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five years pass...
I love Lawrence Block.
Since Thanksgiving of last year I've read all the Keller novels, most of the Scudder's (still working), a couple Bernie Rhodenbarr books and most of the hard case crime reprints (the best of those imo: 'the girl with the long green heart' and 'lucky at cards.')
I love Keller's descent in stamp collecting. Keller (or Block, or both) has some really useful insights into the nature of collecting -- i've been working up something in my mind about this for months now. The ability of a hobby or collection to immerse a person and remove him from his daily life, the irrationality of paying large sums of of money for essentially 'worthless' pieces of paper. It's all very interesting to me.
I don't know if I have a favorite Matt Scudder book, as I haven't finished them all yet. The first one I read was "When The Sacred Ginmill Closes" which still stands out as a favorite; since that I went back and have been reading them in order. I am in the middle of "A Dance At The Slaughterhouse" right now. The same mechanics are at play in a lot of these stories, but the way Block writes about New York and about Scudder's internal life keep them from feeling repetitive.
There is a lot of talk in this thread about the Spenser books by Robert B Parker -- they're pretty light overall. I rather enjoyed the first few I read ("The Godwulf Manuscript", "Mortal Stakes" especially) but ultimately the series didn't grip me. I didn't read them in order, but I did try to read the earlier ones when I could find them, because the conventional wisdom is that the series went down hill. I'm inclined to agree a bit -- extended scenes of Spenser and Susan mulling over their relationship and its trials are not so trilling to me. Or scenes they they play with their dog. The earlier stories really work because of the action and quick pacing; when that took a back seat to the personal life of Chef Spenser... well..
My FAVE FAVE FAVE mystery novelist is Donald Westlake. We have a thread on him though. But suffice to say his Parker books are far and away the best books about a professional criminal that I've read -- I even rate them above Block's Keller series; where Keller is easy for a reader to like, there is just nothing in Parker's personality for the reader to grab onto and empathize with. This probably turns some people on, but I think it's great. Other fave Westlake novels are probably "The Ax" and "The Hook." They are both very very dark. Of his lighter, more comic work I think the best ones are "The Fugitive Pigeon" and "Somebody Owes Me Money" which are about poor schmucks who find themselves in bad situations. "The Hot Rock" is a classic, but I haven't read any of his other Dortmunder novels yet. I still have a ton of his standalone novels to read too, just tons of them....
I am getting into Ross Thomas currently. I just read one of his books, written under the name Oliver Bleeck. I liked it and I definitely have room in my diet for more political thrillers/espionage style tales. Anyone have any favorites?
Charles Williams was mentioned upthread and my favorite of his is "A Touch of Death" which Hard Case Crime reprinted. I know "The Hot Spot" is considered by many to be the classic, and it's good and hooks you fast, but it's got a fairly conventional 'working stiff gets into trouble cuz of a broad' storyline.
Jim Thompson: still have a lot to read, but my faves are probably "The Getaway", "Savage Night" and "The Grifters." Also really liked "Pop. 1280" once I got into it.
I need to read more Simenon, but my favorite of the few I have read is "Dirty Snow." Just an amazing books. Helen only likes his Maigret novels, and we have a ton of those around and I've read a few but it gets to be just too overwhelming.. so many books sitting around that I need to read.
i tend to buy bulk lots of books on ebay tbh, so stuff piles up very quickly. when i decided i wanted to read ross macdonald i just bought the whole lew archer series cheap in one go. (unfortunately i found out i didn't love macdonald as much as some other people. i only read four or five of them. i'll go back to him eventually..) likewise I have Block, Westlake, McBain, Thompson, Simenon etc just lying around taking up space waiting to be read. I kinda like it. But it's a lot of pressure...
Do you like Harry Whittington? If you like Jim Thompson, I think you'll like Whittington. The Black Lizard books are good and cheap, although you should avoid Ticket to Hell, which is about a guy driving around the desert in a Porsch, being a hero.
If you haven't, you should read Joel Townsely Rogers' The Red Right Hand! Creepy backwoods stuff, good on atmosphere. Kind of like reading Shirley Jackson with a locked room plot sewn in.
And P.M. Hubbard! He's great!
― bamcquern, Wednesday, 19 June 2013 00:01 (ten years ago) link
four years pass...
two years pass...
Tana French has a new book out today, The Searcher. Every time she publishes something I rush to read it on the first day, get all the way through it, think, "Hmm, not sure if I liked that," and then immediately start looking forward to her next book.
― Lily Dale, Wednesday, 7 October 2020 03:04 (three years ago) link
three months pass...