What are you Reading now ..... other than comics ? 7 7

[thecopperagekids]

Fifties sci-fi and crime digests, Modesty Blaise strip reprints, the continuation of the Spenser novels by Ace Atkins, after Robert Parker passed away. He writes good Spenser, but Hawk, not so much.

 

I was really bummed when Parker passed. I spent my first 49 years living in the Boston area, with most of it in Cambridge and Beacon Hill. I'd sometimes see Parker dining at Harvest or another local restaurant. He helped the owner of the local mystery book store build their bookshelves.

 

Parker is my hands down favorite mystery writer. When I heard about Atkins taking on Spenser after Parker's death I was excited and fearful. So far I only read LULLABY (his first) and thought it felt a good bit like Parker although less fluid.Hise descriptions of the greater Boston neighborhoods were noticeably more stilted than Parker's. Obviously written by someone who never lived there.

 

Does he get a better flow in subsequent stories?

 

Yes./ I've read four of the first five by Atkins, he's smoothing out pretty well. It's a somewhat different Spenser, but it's still Spenser....and he's taken on Sixkill as an apprentice, and that relationship is nearly as satisfying as Spenser and Hawk. I believe he's going to be a worthy successor.

 

I haven't read a Spenser novel since the late 1980s. I liked the first couple, which were more in the hardboiled P.I. tradition as I recall, but I got tired of the crutch of the near superhuman abilities of Hawk to bail Spenser out of tough situations ( I felt the same about Robert Crais' Joe Pike in the Elvis Cole novels), and the plots seemed to become more over the top thriller than gritty noir around then. This was also around the time Parker wrote the Marlowe Poodle Springs novel - which I found a pale and tedious imitation of Chandler.

 

I'll admit to being a bit of crime fiction grump though, frequently losing interest in authors as I feel they become lazy plotters, too committed to the nobility of their central characters (diminishing their flaws as time goes on), or so enamored of their own brilliance that their material becomes near parody of their earlier work (I'm talking about you James Ellroy).

 

 

Good summation on Ellroy, and in general.

 

I have been a big fan of Hard Case Crime books for the past few years.

 

They feature mostly obscure, earlier stories by Parker and his ilk.

 

I've read a couple dozen of them over the past few years.They are all generally around 150-200 pages; the sort of books you can read within 2 sittings or so.

 

Hardcasecrime.com has a full listing and you can grab them in lots for pennies on the dollar on eBay.

[rjpb]

I pick up Hard case Crime books at used book stores and on ebay now and then. Outside of Walter Mosely and James Ellroy, I mostly buy mystery books as used paperbacks, though I've sometimes bought Michael Connelly, Carl Hiassen and back when he was still alive, Elmore Leonard's work as new paperbacks.

 

I don't read as much fiction ( or non-fiction for that matter), as I used to, spending way too much time on the web, and most of the mysteries I've been reading this last year, are rereads of books I bought years ago, most recently rereading the Charles Willeford Hoke Mosley novels.

 

I'm at that age where a lot of the books and movies I enjoyed when I was younger, are barely part remembered, and so rereading and rewatching them is almost like doing it for the first time again.

[Hado]

I just finished 'Sword Song' the fourth novel in the Saxon stories by Bernard Cornwell.

 

I'm really enjoying the series and the BBC show isn't bad either, though they've really took liberties with the characters and timeline.

 

 

[jimjum12]

I pick up Hard case Crime books at used book stores and on ebay now and then. Outside of Walter Mosely and James Ellroy, I mostly buy mystery books as used paperbacks, though I've sometimes bought Michael Connelly, Carl Hiassen and back when he was still alive, Elmore Leonard's work as new paperbacks.

 

I don't read as much fiction ( or non-fiction for that matter), as I used to, spending way too much time on the web, and most of the mysteries I've been reading this last year, are rereads of books I bought years ago, most recently rereading the Charles Willeford Hoke Mosley novels.

 

I'm at that age where a lot of the books and movies I enjoyed when I was younger, are barely part remembered, and so rereading and rewatching them is almost like doing it for the first time again.

 

.... this happened to me with both Lovecraft and Howard..... I might as well had never read them at all...... GOD BLESS....

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[TupennyConan]

[For what it's worth, the late Timothy Leary, who loathed traditional religion and its implications, STILL thought evolution was baloney.

 

No he didn't. Perhaps the confusion lies over Leary's theory of the evolution of consciousness, articulated in his eight circuit model of consciousness.

 

Not familiar with his theories of mind. Should I google or pass on the lsd?

