies. It's a pot-boiler about government ambition: as the Chicago
Trib put it, "A powerful novel...violent actions, startling
sexual episodes...bold, brash!"
     The symbolic relevance of the title is explained in the first
chapter, _The_Ninth_Ninth_Wave_, which concerns a group of California
surfers. Here is an excerpt:

"...He sat stubbornly, endlessly waiting for the ninth ninth wave.
Some of the other boys would get excited, mistake a big hump for
the ninth ninth, but never Hank. He always knew when it would come;
he never took a smaller wave; he always waited for the big one.
They all believed that every ninth wave was bigger than the preceding
eight, and every subsequent ninth wave was bigger than the one
before it, until the biggest wave of all was the ninth ninth.
     Mike wasn't sure if the system was accurate, but he did know
that there was always one wave a day that was bigger than the rest.
The other waves might be big and sometimes they were really huge
and you might get excited and think that one of them was the ninth
ninth. But not Hank. He always knew when to wait. He always
got the biggest wave of the day." (Pp. 9-10).

     IED has sent off a copy to Kate for her amusement.

-- Andrew Marvick