What good book have you read lately? (New or old)

[mary]

A Gravestone Made of Wheat.  A collection of short stories by Will Weaver
I was prompted to read this based on having seen (and loved) the film Sweet Land.  Sweet Land was inspired by the title story of this collection. In many ways this book reminded me of Close Range (and other Annie Proulx short stories)

The stories all take place in Minnesota and are mostly about small towns and farm life. Though the film Sweet Land is really only drawn from one story - all of the stories paint the picture of the location and life there. 

I found the writing style to be less complex than Annie Proulx but I will say that the image I was left with at the end of A Gravestone Made of Wheat is one the will stick with me a long time.

[michaelflanagansf]

A Gravestone Made of Wheat.  A collection of short stories by Will Weaver
I was prompted to read this based on having seen (and loved) the film Sweet Land.  Sweet Land was inspired by the title story of this collection. In many ways this book reminded me of Close Range (and other Annie Proulx short stories)

The stories all take place in Minnesota and are mostly about small towns and farm life. Though the film Sweet Land is really only drawn from one story - all of the stories paint the picture of the location and life there. 

I found the writing style to be less complex than Annie Proulx but I will say that the image I was left with at the end of A Gravestone Made of Wheat is one the will stick with me a long time.

I LOVED 'Sweet Land' too Mary!  I haven't mentioned it anywhere because I know the cousin of the film maker and didn't want to seem nepotistic.  I too was wondering about the short stories.

[Nikki]

Recently at the library, I picked up a copy of "Howl" Fifty Years Later" edited by Jason Shinder. I had never read the poem, since I was too young when the Beats were thriving. This edition contains essays by different writers -- people who knew Ginsberg and others.

I have to admit it's not easy reading,  and I don't think I'd read it again soon, but since it's become iconic in  American culture, I felt I had to give it a try. I can see why it caused such a sensation. Would like to hear from someone who attended Ginsberg's readings. The first two lines did grab me: I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving, hysterical, naked...

[Rosewood]

Forgive me for butting in here, Nikki, on a different topic. 
We were speaking, or at least, someone else was, about gay lit over
on the October Front Runner discussion and it brought to mind some books
I've read over the past few years that have gay protagonists, are well
written, tell good stories and have NO major overwrought dramatics.

The Jack Caleb and John Thinnes series by Michael Allen Dymmoch features
a gay psychiatrist and a straight cop who fashion an unlikely friendship.
THE MAN WHO UNDERSTOOD CATS is the first, followed by:
THE DEATH OF BLUE MOUNTAIN CAT.
INCENDIARY DESIGNS.
THE FELINE FRIENDSHIP and I believe, there's a new one this
year whose title escapes me at the moment. I own these others, but haven't
bought the new one. NOTE: these books have virtually nothing to do with cats.
It's just a quirk on the author's part. Go figure.

The Kate Martinelli books by Laurie King feature a lesbian San Francisco cop
who lives in a long term relationship with her life partner and their child.
The series begins with the Edgar winning A GRAVE TALENT followed by:
TO PLAY THE FOOL.
WITH CHILD.
NIGHT WORK.
THE ART OF DETECTION which has a heartbreaking gay story within a story and an
unsettling ending I didn't like. But, King is such a damn fine writer, I forgave her.

I also highly recommend THE CUTTING ROOM by Louise Welsh.
Very modern noir.
The main character, Rilke, is hard to like but don't let that stop you.
Eventually he grows on you.
He's a gay auction appraiser working in Glasgow who comes across a stash
of disturbing erotic photographs. This is an eerie book, but worth the time.

I also recommend, again, the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike series by Robert Crais.
This series of books is technically a detective and his sidekick series.
But because of Crais's talent, it is SO much more than that.
In my estimation, the books are basically about the intense friendship that
these two men share.

They are not homosexual.
But are as close as two straight men can be without having sex.
It is the kind of friendship where one would die for the other without thinking
much about it.
I love these books and recommend them highly to anyone who values good
writing, mystery and taut story telling with a weisenheimer edge. Both Cole and
Pike are unforgettable characters and if I HAD to pick my favorite mystery/detective
series in the whole world, this would be it.

THE MONKEY'S RAINCOAT
STALKING THE ANGEL
LULLABY TOWN
FREE FALL
VOODOO RIVER
SUNSET EXPRESS
INDIGO SLAM
L.A. REQUIEM (Crais's masterpiece.)
THE LAST DETECTIVE
and just due out in February, THE WATCHMAN.

I know I've spoken about Robert Crais before, but so what. 

[Nikki]

Rosewood, I've read Crais and love the interplay between the two of them, in fact, I love Joe Pike -- he's invincible!

How do you like Michael Connelly -- his protagonist, Heroynimous (Sp) Bosch is one moody dude, I've read all of Connelly since I discovered him.

Then there's James Lee Burke's cajun protagonist from Southwest Louisiana == since I'm from New Orleans, I enjoy the discussion of all things Louisiana. His detective is a doomed soul.

One more I can think of just now is Anne Perry, whose stories are set in the Victorian era. --

Didn't you say you reviewed mysteries?

[Rosewood]

Rosewood, I've read Crais and love the interplay between the two of them, in fact, I love Joe Pike -- he's invincible!

How do you like Michael Connelly -- his protagonist, Heroynimous (Sp) Bosch is one moody dude, I've read all of Connelly since I discovered him.

Then there's James Lee Burke's cajun protagonist from Southwest Louisiana == since I'm from New Orleans, I enjoy the discussion of all things Louisiana. His detective is a doomed soul.

One more I can think of just now is Anne Perry, whose stories are set in the Victorian era. --

Didn't you say you reviewed mysteries?

Yeah, Pike.
Sigh....and double sigh!
Notice how he changes ever so slightly over the life of the series until you get to
LA REQUIEM and understanding dawns. That's why I say never read this one BEFORE
you've read at least a few of the earlier ones. Right?

One of my favorite lines from LULLABY TOWN is when Pike pops up from behind a car,
holding a large gun aimed at the bad guy who has corralled Cole in an alley, and simply asks,
"Do you want to die?"

The thing that I love is that he's not being ironic. He leaves that to Cole who, unsurprised,
merely asks Pike, who's just flown cross country, "What kept you?"
HA!

But you know, when Crais goes away from the friendship, the series just isn't as powerful.
We had major 'discussions' on one of the mystery forums regarding that Lucy character too.
We formed a "Let's Kill Lucy Club", figuratively speaking, of course. 

Apropos of nothing, have you ever noticed Robert Crais's author pix? Hubba hubba.
I met him once at a book signing in NYC and I have to tell you, the moment he walked
into the bookstore, there was a huge collective sigh among those of us who were lined up
to get our books signed. I mean, the man is GORGEOUS! Take your breath away gorgeous.
I do NOT exagerate.

AND nice as can be. Well, I've noticed that most mystery writers seem to have that nice
gene thing going on. Lee Child is another one who is a total sweetheart as well and has
that sexy British charm thing working for him big time. Love the guy. AND his Jack Reacher
books. Have you ever read those? If not, you must. If you like thrillers, that is.
Intelligent thrillers.

I've read almost all of Michael Connelly.
My favorite books of his are:
THE POET and TRUNK MUSIC.

I've also read James Lee Burke, although he's not my favorite.
Way too much moody doom and gloom. I mean, how many 'lost' friends can one
guy have? Secrets, secrets, SO many damn secrets....! You're perfectly right,
his guy is a doomed soul.

Anne Perry writes wonderful stuff. I've read almost all her books. Yeah, told ya' I read a lot.
Wonderful stuff if you like vividly written historicals conceived by a very intelligent mind.

Another series I'd recommend is one by Steve Hamilton featuring retired cop Alex McKnight.
Very moody. Very evocative. Very cold, as it takes place in northern Michigan. Hamilton is
one of the finest writers out there and deserves to be much better known. He's a sweetheart
too.  His talent is huge. His sense of place and time is amazing. As is his ability to place
you immediately in the story.

Jeez, don't get me started.
I could go on and on.

[Nikki]

Oh Rosewood, yeah Crais' pic is too much -- also you're right about the friendship thing -- it's the most seductive thing about the novels -- and Lucy is annoying-- love the Kill Lucy Club!

I've read some of the Jack Reacher books, but haven't kept up with the latest -- I love the Lone Eagle type of protagonist --

There's a series by an American writer -- her books have names of real English pubs -- you surely must know it -- it'll come to me at 3 in the morning -- they're all set in England -- oh wait does she have the quirky group, one of whom is Lord Plant, and Inspector Jury?

Anne Perry has made the victorian mystery her special niche, and she writes beautifully

Since I've been on these book clubs, I haven't kept up with the mysteries, and I love the mystery genre -- you've got me going now!!

[Rosewood]

Oh Rosewood, yeah Crais' pic is too much -- also you're right about the friendship thing -- it's the most seductive thing about the novels -- and Lucy is annoying-- love the Kill Lucy Club!

I've read some of the Jack Reacher books, but haven't kept up with the latest -- I love the Lone Eagle type of protagonist --

There's a series by an American writer -- her books have names of real English pubs -- you surely must know it -- it'll come to me at 3 in the morning -- they're all set in England -- oh wait does she have the quirky group, one of whom is Lord Plant, and Inspector Jury?

Anne Perry has made the victorian mystery her special niche, and she writes beautifully

Since I've been on these book clubs, I haven't kept up with the mysteries, and I love the mystery genre -- you've got me going now!!