[rjpb]

I pick up Hard case Crime books at used book stores and on ebay now and then. Outside of Walter Mosely and James Ellroy, I mostly buy mystery books as used paperbacks, though I've sometimes bought Michael Connelly, Carl Hiassen and back when he was still alive, Elmore Leonard's work as new paperbacks.

 

I don't read as much fiction ( or non-fiction for that matter), as I used to, spending way too much time on the web, and most of the mysteries I've been reading this last year, are rereads of books I bought years ago, most recently rereading the Charles Willeford Hoke Mosley novels.

 

I'm at that age where a lot of the books and movies I enjoyed when I was younger, are barely part remembered, and so rereading and rewatching them is almost like doing it for the first time again.

 

.... this happened to me with both Lovecraft and Howard..... I might as well had never read them at all...... GOD BLESS....

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

 

I have to confess, I never "got" Lovecraft, but I'm reminded I haven't read the Conan stories since I was a teenager, I should snag a bunch on ebay for a reread.

[jimjum12]

I pick up Hard case Crime books at used book stores and on ebay now and then. Outside of Walter Mosely and James Ellroy, I mostly buy mystery books as used paperbacks, though I've sometimes bought Michael Connelly, Carl Hiassen and back when he was still alive, Elmore Leonard's work as new paperbacks.

 

I don't read as much fiction ( or non-fiction for that matter), as I used to, spending way too much time on the web, and most of the mysteries I've been reading this last year, are rereads of books I bought years ago, most recently rereading the Charles Willeford Hoke Mosley novels.

 

I'm at that age where a lot of the books and movies I enjoyed when I was younger, are barely part remembered, and so rereading and rewatching them is almost like doing it for the first time again.

 

.... this happened to me with both Lovecraft and Howard..... I might as well had never read them at all...... GOD BLESS....

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

 

I have to confess, I never "got" Lovecraft, but I'm reminded I haven't read the Conan stories since I was a teenager, I should snag a bunch on ebay for a reread.

 

...check them out from the Library..... I snagged the deluxe illustrated volumes..... one of which was illustrated by Mark Schultz ...... sorry about Lovecraft, though. I guess we can't all have good taste GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[makeminemarvel]

Just finished The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy by Stieg Larsson. Yes all 3 books. Very entertaining and highly recommended.

[Dick Pontoon]

"White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s" by Joe Boyd was the most recent. It was a great read. Currently I’m close to finishing ”Life Itself: A Memoir” by Roger Ebert, another good one.

[jimjum12]

Just finished "Cabinet of Curiousities" by Preston and Child...... another Pendergast novel..... man, these things are good. I believe the first Pendergast was in "Relic", which was actually made into a movie..... I've yet to see it.... but there's no way they could pack that whole novel into one movie. Still, I am curious about it. GOD BLESS....

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[topofthetotem]

I was reading Seeing The Light: Inside The Velvet Underground its by Rob Jovanovic. I never heard of the writer but am a big fan of Reed and the Velvet Underground and picked it up at the goodwill for a buck.

 

I was half way through when I put it down, its bland and colourless everything about the book is just a restatement of whats already been said about the VU for the last few decades they are among the top in the pantheon of influential bands and this book adds nothing to that so don't waste your time.

[Doohickamabob]

I've been reading Stephen King's book "Different Seasons," which is a volume of 4 short stories/novellas that each correspond to a season of the year.

 

The first story is "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption," which was made into the movie starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. It's possibly one of Stephen King's best non-horror stories, as it is nearly flawless in detail and execution. It's interesting how closely the movie adheres to the story. There's almost nothing in the story that isn't in the movie, and vice-versa, with only small elements shifted around or re-focused to make things more cinematic. If you've seen the movie, you know this is a very satisfying story with a slowly building set of circumstances and developments.

 

The 2nd story is "Apt Pupil," and it's the longest story in the book, so it's more accurately described as a novella rather than a short story. I think it's 130 pages or so. This is the story that Stephen King says he wrote to wind down after completing the novel "The Shining," which he wrote in part to confront his personal demons relating to being an alcoholic. King has joked that "Apt Pupil" is the actual story that the writer character of Jack Torrance is working on throughout "The Shining," and that makes sense, because "Apt Pupil" gets more evil and homicidal as it progresses. As storytelling goes, "Apt Pupil" is kind of an undisciplined mess, and it does come across more as an exercise for Stephen King than as something he carefully planned out and plotted from start to finish, like he did for the "Shawshank Redemption." It's pretty entertaining in parts though. The story involves a young teenager in a Southern California suburb who discovers that a high-ranking WWII German Nazi is living incognito in his neighborhood. Instead of turning the Nazi in, the teen is fascinated with the Nazi's evil exploits and he blackmails him into telling him stories about all the people he killed. One interesting thing, from a CGC board perspective, is that the main catalyst for this boy's fascination with evil is the day he finds a cache of war magazines in a friend's garage -- magazines like "Man's Story," "Men Today," etc.... the kind of magazines that had paintings on the cover of leering Nazis holding hot pokers over half-naked women who were hog-tied and strapped to torture contraptions, etc. In a way, "Apt Pupil" seems to be Stephen King's way of dealing with his disgust over the kind of people who enjoyed and created a market for that sort of magazines. Or maybe it's King's way of working out his own fascination and self-disgust with such material. In any case, the story is almost random in how it unfolds, and at times it seems it could go in any direction, but finally it does choose a direction. "Apt Pupil" was made into a movie and the screenwriters/filmmakers chose a different direction. The director of that movie, Bryan Singer, also made the "X-Men" films, and he chose Ian "Magneto" McKellan to play the aging Nazi.

