The other day I found a bunch of tiny pieces of newspaper I had torn out of various book reviews some time ago. Figured I’d bring a few of them with me to the library last night.
One of the titles I picked up was When The Sacred Ginmill Closes by Lawrence Block. WOW! If you like crime mysteries, with hard living tough guy heros with hearts of gold, and fabulous support characters and backstory, this is for you.
And fortunately, it looks as tho this Block guy is quite prolific.
Looks like it will be a fun fiction-filled fall!
The Matt Scudder series starts off kinda crude, with SINS OF THE FATHERS, but I think it’s worth reading in order. You caught a real gem first time out of the box. The best one, IMO, is EVEN THE WICKED, but many of the later ones are really good. I envy you: I wish I had the whole series to start reading again.
BTW, I think his handling of the recovering alcoholic theme is very well done too. Probably better than reading a lot of the “literature” on the subject.
Ginmill is considered the best of the Scudders, although some fans swear by Eight Million Ways to Die.
You’re better off reading Donald E. Westlake, though. The Parker novels (written under the pseudonym “Richard Stark”) are darker and tougher than anything Larry does, and the Dortmunder series leaves Block’s Rhodenbarr books in the dust as far as comic caper novels go.
Already ran through all of the Dortmunders a year or so ago. That was right before my Travis McGee jag. Found them enjoyable, though somewhat hit-or-miss. We discussed them briefly some time back, you may recall.
I’ll be sure to check out Stark.
One thing that was fun was seeing that I had actually read - and enjoyed - a number of the books for which I had torn out the reviews. One of them was Save Me Joe Louis. And I recall you are an MSB fan as well.
Oooops…sorry! Actually, Westlake fans will probably enjoy Block, and vice-versa.
The two writers are definitely of the same generation, and share a Noo Yawk sensibility and outlook. They even play poker together. Don received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Mystery Writers of America organization the year before Larry did.
To see them in action together try a marvelous book called The Perfect Murder, by Jack Hitt. Hitt is an editor at Harper’s magazine and the book is a delightful confection in which he writes to five major mystery writers (Westlake and Block, plus Tony Hillerman, Peter Lovesey, and Sarah Caudwell), saying “Hey! I want to muder my wife and frame my best friend! How should I do it?”
The first half of the book is the homicide scenarios laid out by the five crime writers. In the second half, Hitt sends their plans to the others, and they all proceed to tear the other plots to shreds, explaining in acidic detail why those OTHER authors are IDIOTS and why their own plan is the one to use.
Great stuff. Out of print, of course, but should be easy to locate an inexpensive copy on BiblioFind.
If I wanted to find a fairly good condition hardcover of SACRED GINMILL, Ike, would Bibliofind also be your recommendation? (I’m buying it as a gift for a Dave Van Ronk fan, and it han’t turned up in the Strand or other used books store)>
Try ABE Books. That’s my favorite.
A hardcover first of Ginmill is going to run to money, though.
Speaking of Dave van Ronk, did you ever hear his rendition of “Freddie on the IRT,” an urban parody of the old “train wreck/lost engineer” folk songs?
Larry Block wrote the lyrics to it, way back in 1961 or so.
Thanks, Ike. They have 90 copies listed under 20 bucks. The paperback ed.s seem to cost as much as the cloth.
I don’t know the Van Ronk song, and I didn’t know Block was a lyricist. I’ll try to find it, tho–sounds worth a listen.
I just discovered an author – Jay Cronley – who reminds me of Block and Westlake. I was looking online for books that my 12(almost 13)-year-old son would enjoy, and Cronley’s book Quick Change was recommended on a website that suggests Books Young Adults Will Enjoy. I checked Amazon.com, and it seems that all of Cronley’s books are out of print. I ordered Quick Change from half.com, and it arrived a few days ago. It’s great! Anyone else know this author?
I read Quick Change a whole buncha years ago. You do know it was made into a movie with Bill Murray and Geena Davis, right?
I’m not a big Cronley fan…he does “schtick” in his caper novels. Gives his characters goofy names, things like that. Lack of depth to the humor.
Compare to Westlake, whose humor arises from character and incident. See the first chapter of Bad News (published in 2001), wherein Dortmunder accidentally trips the alarm in the Price CostCo-type store he’s stealing cameras from. Watching him escape the flood of guards and cops using only a credit card receipt, a pair of fake eyeglasses, and a sofa brings a real smile to your face, and an admiration for the crook’s ingenuity.
Ukulele Ike - I did know there was a movie, but I didn’t know who was in it. At least one of the reviewers of Quick Change on Amazon.com mentioned the movie, but advised staying away.
I’m still enjoying Quick Change, and I’ll probably try some of his other books. But I agree that Westlake is great. In fact, in one of my first posts on the SDMB (not long ago – I’m still a newbie) – in the Reccomend a Mystery, Fantasy, or Other Fiction Book for Me, Please! thread, I recommended Westlake’s Dortmunder series, along with some of his other books. You’re right, Bad News was a lot of fun!