RARA-AVIS: Re: THE ROAD and other 2007 pleasures

From: terry bowman ( foolesgold@gmail.com)
Date: 30 Dec 2007


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 Honorable mention goes to the e-book A BOMB BUILT IN HELL, by Andrew Vachss, the long unpublished Wesley novel (I love the fact that Burke is only referred to as "the kid") available at vachss.com.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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