Julia Alvarez, on writing:

 

For me, the writing life doesn't just happen when I sit at the writing desk.

It is a life lived with a centering principle, and mine is this:
that I will pay close attention to this world I find myself in.
'My heart keeps open house,' was the way the poet Theodore Roethke put it in a poem.
And rendering in language what one sees through the opened windows and doors of that house
is a way of bearing witness to the mystery of what it is to be alive in this world.
 
– Julia Alvarez.

Recommended reading - Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s

 

Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s

Published by Library of America.
Published 1997.

ISBN-10: 1883011493
ISBN-13: 9781883011499

Description:

Contents:

The Killer Inside Me, by Jim Thompson; The Talented Mr. Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith; Pick-up, by Charless Willeford; Down There, by David Goodis; The Real Cool Killers, by Chester Himes.

This adventurous volume, with its companion devoted to the 1930s and 40s, presents a rich vein of modern American writing. Evolving out of the terse and violent style of the pulp magazines, noir fiction expanded over the decades into a varied, innovative, and profoundly influential body of work. The five novels presented here are authentic underground classics: Jim Thompson’s The Killer Inside Me, with its psychotic narrator, a murderous West Texas Sheriff; Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley, an astonishing study of the seductiveness of evil and the vagaries of personal identity; Pick-Up, Charles Willeford’s nihilistic love story of two lost souls adrift in San Francisco’s lower depths; David Doodis’ haunted, lyrical Down There (the inspiration for Truffaut’s classic film Shoot the Piano Player); and Chester Himes’ The Real Cool Killers, an explosive and sometimes wildly comic novel featuring Harlem detectives Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones. With this Library of America publication, these works are at last being recognized for their powerful literary qualities and their unique, sometimes subversive role in shaping modern American language and culture.

The Library of America, a nonprofit publisher, is dedicated to preserving America’s best and most significant writing in handsome, enduring volumes, featuring authoritive texts.

Born on this day – Gail Patrick:

 

Gail Patrick

Actress

Producer

June 20, 1911 – July 6, 1980

Credits:

A Dream Comes True (1935); Artist and Models (1937); Bicentennial Minutes (1975); Brewster's Millions (1945); Calendar Girl (1947); Claudia and David (1946); Cool and Lam (1958); Cradle Song (1933); Dangerous to Know (1938); Death Takes a Holiday (1934); Disbarred (1939); Doubting Thomas (1935); Early to Bed (1936); Gallant Sons (1940); Gambling Ship (1933); Grand Jury Secrets (1939); Hit Parade of 1943 (1943); If I Had a Million (1932); John Meade's Woman (1937); Kathleen (1941); King of Alcatraz (1938); King of the Wild Horses (1947); Land of Liberty (1939); Love Crazy (1941); Mad About Music (1938); Mama Loves Papa (1933); Man of Conquest (1939); Meet the Stars #3: Variety Reel #1 (1941); Meet the Stars #6: Stars at Play (1941); Mississippi (1935); Murder at the Vanities (1934); Murder with Pictures (1936); Murders in the Zoo (1933); My Favorite Wife (1940); My Man Godfrey (1936); No More Ladies (1935); One Hour Late (1934); Perry Mason (1957–1966); Pick-up (1933); Picture People No. 2: Hollywood Sports (1941); Plainsman and the Lady (1946); Quiet Please: Murder (1942); Rendezvous with Annie (1946); Reno (1939); Rumba (1935); Screen Actors (1950); Screen Snapshots Series 15, No. 12 (1936); Screen Snapshots Series 19, No 6: Hollywood Recreations (1940); Screen Snapshots Series 19, No. 7: Wardrobe Designers (1940); Smart Girl (1935); Soaring Stars (1942); Stage Door (1937); Svengoolie (2016); Take the Stand (1934); Tales of Manhattan (1942); The Big Broadcast of 1936 (1935); The Big Parade of Comedy (1964); The Crime of Helen Stanley (1934); The Doctor Takes a Wife (1940); The Fashion Side of Hollywood (1935); The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939); The Inside Story (1948); The Lone Wolf Returns (1935); The Madonna's Secret (1946); The Merv Griffin Show (1972); The Mike Douglas Show (1970); The Mysterious Rider (1933); The New Perry Mason (1973–1974); The Phantom Broadcast (1933); The Preview Murder Mystery (1936); Threesome (2019); To the Last Man (1933); Twice Blessed (1945); Two Fisted (1935); Two in the Dark (1936); Unusual Occupations (1947); Up in Mabel's Room (1944); Voices in the Labyrinth (2019); Wagon Wheels (1934 / 1953); Wanderer of the Wasteland (1935); We Were Dancing (1942); White Hunter (1936); Wives Under Suspicion (1938); Women in Bondage (1943).

