xterminal's review
3.0
Gary Lovisi (ed.), Bad Girls Need Love Too: Pleasure Yourself with Pulp Fiction (Krause Publications, 2010)
I'm never quite sure what to do when it comes to rating books like this—in this case, a collection of lurid covers of pulp novels, mostly (if not all) from the fifties. It's very much a vertical-market piece; if the subject matter interests you, you want the book, and if it doesn't, there's not a great deal the book (this book, at least) is going to do to change your mind on the subject. Lovisi's collection is extensive and impressive, but he doesn't do a great deal of declamation on the evolution of the pulp cover or anything like that; not surprising as this is a quickie art book rather than a thesis. I'd have kind of preferred the latter—something that could be used to introduce folks who never realized that this is A Thing(TM) to pulp novel covers; instead, it comes off as a “my pokemans, let me show you them” book. Again, if you're already interested in the subject matter, this is not a bad thing. But if you're not, you won't miss anything if you pass this up. ** ½
I'm never quite sure what to do when it comes to rating books like this—in this case, a collection of lurid covers of pulp novels, mostly (if not all) from the fifties. It's very much a vertical-market piece; if the subject matter interests you, you want the book, and if it doesn't, there's not a great deal the book (this book, at least) is going to do to change your mind on the subject. Lovisi's collection is extensive and impressive, but he doesn't do a great deal of declamation on the evolution of the pulp cover or anything like that; not surprising as this is a quickie art book rather than a thesis. I'd have kind of preferred the latter—something that could be used to introduce folks who never realized that this is A Thing(TM) to pulp novel covers; instead, it comes off as a “my pokemans, let me show you them” book. Again, if you're already interested in the subject matter, this is not a bad thing. But if you're not, you won't miss anything if you pass this up. ** ½
discodolly's review
3.0
Nice collection of vintage pulp covers with quotes from the pulps. Fun to browse through, but not much more to it than that.
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