BOOKS THREAD

Spy magazine, which was the Olympus of two-word descriptive savagry for years,
was dead-on with the Old Man.

Fascist Asshole.

 

I'm 400 pages into Lehane's "The Given Day," after a recommendation from somebody on this thread (thanks, whoever it was!). Just a great, great story.

I'm 400 pages into Lehane's "The Given Day" after two sessions. Can't put it down. It's that good.

 

It's a great read, buck, all the way through.

 

Can't argue with that logic. Pretty much sums it up.

Boy, I miss Spy. Effin' brilliant.

 

In its heyday, Spy was amazing. Somewhere I have their Separated at Birth book, with a dead on Darryl Strawberry-Dino from the Flintstones comparison.

Back to books, I'm not much of a fiction reader, but I enjoyed "Lush Life." I'm finally reading David Maraniss' Rome and like it a lot so far.

 

I loved Lehane's work through "Mystic River." After that he decided he was a Very Serious Writer and quite eagerly shat on the crime fiction genre every chance he got, and that really turned me off. I should pick up the new one, though. He's still a damn good writer.

For other fans of crime fiction -- Moddy, I'm looking at you here -- pick up "Beat the Reaper" by Josh Bazell, a doctor and first time novelist. He actually wrote "Beat the Reaper" during his internship. Best thing I've read in a long, long time. The main character is a former mob hitman who goes into witness relocation and becomes a doctor. Haven't laughed this hard at a book since early Hiaasen. The review blurbs are from Connelly, Crais and Coben -- three of my favorites, and I think this is better than they have done in a while.

 

Stephen King's "The Stand" is still one of the best, IMO.

 

A couple of months ago I picked up a used paperback of something called "Lucifer's Hammer" -- the first half of the book is about how an asteroid is about to hit the earth and does; the second half is how society regroups itself as it essentially reverts to the Middle Ages after the impact.

I thought it was pretty good (it's not deep or anything like that, though); might be what you're looking for.

 

I just finished Michael Lewis' Blind Side and really enjoyed it. I'd also recommend it if you're a fan of an NFL team with an early to mid-first round pick. Lewis' muse, Michael Oher, could be your starting tackle next year.

I'm also about finished with "All But My Life" a very interesting and heartbreaking Holocaust memoir.

Finally, I'm really enjoying the web site, Shelfari, which I think was recommended on this thread. It's a really cool way to keep track of the books you've read.

 

Let me know what you think. I'll be pretty surprised if you don't like it.