38 replies to this topic

[Wino]

smoker, on 19 September 2009 - 11:58 AM, said:

I love to learn more about Laos.

I would love to learm more about Laos, too.

[smoker]

Cold Six changes a great deal after the start. He makes the first few pages weird because he wants you to have a sense of how strange those first few hours in Dallas were after the hit.

[WannaGo]

smoker, on 24 September 2009 - 07:57 AM, said:

Cold Six changes a great deal after the start. He makes the first few pages weird because he wants you to have a sense of how strange those first few hours in Dallas were after the hit.

If I cheated myself out of another great Ellroy book because I wasn't patient enough to stick past the weird stuff, I'm going to be really irritated with myself. It's getting harder and harder to find really good crime fiction, so I can't afford to skip good ones. Definitely going to re-read American Tabloid, then try Cold Six Thousand. Thanks, smoker, for the push, however subtle. :-)

[smoker]

Happy to do it!

The girl I paid to get my signed copy of Blood's A Rover said he was really, really nice in person, talked with her for about five minutes and that he was way flattered that someone from halfway around the world would pay someone just to get a copy of his book.

Cold Six Thousand really starts getting good once Pete Bondurant and Ward Little start to realize the enormity of what they've done.

Also, their vietnam "project" is seriously fun. Imagine Big Pete running slaves.

And, obviously you know what Pete and Ward have to do at the end of Cold Six...

[WannaGo]

smoker, on 26 September 2009 - 10:37 AM, said:

Happy to do it!

The girl I paid to get my signed copy of Blood's A Rover said he was really, really nice in person, talked with her for about five minutes and that he was way flattered that someone from halfway around the world would pay someone just to get a copy of his book.

Cold Six Thousand really starts getting good once Pete Bondurant and Ward Little start to realize the enormity of what they've done.

Also, their vietnam "project" is seriously fun. Imagine Big Pete running slaves.

And, obviously you know what Pete and Ward have to do at the end of Cold Six...

That's so funny...it's hard to imagine the "Demon Dog" being humble enough to be flattered by a fan. Very cool.

I'm going to the library tomorrow. I'll see if they have Tabloid, so I can start again at the beginning.

If you're looking for new authors to try, I recommend Charlie Huston's Caught Stealing. Or, if you want to get a little retro, James Crumley's The Last Good Kiss.

I'm actually thinking of starting a blog site dedicated to crime fiction and crime movies.

[smoker]

I just finished The Glass Key by Dashall Hammet - very old school, but very good.

[WannaGo]

Never read any Hammett, but a few months ago, I decided to see what all the fuss was about with "The Postman Always Rings Twice" by James Cain. Excellent book. The thing that struck me is how we always how differently (and better) people behaved in past eras, but the story Cain told 70-some years ago could just as easily have been a story in a newspaper today.

[smoker]

That's a great book. The themes of adultery, betrayal and murder are universal through the ages.

[lvdkeyes]

It is timeless; I suppose that's why it has been made into a movie twice. Once with Lana Turner starring and the other with Jessica Lange.

[smoker]

Both films are ridiculously sexy.

[Beer Chang]

That kitchen table scene was steamy!

[smoker]

She had the fuck of a lifetime.

[WannaGo]

"A hooker cut to look like Lana Turner is still a hooker."

"That is Lana Turner."

[lvdkeyes]

Two other Lana Turner movies I like are Imitation of Life and Madam X. Both great movies in my book.

[smoker]

WannaGo, on 03 October 2009 - 02:37 AM, said:

"A hooker cut to look like Lana Turner is still a hooker."

"That is Lana Turner."

Best quote of both the book and the movie.

[prigas]

I enjoy reading (technology-related, health and nutrition, and fiction), listening to heavy metal (Up the Irons!), exercising (jogging daily), and watching movies. I spend most of my time at work and browse around various shopping malls in BKK during the weekends.

If anyone enjoys jogging or knows of a jogging club in BKK, please let me know. I just hate jogging alone. Also I don't mind joining with friends to a nice pub with cool rock music.

[WannaGo]

So, I wasn't able to check out American Tabloid at the library. Apparently, I still have a DVD of "The Client" around here somewhere that the library wants back. Until I find it, I'm eighty-sixed. Can't blame them, though. Whining commences now: But jeez, to be banned over a movie of a book by the second-crappiest popular writer in America (after Dan Brown) just kinda sucks.

[lvdkeyes]

Just tell them you lost it and pay for it.

[smoker]

Got Blood's A Rover in the mail yesterday.

It starts out:

"You carry the seed of belief in you already. You recall the time this narrative captures and sense of conspiracy. I am here to tell you that it is all true and not at all what you think.

You will read with some reluctance and capitulate in the end. The following pages will force you to succumb.

I am going to tell you everything."


Man, I'm going to love this thing.