I found this book by Eric Hodgins in an estate sale for a quarter. It had unusual illustrations and is the basis for a movie that I really like.

Hodgins was an M.I.T graduate and an executive in publishing when he quit to pursue a writing career. He had all the right contacts and managed to create a best selling book and sell it as a major movie.

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, written in 1946, is almost exactly like the movie, only with extra content, but it lacks Cary Grant, Myrna Loy and Melvyne Douglas.

I enjoyed the book, but it the movie is better. (I can’t believe that I said that.)