I know exactly who you mean!
Martha Grimes.
All her Richard Jury books are titled after real British pubs.
Well, except the very latest one.
Unaccountably, it's not.

I'm almost embarassed to say that I've read ALL her books. 
AND it is my second most favorite series. 

Isn't it amazing that an American writer 'gets' the Brits so well?
As good as Elizabeth George. Though her style is totally different.

Grimes also has a short series (three books worth) in which the protagonist
is a quirky twelve year old American girl named Emma. COLD FLAT JUNCTION is the best of the three.
Absolutely superb. Some of the best writing out there, genre or not.

At the book signing, RC (what we call Robert Crais) drew a tiny pix of Joe Pike in my book and gave
me the most wicked smile. I mean, I was silly putty for the rest of the night.

You know that Cole collects Disney figures, especially Jiminy Cricket stuff.
Ahem, I have a Jiminy Cricket magnet on my refrigerator as we speak. 
Anyway, I'd done a watercolor of Jiminy with top hat and wearing a t-shirt
with Elvis Cole and Joe Pike's names printed on it. Sent it to a friend
of mine who works in a mystery bookstore in Seattle as she was seeing RC first
(plus I'm SO shy...)and she gave it to him.
She told me he was SO touched and couldn't believe I'd gone
to the trouble. I mean, he loved it!
So when we met in NYC, he gave me the BEST hug!!!
He said: "You're THAT Yvette?" (My real name.)
Talk about silly putty. I was on cloud nine for a week! 

[dejavu]

The UPS man just came an hour or so ago and brought "Borrowed Time:  An AIDS Memoir" by Paul Monette.  This is a book which lost in our most recent poll, but I ordered it anyway.  I read the first eight pages just now because I couldn't get into the Dave Cullen server.
 
"Borrowed Time" is a very well-written book and by the first page it had brought tears to my eyes.  I recommend it highly for a nonfiction poll.  For me in particular it ties in so well with the things we've been discussing about AIDS over on the Front Runner thread (in connection with the AIDS cases in Harlan's Race).

An excerpt:  "The very friends who tell me how vigorous I look, how well I seem, are the first to assure me of the imminent medical breakthrough.  What they don't seem to understand is, I used up all my optimism keeping my friend alive.  Now that he's gone, the cup of my own health is neither half full nor half empty.  Just half."

[Nikki]

I know exactly who you mean!
Martha Grimes.
All her Richard Jury books are titled after real British pubs.
Well, except the very latest one.
Unaccountably, it's not.

I'm almost embarassed to say that I've read ALL her books. 
AND it is my second most favorite series. 

Isn't it amazing that an American writer 'gets' the Brits so well?
As good as Elizabeth George. Though her style is totally different.

Grimes also has a short series (three books worth) in which the protagonist
is a quirky twelve year old American girl named Emma. COLD FLAT JUNCTION is the best of the three.
Absolutely superb. Some of the best writing out there, genre or not.

At the book signing, RC (what we call Robert Crais) drew a tiny pix of Joe Pike in my book and gave
me the most wicked smile. I mean, I was silly putty for the rest of the night.

You know that Cole collects Disney figures, especially Jiminy Cricket stuff.
Ahem, I have a Jiminy Cricket magnet on my refrigerator as we speak. 
Anyway, I'd done a watercolor of Jiminy with top hat and wearing a t-shirt
with Elvis Cole and Joe Pike's names printed on it. Sent it to a friend
of mine who works in a mystery bookstore in Seattle as she was seeing RC first
(plus I'm SO shy...)and she gave it to him.
She told me he was SO touched and couldn't believe I'd gone
to the trouble. I mean, he loved it!
So when we met in NYC, he gave me the BEST hug!!!
He said: "You're THAT Yvette?" (My real name.)
Talk about silly putty. I was on cloud nine for a week! 

I'm so jealous of you -- how did RC know how you felt about Pike? You must have been giving off some heavy vibes!!!! lol lol Love the water color story. I'm sure he was touched; can I call you a Crais Groupie? lol You paint too?

-----------

That's it!! Martha Grimes -- love her stories -- love all those quirky characters when they meet in the village  pub, but my fav is Plant -- what about his aunt Agatha -- she's such a social climber! Read one of her Emma books.

--------------

Yes, Elizabeth George -- been trying to think of her name since I last posted to you.. I love her books -- they're nice, big, fat ones -- did you read the last one -- don't want to spoil it if you haven't. Barbara Havers is an interesting character -- such a rebel, yet she and Lynley work well together.
-------------------

Oh God, got to stay OT.  Just finished "Running with Scissors,"  "Dry,"  "Zombie" by Joyce Carol Oates -- ( For my birthday, my daughter gave me a tee shirt saying "so many books, so little time." I'd been craving one for ages, so she ordered it on the 'net.)

