I read four books.
Our unbelievably relaxing visit to Sunny Florida ended this morning at 1:15 a.m., with me resolving once again not to fly late in the day because it only gets worse. Other than that and about 10 inches of rain in the last two days, had a terrific time. Very relaxing indeed, spending Quality Time with LWC and LMB on the latter's 80th birthday. Good times.
Pattern Recognition by William Gibson was my first literary conquest, recommended by BK. This was laying around the house for months, wanting me to read it. Great story, great characters. Took me a while to get into the book, since it's so different from the sparse detective stories I had been reading. Gibson's best since Neuromancer. "He took a duck in the face at two hundred and forty knots." **** (of 4)
American Gods by Neil Gaiman was one of two books I bought for the trip. I read Neil's blog every day, so I saw a lot of comments on this book as he was writing it. Wonderful indeed. Gave me thrills like reading a story arc of Sandman comics by Neil. A picaresque story that travels through places like House on the Rock and Rock City, true Americana. Lots of fun trying to identify all the gods in the book (some are Slavic, good luck with them). ****
Stormy Weather by Carl Hiassen was the other book I bought, a total impulse purchase. I browsed the "Mystery" section at B&N, and Hiassen had a new book come out this week. I didn't buy the new one, but I got one about Florida which I thought was topical. A more traditional "crime novel" than I'm used to, with a huge cast of amazing characters. Very funny stuff too. **
Mr. Paradise by Elmore Leonard I purchased realizing I needed a book to read on the flight back. I enjoyed it so much I finished it before we got on the plane. Again, a "crime novel" but with more characters I could root for. Leonard is a facile writer with a real gift for dialog, which made this read like a Tarantino movie in my head. This is a good thing. How could I pass up the jacket blurb about the high-priced call girl and the Victoria Secret model who live together? The autopsy scene was eerily similar to the same kind of thing in Gaiman's book. ***
Today, another job interview! After action report coming soon.
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books
6 comments:
Lots of fun trying to identify all the gods in the book (some are Slavic, good luck with them).
I had American Gods on audio tape (dunno where it is now, must be with all my left socks) and I remember listening to it at work while working on a mindless database transfer. I had another window open to Google whenever I wanted to try to figure out one of the reference. Don't think I found 'em all. I'm a bad Pokemon trainer.
Here's the link I found. Shadow = Balder, duh, I felt stupid for not seeing that. This is all conjecture, of course. Neil said something about it on his website, but I can't find the post.
Oh, I must read Gods now if House on the Rock is mentioned. That place is my top canidate for Hell on Earth, so it's appropriate for the subject matter.
Neil's theory is that cheesy roadside attractions like these are basically worshipped by visitors and therefore become places of power for gods in these troubled times. Really cool stuff.
American Gods was a lot of fun. Hyper-reality and coin tricks: what more can you ask of a gene novel?
What's your favourite Elmore Leonard? I should try one - preferably one I haven't seen a movie about. Now, James Ellroy (don't confuse the two) I can recommend...
Only read the one Leonard, sorry. I was interested when I saw that Jackie Brown was taken from Leonard's Rum Punch. I am drawn to things my idols like, so I follow Tarantino like a sycophantic puppy.
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