This is the item where Grexers reccommend books. Books you once read, or are
reading now. Books that changed your life, made you look at the world in a
different light, or look at yourself differently. Books that earned a special
place in your heart. Books that seem to keep you alive.

53 responses total.

I am currently reading _The Manticore_ by Robertson Davies. Can't comment much
on it yet but so far it seems neat.

I highly reccommend John Barth's _The End of the Road_ . Just read it.
You will not be the same person afterward.

I was in a bookstore today and felt swamped... I had no idea what to pick.
That's why I started the item. 

 The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy.
   I hated to see it end. I cannot exactly put it into words, but it is a must
read. I am better for reading it, and it has made me want to read more of
Conroy's books.

 Colin Powell: An American Life
   This one is about Gen. Powell's life and eventual involvement in the Gulf
War as the Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It gives interesting views into
the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the Reagan, Bush and Clinton White House. 

I'm currently reading "Crossing the Chasm" by Geoffrey Moore, at the 
recommendation of the new president/CEO of ArborText.  It's a business 
marketing book which explains how high-tech companies need to appeal to 
mainstream users to "cross the chasm" between being a start-up and 
being an established, profitable company.

It has many technical examples, which are dated (the book was written in 
the early 1990's).  Windows 3.0 was a hot new product.  Lotus 1-2-3 was 
still the dominant spreadsheet.  Oracle had just beaten out dbase III.  
Most public schools still used Apple II computers.

I don't know if the marketing information makes any sense.  I don't know 
anything about marketing.  I guess it's always good to learn about 
something new.

Try reading in the books conference, bees, for lots more book suggestions,
many categorized by fiction/fnon-fiction, subject matter, etc. But new
"books" activity here is always welcome so, for those that don't read
agora, I will link this item to books.

Item 37 in summer 1998 agora has been linked to books item 71. The title,
"Books!  Books!" is a bit non-descriptive for the books cf. If you are
reading this in agora, come visit books and do a browse. 

Any John Grisham book is pretty good.

I'm currently reading _Keys to the City_ by Joel Kostman.  They are a
series of short stories based loosely on his experiences as a New York
City locksmith.  I got it from the library.  If you like short stories,
you'll like this book.

I was unaware of a books conf, but it makes sense that there would be one on
Grex. My bad!

I'm meandering through a couple of Ayn Rand novels... again.

No bad! It's one of the ways the existence of cfs get notice. 

Oh, btw, those novels would be _We The Living_ and _The Fountainhead_.

I have finished "Lucky You" by Carl Hiaasen. It was sort of 
disappointing compared to his other novels.

A lot of people seem to be fans of Tama Janowitz. Why? I have not read any of
her books. Which one would be a good starter? 

        Anybody read up "A Pirate Looks at Fifty" - Jimmy Buffet's new
book?  What do you think?

It may be hard to find, as I have heard it is out of print. But, _The Shrine at
Altamira_ by John L'Hereux is pretty cool and an engaging read. Be forewarned,
though: You will learn more about prison life than you will ever care to know
in 2 million years, although that is only a small segment of the story. 

  What was the name again?

  I found "Cell 2455 Death Row" by Caryl Chessman to be a very enlightening
book about the ins and outs of death penalty law, and pre-Miranda justice.
It also shows the wisdom of acting as your own lawyer, and why Mark Twain was
right when he said "He who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client".
  I'm not going to defend Chessman. He was a criminal, but I don't think he
deserved to die. I think that the state should have been satisfied with life
imprisonment with parole. And I think he should have served at least 2/3s of
the sentence.
  I don't think the state proved the kidnap case, and I am really certain that
the LAPD framed him as being the "Red Light Bandit". What I think the LAPD
was is lazy and inefficient.

Anyone read "The Count de Bragelonne"(or something like that spelling) by
Alexandre Dumas? I'm debating whether or not to read it, I've already read
the musketeer books and can't decide on this one..Help, anyone?

highly recommend    _where wizards stay up late_ by hafner & lyon.
  
oh, yes ... *those*  wizards!

   recently i re-read _switch bitch_ and _my uncle oswald_ by roald
dahl.  currently i'm working on rosemary sutcliff's _sword at sunset_.

