russ wrote:Currently reading:
Books I've recently read and enjoyed:

The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time - Michael Craig

Russ,

How is this book? Very Curious.

-Jeremy

Spring Snow - Yukio Mishima

Rotten Tanx wrote:Slapstick - Kurt Vonnegut

i'm now reading Breakfast of Champions myself...

Chapter Two wrote:Spring Snow - Yukio Mishima

hah...and i finished The Temple of the Golden Pavilion yesterday...

(as well as In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan...of course that didn't take long...)

Crappy detectives. Always read a bunch of them. The last one was called "In cold blood", and the author's name even more generic, so I don't remember it.

In a good crappy detective the detective obviously:

-drinks
-smokes
-has lung cancer (or better, is awaiting the diagnosis)
-is wearing suspenders
-is being seduced by a smashing cold blooded redhead
-is middle-aged and extremely self-conscious

The victim is always small and innocent and violently bruised. The detective always, at some point, starts having dreams about the victim, usually while passing out drunk on a one-legged whore's sofa.

I love formulaic writing. I want no surprises.

French writer Michel Houellebecq is my favorite novelist, though not in the suspense department.

Peripatetic wrote:I started 'Cryptonimicon' last night. I'm only about 40 pages into it, but everyone I've talked to who's read it says it's amazing.

Still plowing my way through 'Infinite Jest' here and there, too.

'Cryptonomicon' is one of my favorites. i've read it twice. (which is pretty good for me cause i'm not the fastest read this side of the mississippi). i'm a sucker for all of Stephenson's work.

i think i'm too stupid to understand 'infinite jest'. i started it a few times and got stuck (pronounced 'bored').

i'm currently working on 'good omens' by terry pratchet and neil gaiman. good stuff.

Just finished "Jon's World" from "Second Variety" - The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick. I came upon Dick's name so many times I finally borrowed two books [“Ubikâ€

player piano

sunlore wrote:Crappy detectives. Always read a bunch of them. The last one was called "In cold blood", and the author's name even more generic, so I don't remember it.

In a good crappy detective the detective obviously:

-drinks
-smokes
-has lung cancer (or better, is awaiting the diagnosis)
-is wearing suspenders
-is being seduced by a smashing cold blooded redhead
-is middle-aged and extremely self-conscious

The victim is always small and innocent and violently bruised. The detective always, at some point, starts having dreams about the victim, usually while passing out drunk on a one-legged whore's sofa.

I love formulaic writing. I want no surprises.

French writer Michel Houellebecq is my favorite novelist, though not in the suspense department.

hey sunlore,

A few years ago a friend of mine lent me a detective novel that I didn't get to finish. I'd really like to buy the book for myself but my friend has moved away and I cant remember what the name of the book or author was.

maybe you could help me out?

There are actually several books writen with the same private detective, they are all set in 30's-40's Los Angeles. He is a drunk/heavy smoker.
In the book that I was reading the main guy had found a buisness card for a psychic rolled up in the filters of a dead man's cigarettes. And from what my friend was telling me this is one of the more popular detective series outside of Holmes.

I know thats not much too work with but if you have any idea what the name of the book or author is that would be awsome.

Domagoj wrote:Have you got any P. K. Dick suggestions - essentials?

there are a lot that i think are great...my absolutely favorite is probably A Scanner Darkly...and i suggest you read it fast before your experience can be tainted by the movie version coming out next year that looks like it's gonna be pretty bad...