Entertainment For Lively Minds
Slavish devotion
Posted by JohnH on 13 February 2010 - 11:21pm.
Hello, I'm new, long time lurker, first time poster. A comment about Douglas Coupland on the celebs/wankers thread (he wasn't BTW) made me think about the similarities between how I read and how I listen. Just like I buy every Moz album, no matter the quality of the previous one, I buy every Coupland book. Same for Carl Hiassen. Other authors I might just have one or two 'greatest hits', even if I love those books. Are there authors you will *always* read, just because you're a fan?
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Camus
...Can't wait for his next one.
Actually
Ian McEwan and Tim Winton - will buy regardless of reviews.
Funnily enough
McEwan is one of my 'just the greatest hits' guys. Not read any Winton, is there a good place to start?
Tim Winton is an Aussie
and it relates to my teenage years there. You could though, start with The Turning a collection of short stories which relate to one another .... or Dirt Music - my favourite of his novels.
Thanks, will do.
Thanks, will do.
Carl Hiassen
and Christopher Brookmyre.
Agree with the above and add another C
Colin Bateman (although he's now just known as Bateman - apparantly his publishers didn't like Colin)
Me too.
Plus Graham Hurley and Terry Pratchett.
I could list Tim Willocks as well, but he doesn't produce all that much.
Robert Harris. All his stuff.
Ian Marchant. Andrew Collins. Stuart Maconie. Mark Radcliffe. (I'm just going through the bookshelf here.. )
T. C. Boyle
Wild Child
..new book of stories - out next month.
Mine are:
Alan Bennett
Blake Morrison
Douglas Coupland
Stephen Fry
and I'm with you on Moz, too, JohnH.
Well (I) live for the written word
and people come second or possibly third ;)
Jonathan Franzen
is the first that comes to mind.
These days only..
Alexei Sayle.
I've kicked habits on a number in the last couple of years. I look at the last Will Self book, but I'm not gonna buy it. You can't make me.
looking forward for the next
looking forward for the next one...
Paul Auster
start with The New York Trilogy if you haven't already read it.
A few for me
I found after several Hiaasens that they all seemed to have become samey.
I'll always pick up an Elmore Leonard (best dialogue ever!), a Christopher Brookmyre (plots, quips, Scottish detail), a Michael Dibdin (beautifully-detailed Italian police procedurals), Charles Willeford (another crime guy), Neil Gaiman (great storyteller, I even started on The Sandman series)
I think
that's what I was getting at. I feel about Brookmyre the way you do about Hiassen but I know I'll get his next. Probably in hardback...
Ellroy...
... started with the Black Dahlia and then read the rest of the LA Quartet - have read everything now except Blood's A Rover (waiting for the paperback) - still think the LA Quartet is his best though.
wow
I could have written that post! You didn't get the Black Dahlia after a feature on 'cult fiction' in the Independent, did you?
I don't recall that feature ...
...I think it was the documentary (Demon Dog?) about Ellroy discussing the "Dahlia" case with retired LA cops that started me off. Have you read his early stuff?
In paperback
in my local Waterstones yesterday, though I think it's what they call the airport edition (i.e. bigger than a regular paperback).
Always -
Robert Harris
Christopher Brookmyre (though I haven't read his latest).
Another Ellroy fan here
I'm waiting for the paperback too, but a friend e-mailed recently that he's given up on Blood's A Rover. That has me worried.
Otherwise I always read James Lee Burke and John Le Carre.
James Lee Burke...
... still working my way through the Robicheaux series (I'm up to number 6) - quality.
Billy Bob
JLB's Billy Bob Holland books are very good as well, but he seems to have laid that character to rest. The last one in that series was In The Moon Of Red Ponies which was published in 2004.
Ellroy, King, Lansdale, Reynolds, Gibson, Leonard.
I'm struggling with Blood's A Rover. Couldn't wait for the paperback as I loved the last 2 in the series so much. But I have to admit it's not as good and it's hard work.
Plus I'm dragging around a bloody huge hardback.
Used to slavishly buy Stephen King. But out of his last 8 or so books only 1, Duma Key, is anywhere near vintage King.
Current slavish devotions who have yet to let me down are Science Fiction writer Alastair Reynolds and horror/crime/commedy/whatever writer Joe R. Lansdale. The first has big old books that fill up hours and the second short snappy books that hang around just long enough to do their thing and leave you wanting more.
Just thought, William Gibson has yet to disappoint. Elmore Leonard too.
Fear Not
It's a cracker. One of his best.
I´ve posted this in the wrong place. It's on the new Ellroy ( Blood´s a Rover ) Sorry !
amis
I know, I know, but what can I say? and I can't wait for the paperbacks either. Enjoying The Pregnant Widow
Kate Atkinson and Ben Elton
Don't read much fiction, mainly because I never really know what I'd like.