My Uncle Oswald is on the shelf over my desk. Great story by a great
writer. Yes, the Chocolate Factory author wrote a few 'adult' books as
well.

   you'd probably like _switch bitch_ and _kiss kiss_ too, then,
bmoran.  last time i was at barnes & noble i spotted a horror anthology
edited by dahl which looked very intriguing.

I sujest Wiz Biz. I liked it, you will too.

I'm currently reading Dick Francis's first novel, _Dead_Cert_, from around
1962.  I'd never read anything of his until my mother gave us, for Christmas,
a bunch of miscellaneous mysteries.  Most of them were awful, but Dick
Francis's _Longshot_ was among them, & is **very** good indeed.  Grace found
this (actually, 3 bound together, but I'm a slow reader these days) at the
library.  It also is very good.  Apparently his mysteries are all built around
(or set in) the world of horse racing.  For me, this is no attraction, the
reverse if anything; but his writing is compelling.  Highly recommended. 
(This, his first, has a couple of plot elements I'd quibble with, but England
around 1960 is not my own turf, so I may be wrong.  However, in general it's
as well written as the other book.)

I'm rather happy for the fact that Dick Francis has managed to work past one
of the more notable sports gaffs in the annals with a successful writing
career.  Granted, it wasn't his fault (Devon Loch, the horse he was riding,
was the culprit) but still.

I don't normally contribute to this item...but...

"Nimitz Class", by Patrick Robinson.  GRabbed it at the library as more summer
book fodder.  Very Tom Clancy-esqe, with liberal bashing, military worship,
etc.  Reminds me vaguely of WWII era teen propaganda (See the "Dave Dawson"
series sometime for a laugh), just not quite as extreme.  I'm halfway through
and I'm hoping for a twist at the end, but it's hard to see how the author
will get himself out of an obvious, already set-up outcome.  And mistakes,
despite all the detail and claimed research!  "No, couldn't be sabatage, those
nuclear warheads are *very* hard to get to explode since you need to do [xxx]
just the right way (ignoring the fact that the bomb would have to include the
capability to *do* [xxx] in order to be of any use at all as a weapon), and
also you'd have to have a high level pass to get past multiple guards (whoops,
assuming multiple guards can't be compromised or killed)". 

I'd give up on this book normally, but it's like rubbernecking at an auto
accident or perhaps like reading "Dondi" every week.

I've read all of Dick Francis's books - but I'm not really a 100% fan.

Dick Francis is one of the rare writers who who has been able to
maintain consistant quality book after book after book.  Though his
writing style is utterly different, he reminds me of P. G. Wodehouse,
who also wrote hundreds of meticulously-crafted, highly-entertaining
books, which are all so nearly identical that they all blur together in
your memory.

All of Dick Francis's books are set in "the world of racing."  Each book
has a new hero (I think only one character appears in more than one
book, and then only in two), always somehow connected to horse-racing
but in many different ways.  Part of the charm of each books is
exploring the hero's livelihood - Francis obviously loves researching
these things and sometimes goes a bit overboard in trying to fit all of
his research notes into the plot of mystery.

But although the hero always has a new name and a new profession, it's
plainly always the same guy (I don't think Francis has ever done a
female hero).  The hero is basically a fairly ordinary fellow, no genius
or superman, dedicated to his profession, a loner, very tough, extremely
honorable, and almost pathologically independent.  He almost always gets
beaten to a pulp by the villians (or stomped on by a race horse), but
being a manly man he just wraps his wounds with duct tape and strives on
ahead.  (If someone drags the hero to a hospital while unconscious, he
sneaks out as soon as he regains consciousness.)  He never goes to the
police for help (or, if he does, the police turn out to be total
dummies, doing more harm than good.)  The hero wins by persistance,
intelligence and toughness.

These books are always hard to put down, the plots are twisty.  First
rate entertainment. 

