Now reading...

[jazzbo]

But isn't that also McDonald modeling himself after Chandler's Marlowe who you really don't know that much about, and the Op of Hammett's who is an enigma entirely personal history wise?

[jazzbo]

Though I say that as a big McDonald fan, but I'm more a fan of Chandler. No one writes like that! When he was ON he was untouchable.

[Dr. Rat]

Funny, because, if anything, Lew Archer, especially in the novels of the 60s and 70s, has been criticized as being too sensitive and not tough enough, sort of the lefty-liberal's hardboiled dick, as compared to Mike Hammer and such. Actually, what I find most interesting about Archer is that, though you do learn stray facts about him throughout the series, for the most part he functions as almost a window for the reader, a consciousness through which you perceive the other characters in the story with clarity, while he remains mostly a blank.

I'll give him another try one of these days. I came back to Hammett becasue I ran out of Chandler and couldn't see what had put me off when I was younger. Issues with my male ratness, perhaps?

Mike Hammer is pretty much off the map, for me: the hard-boiled detective after all the interesting bits have boiled off.

--eric

[jazzbo]

Mike Hammer is way off my map too.

Now reading: Philip K. Dick with Gwen Lee, "What if Our world were Their Heaven?"

[ghost of miles]

Kalo,

Hoping the movie version of THE GLASS KEY eventually comes out on DVD. I think I still have a copy taped off AMC somewhere around the house... and all of the THIN MAN movies are coming out in one set this August.

Right now: James Atlas' biography of the writer Delmore Schwartz.

Up next: Michael Chabon's THE FINAL SOLUTION. And just heard about Marilynne Robinson's (HOUSEKEEPING) new novel! Can't wait to read that one...

[BruceH]

sort of the lefty-liberal's hardboiled dick, as compared to Mike Hammer and such.

That's my kind of dick. (So to speak.)

I've been meaning to read some McDonald novels for years. Gave one a try in 97 or 98 and got distracted. Maybe now's the time.

[Chrome]

Anyone have any love for Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko books?

[Dr. Rat]

Anyone have any love for Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko books?

←

Oh, yeah. I LOVE this series. There is a sort of formulaic quality to them (not as much as many others, though), but the attitude is just right for my taste: rueful.

Do you happen to remember the scene where Renko watches a building burn or collapse and makes uses it as a metaphor to expalin his fascination with murder?

I've been trying to relocate it for months.

--eric

[BruceH]

Kalo,

Hoping the movie version of THE GLASS KEY eventually comes out on DVD.  I think I still have a copy taped off AMC somewhere around the house...

←

Care to send that (or a copy of it) my way sometime?

[jlhoots]

Anyone have any love for Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko books?

←

Coincidentally I just started Wolves Eat Dogs.

[Brandon Burke]

David Mitchell - number9dream

[Harold_Z]

re Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko books - I read GORKY PARK years ago and throughly enjoyed it. Never got around to any others in the series, but this is a definite reminder to do so.

I just finished Phillip K Dick's A SCANNER DARKLY.

WOW !

Very accessible after reading VALIS, which I enjoyed but it took mucho concentration in parts (well worth the effort). I figured I'd get a head's up the upcoming flick. DARKLY is terrific. It can alternately funny and poignant. Tragicomic?

I was a little disappointed to find out that the upcoming flick is animated, but I'm trying to get used to the idea.

[jazzbo]

A Scanner Darkly is a wonderful book in its way!

I was a little disappointed to learn of the animation-overlay of the upcoming movie too. But I would kid myself to say I was not gong to go see it.

[JohnJ]

Though I say that as a big McDonald fan, but I'm more a fan of Chandler.  No one writes like that!  When he was ON he was untouchable.

←

Could not agree more. There is nobody quite like Chandler and I never tire of reading his prose. Time to dig out 'The Big Sleep' and start again from the beginning.

[Chrome]

I'm not sure, but I think it was in Havana Bay, the one set in Cuba ... Smith is one of the few current "mystery/thriller" writers I'm still geeked on, it seems like he concentrates on the writing as much as the plotting ... I used to read a lot of Ellroy, for example, but American Tabloid really turned me off ... it seemed like he was phoning in a fair amount of that.

Anyone have any love for Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko books?

←

Oh, yeah. I LOVE this series. There is a sort of formulaic quality to them (not as much as many others, though), but the attitude is just right for my taste: rueful.

Do you happen to remember the scene where Renko watches a building burn or collapse and makes uses it as a metaphor to expalin his fascination with murder?

I've been trying to relocate it for months.

--eric

←

[BruceH]

Loved ' The Grifters', the movie that is. haven't read the book.

←

Great score by the late Elmer Bernstein in that movie.

[BruceH]

Funny, I just finished The Glass Key a while back. Though I saw the movie many years ago, as far as I can recall it also followed the book quite closely, except for softening the ending. Good book and a good overlooked movie, one of the best of the Alan Ladd/Veronica Lake pairings.

←

Better than The Blue Dahlia? ("Da monkey music! Da monkey music!") B-)

[Dr. Rat]

I'm not sure, but I think it was in Havana Bay, the one set in Cuba ... Smith is one of the few current "mystery/thriller" writers I'm still geeked on, it seems like he concentrates on the writing as much as the plotting ... I used to read a lot of Ellroy, for example, but American Tabloid really turned me off ... it seemed like he was phoning in a fair amount of that.

Ellroy has always been up and down. Some of his really early stuff where he helped pioneer the serial killer genre is really kinda lazy in the thinking department, if you asked me. American Tabloid definitely marked a sort of turning point. I didn't mind it so much as you seem to have--I think I was hopng he'd turn into some sort of Tim Powers-esque fantasist (al la Last Call and Declare), but he probably doesn't have it in him. He's just not capable of the sort of lightheartedness that'd take.

Thanks for the Havana Bay tip,

--eric

[paul secor]

Robertson Davies: What's Bred in the Bone

[jazzbo]

"The Gnosis or Ancient Wisdom in the Christian Scriptures," by William Kingsland. (A Theosophist work).

Edited May 30, 2005 by jazzbo

[kinuta]

Just finished

[kinuta]

Just started

[Matthew]

Reading Graham Green recently, and enjoying it: The Heart of the Matter, The Quiet American & The Human Factor. Does anyone think that the new movie version of The Quiet American is worth buying?

Edited May 30, 2005 by Matthew

[brownie]

Reading Graham Green recently, and enjoying it:  The Heart of the Matter, The Quiet American & The Human Factor.  Does anyone think that the new movie version of The Quiet American is worth buying?

←

Forget about the remake and try to get hold of the original one by Joseph Mankiewicz with Michael Redgrave and Audie Muphy. A black and white classic.

Another incredible movie adaptation from Graham Greene is 'The Ministry of Fear' by Fritz Lang (1943) set in wartime London with Ray Milland. Stunningly breathtaking!

[Alfred]

I'm just reading the fourth Reginald Hill novel in a row. These Dalziel & Pascoe stories are very funny with excellent plots. Highly recommended!

My favo(u)rite!