BOOKS THREAD

[Cosmo]

I'm in the middle of reading Klosterman's new offering ... haven't gotten to the new essays yet, but some of the old stuff from Esquire is fantastic. That Britney Spears profile had me rolling, as did the one on the rock and roll cruise ship. Klosterman > meh.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Anyone have any recommendations on which George Pelecanos novel to jump into first? As I watch The Wire I'm getting geekedon reading his stuff (and Richard Price, too). I've been away from crime novels too long ...

Duane,

I've read all of them - I'm reading his new one right now. For my money, Pelecanos is the best writer working today.

He has a few series and some standalone novels, although almost all of them intertwine. He has novels set in the 50s that include characters who are old men in his novels set in the 80s and 90s.

There are a few places to jump in, but I'd definitely read the series in order.

He did four novels with recurring characters covering Washington DC over several decades. Those may be his best. In order, they are "The Big Blowdown," "King Suckerman," "The Sweet Forever," and "Shame The Devil."

Then he wrote a series with a private eye team named Derek Strange and Terry Quinn. In order, those are "Right as Rain," "Hell To Pay," and "Soul Circus." You really have to read those in order -- there's a character arc that just won't make sense otherwise. "Hard Revolution" came next, and it goes back to the sixties showing Derek Strange as a rookie cop.

His first series focused around Nick Stefanos, a part-time PI. They're very good, but not as good as the later ones. In order, those are "A Firing Offense," "Nick's Trip," and "Down By The River Where The Dead Men Go."

His most recent novels stand on their own - "Drama City" and his new one, "The Night Gardener."

Anyway, I'd probably start with "The Big Blowdown" and read through that series first, but you really can't go wrong with starting any of the series or one of the standalones. Enjoy.

 

[Duane Postum]

Anyone have any recommendations on which George Pelecanos novel to jump into first? As I watch The Wire I'm getting geekedon reading his stuff (and Richard Price, too). I've been away from crime novels too long ...

Duane,

I've read all of them - I'm reading his new one right now. For my money, Pelecanos is the best writer working today.

He has a few series and some standalone novels, although almost all of them intertwine. He has novels set in the 50s that include characters who are old men in his novels set in the 80s and 90s.

There are a few places to jump in, but I'd definitely read the series in order.

He did four novels with recurring characters covering Washington DC over several decades. Those may be his best. In order, they are "The Big Blowdown," "King Suckerman," "The Sweet Forever," and "Shame The Devil."

Then he wrote a series with a private eye team named Derek Strange and Terry Quinn. In order, those are "Right as Rain," "Hell To Pay," and "Soul Circus." You really have to read those in order -- there's a character arc that just won't make sense otherwise. "Hard Revolution" came next, and it goes back to the sixties showing Derek Strange as a rookie cop.

His first series focused around Nick Stefanos, a part-time PI. They're very good, but not as good as the later ones. In order, those are "A Firing Offense," "Nick's Trip," and "Down By The River Where The Dead Men Go."

His most recent novels stand on their own - "Drama City" and his new one, "The Night Gardener."

Anyway, I'd probably start with "The Big Blowdown" and read through that series first, but you really can't go wrong with starting any of the series or one of the standalones. Enjoy.

Many, many thanks, PC.

 

[hockeybeat]

I finished "Searching for Bobby Orr" this weekend.

It's among the five best books I've read.

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

Not crazy about the tone -- awkward exclamations mar the narrative in spots -- but Cokie Roberts' Founding Mothers is a decent read. It's a good idea that has much more room for exposition.

 

[Huggy]

I finished "Searching for Bobby Orr" this weekend.

It's among the five best books I've read.

Looking forward to reading that. I think Brunt's the best sports columnist up here but his books are very good too.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Just about finished Michael Lewis' new book "The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game." It is a great read.

 

[Del_B_Vista]

1) I can't imagine growing up Augusten Burroughs after reading his memoir, "Running with Scissors." Pedophilia, child neglect and flat-out bizarre -- actual non-existent -- childrearing strategies lead to a bunch of interesting anecdotes in a really good read.
2) I can't imagine what the movie is going to be like. There are some huge names in it, and I don't know how half of it will make it on the big screen. It's going to be coming out later this month.

 

[Bolo]

I finished Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" last night.

Not his best work, but damn good. Nobody says more with fewer words than McCarthy.

 

[D-3 Fan]

I tend to shy away from the best sellers and talk-about novels and veer towards lesser-known finds.

Currently, I'm reading "The Celebrity" by Robert Elmer. It's about a pop singer who becomes disillusioned about his celebrity life and on the heels of his mother's death, he "escapes" to his mother's hometown to intern her ashes and assumes a new name and starts living a nomadic life. He meets and fall in love with his new boss' daughter, who also comes home, after suffering a serious head injury after a drunken driver slams into her car.

Mainly, it's about second chances in life.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

EL Doctorow's The March has had me up late three nights running now.

 

[Huggy]

Wrapped up Michael's Connelly's The Lincoln Lawyer the other day. Terrific stuff. Got The Closers on deck after I finish Lifeless, a thriller a friend of mine passed on by a British writer named Mark Billingham about a killer targeting the homeless in London. Highly recommended to fans of the genre.

 

[Duane Postum]

Finishing up Ron Suskind's The One Percent Doctrine (superb), to be followed by Woodward's latest and Frank Rich's Greatest Story Ever Sold. Any other recommendations along these lines? Fiasco? Hubris? Any other essentials I'm missing?

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

Hubris is better written, but Fiasco's got some really good stuff on how utterly pissed off the professional military is.

 

[Duane Postum]

Hubris is better written, but Fiasco's got some really good stuff on how utterly pissed off the professional military is.

Thanks!

 

[Birdscribe]

EL Doctorow's The March has had me up late three nights running now.

Fenian, I wasn't enamored of this at all. An overwritten mess, IMO.

 

[JayFarrar]

Currently reading "The Children's Hospital" by Dr. Chris Adrian. It is from the McSweeney's folks. Some dude named Dave Eggers said it was the best thing he's read in a long time.
It is utterly trippy and fascinating all at the same time.
Supposed to be doing an interview with Adrian, yes this outs me to a very hot PR chickie, but I'm fine with that.

 

[Double Down]

Currently reading "The Children's Hospital" by Dr. Chris Adrian. It is from the McSweeney's folks. Some dude named Dave Eggers said it was the best thing he's read in a long time.
It is utterly trippy and fascinating all at the same time.
Supposed to be doing an interview with Adrian, yes this outs me to a very hot PR chickie, but I'm fine with that.

Jay, I may just check out that book, but I'll do it based on your recommendation, not Eggers. I think he's a brilliant writer, but just so you know, he is one of the most notorious whores for book blurbing (outside of, I guess, Pat Conroy) and especially when it involves his friends or wife. In fact, he's so over-the-top with it, most people think it's him trying to subtlety mock the mostly phony practice of book blurbing in its entirety. I have seen quotes from him like that -- "The best book I've read in a long time!" -- on just about every McSweeney's book to come out in the last five years.

This includes books written by his wife (Vendela Vida), his good friends (Heidi Julavits, Jonathan Lethem, Michael Chabon, Amanda Davis, Nick Hornby, Lydia Davis), as well frequent, infrequent, and former McSweeney's contributors (John Hodgman, Zadie Smith, Denis Johnson, George Saunders, ect.)

Here is Eggers blurbing for the book, "Adverbs," written by his friend Daniel Handler:

" 'Adverbs' describes adolescence, friendship, and love with such freshness and power that you feel drunk and beaten up, but still want to leave your own world and enter the one Handler’s created. Anyone who lives to read gorgeous writing will want to lick this book and sleep with it between their legs.”

Here he is schilling for Nicola Barker’s novel, Clear.

“The brilliance of Barker’s style is beyond perfection.”

Here is is pimping his good buddy Sean Wilsey:

“I read plenty of true-life-story sorts of books by people I’ve met, and this is the number one most intriguing, most hilarious, most jaw dropping, most reckless and brilliant and insane. At one point I had to burn the second half of [the book] so I didn’t distract myself from my own dumb deadlines.”

Here is Eggers blurbing for good buddy Julavits:

"One of the best books of the year.''

I could go on, but it's not worth it. I read McSweeney's as much as I can, and I really do appreciate what Eggers does for undiscovered writers and what Vida and Julavits are trying to do with the Believer (I can't hate on people who love books as much as they do) but the entire McSweeney's culture is a bit too masturbatory to take their recommendations without a grain of salt.

 

[Double Down]

However, for what it's worth, New York Magazine says Eggers new novel, a faux-autobiography about the Sudanese civil war, "What is The What," is nothing short of genius. It's one of the books on my must-read list as soon as it gets released to the general public. Every penny from the book sales goes to help Sudanese refugees.

http://nymag.com/arts/books/reviews/23147/

Gothamist clearly wanted to hate it, and just couldn't, calling it "heart-breaking, brilliant, and remarkable."

http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2006/10/29/opinionist_comp.php

 

[JayFarrar]

Double D
So I assume you get the McSweeney's e-mail? Quality stuff.
Anyway, you're spot-on in you're assessment of the McSweeney's culture, but, for me, Eggers sets himself apart by everything else he does. And, like you, I can't hate the people who still think words matter.
I'm supposed to check out a reading of his here very soon. If you have any inside baseball questions, pass them on.