Except somehow I always feel a bit guilty about enjoying these books,
because it is such a simple-minded formula: basic male
ego-gratification.  A world where the tough guy always wins, without
needing any help from such wimp institutions as police forces and
hospitals and courts and laws.  It's a value system that seems much more
admirable in fiction than in the real world.

Still, they are much better than most guy-hero books.  For example, Dick
Francis never spends a whole page describing the hero's gun.  He's much
more likely to spend a whole page describing an artist's painting
technique (paintings of horses), or details of how the textile
manufacture industry works (I can't remember how that tied to horse
racing).  Vastly more intelligent stuff.

All the ones I have read (3 & a fraction, now) are also first person.  That
limits things a bit; yet he does it so *beautifully* that they're a joy to
read.

To an extent Jan's description seems right on target.  Yet it could give the
entirely wrong impression.  For the ones I've read, anyway, the hero is not
(aside from being a jockey or former jockey, a profession given to
self-starvation, painful injuries, etc.) out there looking to be tough.  Not
at all.  He's in one way or another pushed into the situation, pretty much.
Agreed that it's more admirable in fiction than reality.  We can *see* that
these guys' egos aren't the problem (that's a big distinction between the
heros & some of the bad guys), but that's rather more unlikely in real life.
But these are very far from being the one-dimensional tough guys 
that a capsule summary might suggest.

What Jan said about the heroes' livelihoods is indeed a big part of the
attraction, for me anyway.  The first one I read (_Longshot_) involves a
wannabe novelist.  He's till now made his living writing survival manuals,
field-testing them first by having his publishers dump him in the arctic or
on a desert island or whatever with minimal equipment.  Having decided that
he's got to write a novel instead, he's currently starving for real.  Does
that sound unbelievable?   It's told so that it's absolutely solid &
believable.  I expect to read anything of Francis's that I can get my hands
on, over time.

Eh?

Jan's Guide to Mystery:

  I'm really more of a Science Fiction fan than a mystery fan, so I like
  really good world-building.  Most mystery seems like just yet another
  detective and yet another dead body.  Basically grim stuff.  I want an
  expertly guided tour though a new world, with likable characters showing
  the way, a plot that is more than a throwaway, and not too much
  shear nastiness.

  - Dick Francis - I'm not sure if I really like his characters - they seem
    a bit inhumane to me, like Ayn Rand characters.  Otherwise, high scores
    on all points.

  - Arthur Upfield - Written in the 1930s through 1950s, these have a half-
    aborigine police detective solving mysteries in Austrialia's outback.
    The hero operates by completely immersing himself in the community where
    the crime occurred and observing in detail, looking for the ripples
    that must spread from a murder, building up a case from nothing.  A
    wonderful character, great plots, and an amazing background. 

  - Ellis Peters - Brother Caedfal is a 13th century monk in a time of war
    and intrigue.  A loving recreation of a time I didn't previously know
    was interesting.  Though the stories might appear to be murder mysteries,
    they are usually really love stories in disguise.

  - Joan Hess - An apathetic police chief watches over her tiny home town
    of Maggody, Arkansas, which is populated by numerous eccentrics.  The
    plots can be a bit contrived, but the humor makes up for it.

Curiously Joan Hess and Ellis Peters each have other series of books which
I find perfectly tedious.  Peters and Upfield are sadly deceased, so there
will be no more from my two favorite authors.  Too bad.

I share some of Jan's interest in world-building mysteries, so 
I'll pass along a list of some I have enjoyed.
You may have to dig in the used shops for some of these:
 
Peter Dickinson:  his earliest novels all featured the same detective, 
      whose name escapes me; a man of decidedly average talents who
      stumbles into a series of murder cases in bizarre, closed mini-
      societies.  THE GLASS SIDED ANT'S NEST is set in a tribe of 
      aboriginal people who have been uprooted and relocated to a 
      group of London row houses.  SLEEP AND HIS BROTHER is set in an 
      asylum for children suffering from a strange neurological disorder.
      The last in the series, ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE, begins with the 
      detective, confined in a nursing home and suffering from dementia, 
      deciding to end his life; on the way to implement his decision 
      he stumbles over a corpse...
 