[Nikki]

 
"Borrowed Time" is a very well-written book and by the first page it had brought tears to my eyes.  I recommend it highly for a nonfiction poll.  For me in particular it ties in so well with the things we've been discussing about AIDS over on the Front Runner thread (in connection with the AIDS cases in Harlan's Race).

Yes, I noticed that in the book thread -- sounds interesting. Reminds me of "The Married Man" by Edmund White which I think would be a good non-fic. It's based on White and his lover, Hubert Sorin (called Julian in the story) who is dying of AIDS. They take one last trip together and the description of "Julian's"decline is heartbreaking, especially since it is true.

I posted a passage in my favorite passages thread or whatever it's called last July, I think.  It would also be a good selection for the book club, although I guess it would not be technically non-fic, but roman a clef.

Some of the selections are so good that they cancel each other out -- although I have picked up some interesting titles from reading the polls!

[Rosewood]

I'm so jealous of you -- how did RC know how you felt about Pike? You must have been giving off some heavy vibes!!!! lol lol Love the water color story. I'm sure he was touched; can I call you a Crais Groupie? lol You paint too?

-----------

That's it!! Martha Grimes -- love her stories -- love all those quirky characters when they meet in the village  pub, but my fav is Plant -- what about his aunt Agatha -- she's such a social climber! Read one of her Emma books.

--------------

Yes, Elizabeth George -- been trying to think of her name since I last posted to you.. I love her books -- they're nice, big, fat ones -- did you read the last one -- don't want to spoil it if you haven't. Barbara Havers is an interesting character -- such a rebel, yet she and Lynley work well together.
-------------------

Oh God, got to stay OT.  Just finished "Running with Scissors,"  "Dry,"  "Zombie" by Joyce Carol Oates -- ( For my birthday, my daughter gave me a tee shirt saying "so many books, so little time." I'd been craving one for ages, so she ordered it on the 'net.)

Well, I'd posted plenty of RC's Forum when it was interactive, so he kind of knew where my loyalites
lay. Ha! This was several years ago and since then, because of some legal difficulties, his forum has gone
from being interactive as Lee Child's currently is, to being the kind of thing which just posts info about
him and his books. You, more or less, have to email him to get any kind of response about his books.
So we miss the old Forum terribly.
But there are some Craisies still active on Yahoo groups and such.
Without me, I'm afraid. 

At any rate, it is relatively easy to strike up a conversation with a lot of these authors.
I do it all the time online. And if sometimes you go their book signings, you can catch
up with them. As I've said, most of them are sweethearts and well worth knowing.
I'll probably be going to Lee Child's NYC signing in May this year.
He usually buys a few of us drinks afterwards. We're known as Reacher Creatures. 
Embarassing, I know.
But what the hell, we're harmless. 

Nikki, I'm a freelance illustrator. So the drawing was easy enough for me to do.

Yes, Barbara Havers. I admit I like the tv interpretation of her character better than I do the
book one. Do you watch the PBS series? INSPECTOR LYNLEY Mysteries. I have a feeling that
he and Barbara are going to go in a romantic direction one of these days. (Despite the books.)
Especially since his marriage seems doomed......   and there's real chemistry between the actors
who play Lynley and Barbara. I love 'em both.  Hate the actress who played the wife.
In fact, in the books, I disliked the wife intensely. I just felt she was written in the kind of manner
that made it impossible for anyone, but Lynley, for some unaccountable reason, to like her.
But that's just me.

I got a great t-shirt for Christmas as well!
My friend in Hawaii sent me a Los Angeles Times Festival of Books shirt.
I LOVE it!!!

Okay, enough of that.
Back on topic.

Two memorable new books I highly recommend:

THE BOOK THIEF by Markus Zusak
BY A SLOW RIVER by Phillippe Claudel

[Nikki]

Rosewood, Reachers' Creatures, I love it -- I bet Child likes it too- Out for drinks how wonderful for you all!!

About Lynly and Havers -- maybe -- I do like TV Havers better than book Havers -- not as frumpy and grumpy!!

I tend to leave what I'm reading in different rooms so I'll always have something handy.

To stay OT, I'm starting Dreyfus for the second time, and the Proulx collection Bad Dirt for the second time.

[brokebacktom]

I just started IN THE BEGINNING, The story of the king James Bible. So far its quite informative and fascinating. It starts before Henry the VIII and finishes w/ King James' vision. Also, its quite witty and easy to follow, not like some books with similair topics. THe Author is Alister McGrath, a professor of historical Theology at Oxford. He uses historical, political and social backgrounds to set the stages for this book. I think people might like it.

Tom 

[Desecra]

Rosewood and Nikki - thank you for the Martha Grimes recommendation!  I hadn't heard of her but sounds like her books would be just my thing.  Which would you recommend to start with?