 

The third story in "Different Seasons" is one that probably most people know because it was the basis for the movie "Stand by Me." The story is called "The Body" because, of course, it's about 4 boys who go on a sort of coming-of-age pilgrimage to satisfy their morbid curiosity by seeing the dead body of a boy who has gone missing in a nearby town. Like "Shawshank Redemption," this story is set in Maine, which is Stephen King's own real-life stomping grounds, though he fictionalizes the main town of Castle Rock. (Get it? Stephen *King* sets his stories in a "Castle"... One funny thing about "Different Seasons" is that the stories occasionally reference each other: The Nazi in "Apt Pupil" received investment advice from the banker in "Shawshank Redemption," for example. Also, "The Body" references the dog in King's novel "Cujo.") So anyway, "The Body" is a pretty good story and it made a strong basis for "Stand by Me," right up to the "Lard " blueberry pie barfing story. The filmmakers (which included director Rob Reiner, of "Spinal Tap" and "Princess Bride" fame) did switch around some elements, such as which boy is holding the gun at the end, and also there's a lot of follow-up information in the story that the movie glossed over because it was too downbeat or would damage the momentum. It's hard to tell how much King is writing about his own childhood, but the main character is a kid who grows up to be a famous horror/suspense novelist, so clearly there are a lot of touchpoints. Stephen King fluctuates a lot between passages of great invention and brilliance, and also areas where he seems kinda hacky and like he's struggling to hold up the quality. "The Body" mostly holds together, and thematically it's both a memoir of childhood and also a meditation on youthful mortality, since the characters come close to death several times, and many of the childhood friends depicted in the story ended up dead in the decade or so after the events described. It's almost like the 4 boys are on a quest to confront their future dead selves. Pretty strange story, but interesting.

 

I haven't finished the 4th story yet, but it's the shortest in the book, and as far as I can tell it's the only one that wasn't made into a movie. All told, "Different Seasons" is pretty good readin', with some "eh" parts here and there. I had never actually read a Stephen King book before, so I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. He's an interesting writer, more hard-working wordsmith than literary artist, but he does have talent.

[TupennyConan]

The Breathing Method.

 

It is the best work of King's early career.

[TupennyConan]

I am reading Charles Beaumont's Perchance to Dream, Selected Stories, Penguin Classics.

[fiendish]

Just finished the memoirs of U.S. Grant, which was a bit of a slog. He's a witty writer when he wants to be, but so much of the civil war coverage is from his perspective, that is, in the rear with the gear. If you're looking for a first-person account of battles and such this ain't it. (His recounting of battle during the Mexican War is much more dramatic, as he was on the front lines for much of it.)

 

Now reading The Great God Pan, cuz I like to change it up (while keeping it 19th Century).

 

 

Edited March 15, 2016 by fiendish

[dupont2005]

Last night I finished the last bit of ASOIAF prose left on the internet.

 

I'll probably be reading a whole lot more comics now.

[TupennyConan]

U.S. Grant

 

 

We prefer winners in the US. The #1.

 

My best understanding of Grant in a nutshell is #1 corrupt president & #1 drunken president.

[fiendish]

U.S. Grant

 

 

We prefer winners in the US. The #1.

 

My best understanding of Grant in a nutshell is #1 corrupt president & #1 drunken president.

 

Not even close to #1 corrupt. Maybe in the top six. And less corrupt himself (like say, Nixon) than tolerant of or ignorant of corruption in his own administration (see: Reagan).

 

His drinking days were mostly before the war. Drank less after. Of course, whiskey was harder to find then...

[Old Fashion PB and J]

Sun Tzu "The Art of War" every day I read a little.

[ComicConnoisseur]

Wow! Finally read it.