Jack,
You beat me to the punch with both McCarthy novels and THE
TIN ROOF BLOWDOWN! James Lee Burke, in my opinion, is the
best writer of prose working today. Honorable mention goes to
the e-book A BOMB BUILT IN HELL, by Andrew Vachss, the long
unpublished Wesley novel (I love the fact that Burke is only
referred to as "the kid") available at vachss.com. I also
loved his TWO TRAINS RUNNING.
It was also a year where I read all of the William Gibson
cyberpunk novels, so I would put NEUROMANCER on my list, as
well as Richard Morgan's cybernoir shoot-em-up ALTERED
CARBON.
My favorite re-reads of the year were Chandler's BIG SLEEP,
Faulkner's SANCTUARY, and Mosley's Socrates Fortlow novels,
ALWAY OUTNUMBERED, ALWAYS OUTGUNNED, and WALKING THE
DOG.
To all of you Rare Birds, Happy New Year. I hope that 2008 is
your best year ever.
Terry
--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, Jack Bludis
<buildsnburns@...> wrote:
>
> Ron Clinton put THE ROAD on his list of favorites
for 2007.
> Anytime I see that title I'm inspired to
comment.
>
> My 2007 favorites included THE ROAD. I was riveted
to my
> reading chair with the thrill of story and a style
that
> delineated characters so so well that there was
barely a
> need for punctuation.
>
> I then read NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. I was locked
down all
> the way and including the 40-page denouement that
explained
> the title.
>
> THE TIN ROOF BLOWDOWN, by James Lee Burke brought
an
> otherwise minor character to the forefront and made
him the
> focus of character growth.
>
> Richard Aleas (Charles Ardai) released SONGS OF
INNOCENCE
> about a reluctant PI who does not find the beginning
of his
> story until the last chapter of the book. It's noir
in its
> truest sense--the PI is screwed from the
beginning.
>
> 2007 may be my best reading year since I discovered
THE
> NAKED AND THE DEAD (Mailer's only good novel in my
opinion)
> and FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (Jones's only good book as
well)
> while riding in the back of a a radio van in
Germany.
>
> That year was hard to beat because it included
Hemingway
> and Faulkner as well.
>
> Jack Bludis
>
> http://crimespace.ning.com/profile/JackBludis
> http://jackbludis.com/
> Recent Story at http://backalleywebzine.com/
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