Re: Musing on a few "Just Finished Book"
- From: Ayo Onatade <ayoonatade@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 14 Jan 2006 13:10:22 +0000
Pat didn't you read my article on Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza in Crimespree?
Ayo
Hurricane7 wrote:
I am a slow reader compared to most on RAM...although I know I am not the only one. I find that sometimes I can read a few books in a row and while I enjoy them they don't give me that really satisfied grin after closing the last page. I know we all enjoy different books so that what might "do that" for me might not do that for everyone. Having said that I have just read four books in a row that have caused me to pause, think or smile so I want to share them with you.
In order of how I read them.
Steve Fisher -- I Wake Up Screaming
This was for a f2f club read and the group wanted to do something a bit older without wandering into the Christie/Sayer area, something with a bit more noir or grit. This certainly fit the bill....I felt that I was right there in the time frame of the 50's/60's....way before cell phones and home pc's, the pacing was different and while the eventual murder was not that hard to figure out I still liked the way the author weaved his magic to transport me for a few hours....I was pleasantly surprised by how good I felt after reading it...that lead to reading another older book....
Jim Thompson -- South of Heaven
Dragged me even further back in time and a whole new vocabulary and a glimpse into a portion of society that lived on the fringes but were doing important work to bring this country (U.S.A) in modern times. This was a story of the last pipeline that was installed in Texas down to the Gulf coast and how the crews set up camps and the interplay of the crews that were mostly drifters, grifters, cons and hobos.....I felt like I was there and at one point could almost taste the Texas dirt and smell the cordite of the dynamite used in the blasting. I have to read more of this man.
After reading those two I felt smug and self satisfied and approached my next book with trepidation as I was sure it would probably not live up to my expectations after two very good reads but I went with a translated book ( I love books from countries other than my own) so I picked up
Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza's --Southwesterly Wind
This transported me immediately to the Rio and the suburbs and I could feel the heat and humidity and loved imagining the older buildings and the lovely beaches.
This is a solid police procedural and while Inspector Espinosa has the usual baggage that comes with living alone...he seems to be involved in his neighbourhood and is friends with a lovely young girl that often walks with him to work on her way to school....Espinosa is the kind of guy you would not mind having as a neighbour. I won't give away any spoilers but the story is based on young man who thinks he has been cursed by a fortune-teller who told him he would be committing a murder before his next birthday and that date is only two months away. I will be seeking out more of this authors work, I loved being in his little corner of the world if only for as long as it takes to read the book.
Sure that I would hit a brick wall and was ever so careful in my next choice I stuck with a tried and true author for me so I next picked up.
Laura Lippman's To the Power of Three
I have read almost all of Laura's books and have never been disappointed so I just thrust myself headlong into this one....about 200 pages in I was wondering how many characters we were going to meet and usually this kind of gripes me as I can't keep them all straight but by the end of the book I realized that Laura has this time created a neighbourhood complete with all the components you would find in your own neighbourhood and best of all I felt like I "knew" all of them. She has spun a tale that is so full of complex characters and managed to keep me guessing till the end of the book at how she would be able to sew it all up without me shaking my head and saying...oh no way I just can't swallow this one...but she doesn't and this book smacks of the hard cold reality of what goes on behind closed doors. I could see this one as a blockbuster movie.....ok I am sure they would screw up her lovely book but I could see it rolling in my mind as I was reading....write faster Laura....I can't wait!
*phew*
sorry that was so long but it has been so very long since I have had such a good reading run that I just had to share with those I know could appreciate it
Patricia
who can't decide what to read now......-- [to email remove the knot]
--
Murder for the fun of it breaks all the rules of detective fiction. (Harriet Vane - Busman's Honeymoon 1937) Dorothy L Sayers
That is my curious perversion-I have a criminal mind! (Mr J G Reeder, "The Poetical Policeman Policeman". The Mind of Mr J G Reeder 1925) Edgar Wallace
http://www.mysterywomen.co.uk http://www.shotsmag.co.uk http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com http://www.crimespreemag.com .
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- From: Hurricane7
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