Born on this day – Lilian Jackson Braun:

 

Lilian Jackson Braun

Writer

June 20, 1913 – June 4, 2011

Credits:

Books:

Beastly Tales (1989); Detective Duos (1997); Great Tales of Crime and Detection (1995); Magicats II (1991); Midnight Louie's Pet Detectives (1998); More Mystery Cats (1993); Mystery Cats (1989); Mystery Cats III (1995); Pussy Tales (2019); Senior Sleuths (1996); Short & Tall Tales / aka Qwilleran's Short and Tall Tales (2002); Sisters in Crime 3 (1990); Tar Heel Dead (2005); The Best of Sisters in Crime (1997); The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern (1967); The Cat Who Blew the Whistle (1995); The Cat Who Brought Down The House (2003); The Cat Who Came to Breakfast (1994); The Cat Who Could Read Backwards (1966); The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell (2006); The Cat Who Had 14 Tales (1988); The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers (2007); The Cat Who Knew A Cardinal (1991); The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare (1988); The Cat Who Lived High (1990); The Cat Who Moved A Mountain (1992); The Cat Who Played Brahms (1987); The Cat Who Played Post Office (1987); The Cat Who Robbed A Bank (2000); The Cat Who Said Cheese (1996); The Cat Who Sang for the Birds (1998); The Cat Who Saw Red (1986); The Cat Who Saw Stars (1998); The Cat Who Smelled A Rat (2000); The Cat Who Sniffed Glue (1988); The Cat Who Tailed A Thief (1997); The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts (1990); The Cat Who Talked Turkey (2004); The Cat Who Turned on and Off (1968); The Cat Who Wasn't There (1992); The Cat Who Went Bananas (2004); The Cat Who Went Into the Closet (1993); The Cat Who Went Underground (1989); The Cat Who Went Up The Creek (2002); The Private Life of the Cat Who... (2003).

Born on this day – Martin Landau:

Martin Landau

Actor

Producer

Cartoonist

June 20, 1928 – July 15, 2017

Born on this day – John Wheeler:

John Wheeler

Actor

June 20, 1930 – February 6, 2026

Credits:

Adam-12 (1972); Apollo 13 (1995); Baby Talk (1992); Bad Georgia Road (1977); Banzai Runner (1987); Beverly Hills, 90210 (1998); Big Bad Mama (1974); Black Angels (1970); Bonanza (1968–1971); CHiPs (1978); Cold Steel (1987); Columbo (1972); Dallas (1982); Death Valley Days (1968); Emergency! (1974); ER (1994); Golden Child (1960); Good Grief (1990); Green Acres (1969–1971); Gunsmoke (1975); Happy Days (1974); Here's Lucy (1974); Honky Tonk (1974); Hotel (1986); It's a Living (1980); Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid (1978); L.A. Heat (1997); Life Goes On (1989–1990); Live a Little, Love a Little (1968); Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1994); Love, American Style (1972–1973); Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter (1991); Mame (1974); Mannix (1970); Meet the Santas (2005); Mission: Impossible (1972); Move (1970); Mrs. Santa Claus (1996); Newman's Law (1974); Night Court (1989); Nikki and Alexander (1989); Rescue from Gilligan's Island (1978); Rhoda (1978); Rolling Man (1972); Runaway Father (1991); Seed of Innocence (1980); Separate Ways (1981); Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978); Simon & Simon (1983); Single Santa Seeks Mrs. Claus (2004); Star Trek (1967); Star Trek Online / Video Game (2010); Step by Step (1997); Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971); Sweet Charity (1969); Team Knight Rider (1998); Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969); The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (1979); The Brady Bunch (1970–1974); The Bradys (1990); The Dick Cavett Show (1974); The Dukes of Hazzard (1982); The Golden Girls (1988); The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969); The Hollywood Detective (1989); The Huntress (2001); The Kid-a-Littles (1983); The North Avenue Irregulars (1979); The Odd Couple (1971–1975); The Outsider (1969); The Richard Pryor Special? (1977); The Rockford Files (1978); The Silent Gun (1969); The Vendors (1970); The Waltons (1976); The Wild Wild West Revisited (1979); Then Came Bronson (1970); True Colors (1991); Van Dyke and Company (1976); Van Dyke and Company (1976); Vice Squad Women (1973); With This Ring (1978); Wonderful Town (1958).