      Dickinson stopped writing series but continues working in odd 
      worlds.  KING & JOKER is set among the British Monarchy in an 
      alternate history.
 
James McClure:  novels mostly written in the 1970s and set in South 
      Africa, pairing a white policeman and a black policeman.
      Exceptionally high paranoia content.
 
William Marshall:  best known for a series of police procedurals 
      written in the 70s and 80s (and some in the 90s) set in colonial 
      Hong Kong, in the fictitious run-down neighborhood of Yellowthread
      Street.  Marshall's stock story structure intercuts one pretty grim 
      mystery with a pair of sillier ones; the sillier stories come to 
      happy endings and the grim story proceeds to its ending in a 
      cinematic explosion of violence.

Lindsay Davis:  has a series featuring a "private investigator" which 
      is set in Rome, 70 A.D.

Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo:  In a series of ten novels they set out to draw 
      portraits of contemporary Swedish society.  I consider the 
      "Martin Beck" series to be the most artful mystery series I have read.
      These should probably be read in order due to the slow-moving changes 
      in the detectives' lives which stretch through the series.
      If you're looking for cheerfulness, the Martin Beck stories may not 
      be your cup of hemlock; I love the characters but most of the stories
      are grim.

(How about Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose"?)

I recommend Kate Ross's Regency mysteries. Alas, she died earlier this year,
with only four written, but they are the BEST mysteries I've read in a long
time. Ken, can I borrow that alternate history mystery?
/

Mysteries have always been a mystery to me.  I've never really gotten
into them.

I've been reading mysteries off and on for most of my adult life.
In fact, I've gone through periods of extreme addiction, although
nowadays I just read an occasional one.

In regards to mysteries with an exotic setting, don't think anybody's
mentioned Robert Van Gulik's "Judge Dee" series, in which the
protagonist is a provincial magistrate in medieval China. The
depiction of life and society at that time and place is fascinating.

Judge Dee was an actual historical character, and the first of
Gulik's Judge Dee books is a translation of an old Chinese stories
about him. The rest are Gulik's own creations.

I was going to mention the Judge Dee stories, too.  I find them somewhat
frustrating, though.  Quite interesting in many ways, a bit clumsy in others.
Too much pattern in the motives, for one thing.

I'd rank Tony Hillerman very high.

There are lots of mysteries I like very much.  In general, though, I find that
the ones that mystery fans of various types like best are not all that
interesting to me.  What Jan said generally applies to me, I think, allowing
for variations in taste ... & the fact that I haven't read most of the ones
he mentioned.  (Little time for reading, these last few years.  Jan is due
to have a lot less, shortly, too.)  I think of myself as an SF fan, too,
though I have to say I really haven't kept up with *that* since the
early-to-mid-70s, either.  <sigh>  So many books, so little time ...

I haven't actually read them... So has anyone here read anything
by the woman that took my name <grumbles> Anne Perry?

Tony Hillerman stories are just great. I always read them as a source of 
information about the Navajo people and their culture. The mystery part 
is just a bonus. 

Anne Perry has two series out there -- one is the Monk series, with 
a protagonist who starts out by being in a cariage accident and then
losing his memory, and who has to reinvent himself along the way. There
are about eight books in that series, and I like them, although she
seems to be running out of things to say, but I will continue to read.
The other series, which I don't like as well is about Inspector Inspector
                     Thomas Pitt, the low-born London copper with a
better-born
                     wife, Charlotte. Set during the Victorian era, Perry's
mysteries
                     usually examine the dark underbelly of aristocratic life.
                     Homosexuality, adultery, and pedophilia have all been
subjects of
                     her previous books; in Ashworth Hall she injects a new
                     ingredient: politics.  (Yes, this last was stolen
from a blurb I had handy.)

Anne Perry is interesting as well for her involvement in a real-life
murder -- you know that movie that came out a few years ago about
the Australian girls who murdered one of them's mother? (That sounds
really icky, but I'm not cleaning up my grammar right now.) she was
the girl who actually did the head-bashing. So I think that it's 
fascinating that she knows the criminal mind so well....

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss