I joined a site called bookmooch, through which one swaps books (for points, so you don't have to find people who want to exchange one for one or anything). It's not been great for serious mainline literary stuff, but it's been very good for crime, so people I have been reading lots by lately include:
Lawrence Block: A big Pete favourite too. I've read about 40 of his, and they are all excellent. The Burglar series is lighthearted, the Scudder PI novels are superb and affecting, the Tanner spy series very clever, and so on. Not a heavyweight literary figure, but consistently excellent.
Andrew Vachss: A powerful writer with an obsession. He is a lawyer specialising in child abuse, and almost everything he writes revolves around this - including his Batman novel, which I just read. His regular character is Burke, a figure like no other I've seen in fiction, paranoid and driven.
James Lee Burke: One of the best writers of gorgeous prose anywhere, and with a superb way with complex moral issues, and with immensely scary villains. Most of his star Dave Robicheaux, a cop in the Louisiana bayous - reading his scene-setting descriptions is worth doing even without the stories.
Also Joyce Carol Oates (not generally a crime writer), who has written a staggering volume (she's surely by far the most productive serious literary writer ever) and variety of books - horror, family drama, crime, thinly disguised biography, boxing, poetry and much more. I think her writing has a force and richness comparable to someone like Faulkner.
Oh, and Larry McMurtry, whose popular success with things like Terms Of Endearment and the Lonesome Dove series means he is often undervalued. The best writer ever at making you sad with the same line he makes you laugh with, and always a total joy to read, whether on his westerns or his contemporary fiction.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2007-10-03 12:44 pm (UTC)Lawrence Block: A big Pete favourite too. I've read about 40 of his, and they are all excellent. The Burglar series is lighthearted, the Scudder PI novels are superb and affecting, the Tanner spy series very clever, and so on. Not a heavyweight literary figure, but consistently excellent.
Andrew Vachss: A powerful writer with an obsession. He is a lawyer specialising in child abuse, and almost everything he writes revolves around this - including his Batman novel, which I just read. His regular character is Burke, a figure like no other I've seen in fiction, paranoid and driven.
James Lee Burke: One of the best writers of gorgeous prose anywhere, and with a superb way with complex moral issues, and with immensely scary villains. Most of his star Dave Robicheaux, a cop in the Louisiana bayous - reading his scene-setting descriptions is worth doing even without the stories.
Also Joyce Carol Oates (not generally a crime writer), who has written a staggering volume (she's surely by far the most productive serious literary writer ever) and variety of books - horror, family drama, crime, thinly disguised biography, boxing, poetry and much more. I think her writing has a force and richness comparable to someone like Faulkner.
Oh, and Larry McMurtry, whose popular success with things like Terms Of Endearment and the Lonesome Dove series means he is often undervalued. The best writer ever at making you sad with the same line he makes you laugh with, and always a total joy to read, whether on his westerns or his contemporary fiction.