Once read a Kate Atkinson book on holiday because there was nothing else around and since then have devoured the lot. I think it might be the literary equivalent of liking Corrine Bailey Rae, but who cares. I think her books are brilliant.
I know Ben Elton's a div but I think his books are skilfully constructed page-turners. And I've turned every last one.
Done David Peace and on the whole wish I hadn't. Done Jonathon Coe and wish he wrote a book every month.
Would welcome any recommendations. There's only so many times you can read Galahad At Blandings.
p.s. Hats off for the post, JohnH. And let's have more 'lurkers' sticking their oar in.
Thank you, Richard,
If Ben Elton's your thing,have you read Douglas Adam's Dirk Gently books? He only completed two but I think you'd like them.
Emily Bronte
Oh.
Boom
!
George Pelecanos
America's best writer imho.
Have just bought...
..."The Way Home" from Tesco for about £4 (I'm shameless). Haven't read any of his yet (but know about his "The Wire" connection) - is this a good place to start?
Tesco?
Not Pritchards, Formbyman? Tony will be gutted...
Don't tell him...
... I do go to Pritchards - I feel really guilty now.
Don't worry
Your secret's safe with me.
The Way Home
I picked this up as part of a 3 for 2 just a few weeks ago. It's my first Pelecanos too.
Direct, strong prose. Linear and brutal storytelling. Good. I'll be going back for more of the earlier ones.
As with
any author I would start with his earliest books so you can see the way his writing progresses.
I especially liked his earlier "Nick Stefanos" books.
Ah handful
Iain Banks - though not Iain M Banks (despite the fact that he hasn't written a top-notch book since Complicity)
Colin Bateman
Christopher Priest
Geoff Nicholson
M
I do read Ian M Banks Science Fiction, and I think they have been better than his convential books for the past decade or so. But not to be attempted by people who don't like SF - they are usually unapologetic space opera. I now buy IMB and think about IB.
My other one is Terry Pratchett, but only discworld.
Oh, and Robert Harris.
The only writers I can think of who I've read everything by are
JK Rowling, James Ellroy and Christopher Brookmyre.
Apart from Ellroy they aren't terribly representative of my actual taste.
Not many these days...
Not many I will automatically read these days:
Ian MacEwen
Peter Carey (perhaps)
That's about it, because these days I have precious little time to read novels (perhaps I spend too much time on the web?).
In the past when I have discovered new authors I have devoured their entire repertoire, such as Thomas Hardy, John Steinbeck and quite a few eastern european authors - Milan Kundera, Josef Skvorecky, etc. Used to read everything Salman Rushdie put out, but after a while became bored with his over-elaborate plotlines and 'look at me I'm being clever' wordplay - the one that broke the camel's proverbial was 'The Ground Beneath Her Feet', which I detested!
Philip Pullman
is my most-read author, though I've only read seven of his.
Haruki Murakami...
... is the name that springs to mind. The man's a genius.
Start with "Kafka on the Shore" or "Norwegian Wood". Then you'll be rushing off to that nice Mr Amazon to snap up "A Wild Sheep Chase", "Sputnik Sweetheart", "South of the Border, West of the Sun" and finally, the big, heavyweight masterpiece, "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle". Verily I tell you: every one a winner.
slightly obsessive
Peter Carey
Umberto Eco
James Ellroy
Ian Rankin
Peter Robinson ( no not that one, the other one )
George P Pelecanos
John le Carre
Charles Dickens
Peter Ackroyd
James Lee Burke
Vikram Seth
Though it's usually a bloody long wait.
Donna Leon
writes about a detective in Venice called Brunetti and his wife Paula who cooks fabulous meals.
Helps if you've been to Venice just to recognise the atmos
Also PETER CORRIS - Aussie crime writer, easy read, his character Cliff Hardy is growing old with me
Another shout for Elmore Leonard
Worrying thing is he is 83 so there wont be many more left in him. His son just released his first novel, anyone know if it is any good?
Also Neil Cross and Nick Hornby - both excellent.
Used to buy all Joeseph Wambaugh novels (and non-fiction) but he had a long hiatus. He has now released 3 or 4 books in last few years but I had gotten out of habit of reading them, should perhaps give them a go.
Formbyman, The Way home is excellent - just finished it. I got in a buy 1 get 1 free offer at WH Smith so I am equally shameless.
Leonard and Wodehouse
Sounds like a department store. But these guys tend to be my fallback failsafe authors.
Recently read Leonard's 'Stick' which was written in 1976 but came across as timeless. It's all dialogue of course and it's pin sharp.
Similarly with Wodehouse (who wrote 93 novels) the narration is all. You could argue, weakly, that the plots are all the same and you'd have a point but the voices that narrate them are peerless. Wooster in particular. A spectacular upper class twit but a brilliant story teller.