Born on this day – James Tolkan:

James Tolkan

Actor

June 20, 1931 – March 26, 2026

Credits:

A Nero Wolfe Mystery (2001–2002); ABC News Breakfast (2025); Abduction (1975); America Undercover (1990); American Playhouse (1983); Armed and Dangerous (1986); Armstrong Circle Theatre (1962); Author! Author! (1982); Back in Time (2015); Back to the Future (1985); Back to the Future Part II (1989); Back to the Future Part III (1990); Back to the Future Part III: Deleted Scene (2011); Beyond Betrayal (1994); Bloodfist IV: Die Trying (1992); Boiling Point (1993); Bone Tomahawk (2015); BTTF Project 85: The Back to the Future Fan Remake (2020); CBS Saturday Morning (2026); Cinemassacre's Monster Madness (2010); Cobra (1993–1994); Contrast of Evil (2013); Dick Tracy (1990); Do the Guilty Go Free? (1988); Driving Me Crazy (1991); Early Edition (1996); Expedition: Back to the Future (2021); Family Business (1989); Fan des années 80 (2010); Guns: A Day in the Death of America (1990); Hangfire (1991); Hanky Panky (1982); Heavens Fall (2006); Hill Street Blues (1985); Iceman (1984); Independence (1976); Leap of Faith (1988); Leverage (2011); Looking Back at the Future (2006); Looking Back to the Future (2009); Love and Death (1975); Love in Ambush (1997); Made in Heaven (1987); Mary (1985–1986); Masters of the Universe (1987); Metro Cafe (1994); Miami Vice (1987); Ministry of Vengeance (1989); N.Y.P.D. (1969); Naked City (1960); Nightmares / Segment: The Bishop of Battle (1983); Nowhere Man (1996); Off Beat (1986); Opportunity Knocks (1990); Ourstory (1975); Phil Spector (2013); Prince of the City (1981); Prince of the City: The Real Story (2007); Problem Child 2 (1991); Remington Steele (1985–1987); River of Stone (1994); Robo Warriors (1996); Second Sight (1989); Serpico (1973); Seven Times Lucky (2004); Sketch Artist (1992); Sketch Artist II: Hands That See (1995); Split Decisions (1988); Stiletto (1969); Sunset Beat (1990); Tales from the Crypt (1991); Tales from the Future (2010); Tequila and Bonetti (1992); The Amityville Horror (1979); The Case of the Hillside Stranglers (1989); The Equalizer (1989); The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990); The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973); The Hat Squad (1992–1993); The Magical World of Disney (1986); The Mind Reels (2013); The Pretender (1997); The River (1984); The Three Sisters (1966); The Werewolf of Washington (1973); The Wonder Years (1993); They Might Be Giants (1971); Tom Wilson: Humbly Super Famous (2024); Top Gun (1986); Top Gun: Fire at Will (1996); True Blood (1989); Turk 182 (1985); Underworld (1996); Val (2021); Viper (1988); Walls of Glass (1985); WarGames (1983); Weekend War (1988); Welcome to the Basement (2015); Wings: Thrill of Flight (1999); Wolfen (1981).