Adam Thirlwell: Politics: A Novel (P.S.)
One would think this book is about sex, And while it is, since the characters have so much about it, some of it is kinky, and threesomes play a big role in the narrative. mostly POLITICS is about everything else: the mechanics, the logistics, the emotional minefields, the awkward questions, the moral dilemmas, and, well, the politics of what it is to be with someone you love or someone you don't, and how an act that should be simple is anything but. Thirlwell was disgustingly young when he wrote this but he absolutely understands that to make this book work, there must be an underlying sweetness and sincerity to the entire story. Now I want to see what he's up to more recently.
Amazon | Indiebound | B & N | Borders | Powell’s
Jennifer Mascia: Never Tell Our Business to Strangers: A Memoir
Years ago I was blown away by Mascia's Modern Love piece describing her parents' secret past: her father was a mobbed-up convicted murderer, and her mother not only knew all about it, but aided and abetted her husband when life required being a fugitive, selling drugs, and living at great highs and crushing lows. Mascia's book tells a more whole story about her peripatetic life, and even with every new shocking revelation what remained consistent was how much she loved her parents, no matter how deep those lows went, and how much she misses them now that they are gone. Unconditional love never goes away, no matter if those who receive it deserve it.
Indiebound | Amazon | Borders | B & N | Powell’s
Juli Zeh: In Free Fall
Give me a novel of ideas and if the story is good and the characters are believable and entertain me, I am there. Give me a crime novel of ideas, where two physics professors, friends and rivals, opposites but startlingly similar, do emotional battle on an intellectual canvas, raise the stakes through betrayal, the possible kidnapping of a child, and embroil a romantic-leaning police detective in the complicated machinations of quantum theory, and holy hell, I think I have myself one of my favorite books of the year.
Powell’s | Indiebound | Amazon | Borders | B & N
Simon Lelic: A Thousand Cuts
It appears to be a crime with an easy solution: a disgruntled schoolteacher shoots up his place of employment and kills several students in the process. But really, Lelic's novel is about the catastrophic consequences of bullying, and how this act is hardly limited to kids turning on other kids, but burrows deeply into adult relationships as well. He evokes empathy for the killer and sympathy for Lucia, the investigating officer who has to fight for every scrap of dignity as she pieces together the far more complex truth of what really happened at the school.
Powell’s | Amazon | Borders | Indiebound | B & N
William Lindsay Gresham: Nightmare Alley
I cannot stop raving about this book to people. The circular narrative structure, the demented feel of a traveling carny troupe, and the extraordinary rise and precipitous fall of Stan Carlisle give off the persistent, raging feeling that hell is always with us, and success is basically a sucker's game. No matter what the biographical evidence on Gresham's state of mind leading up to and after the book's bestseller (and movie basis) status in 1946, I don't think we can really know what demons plagued him to produce this marvelous noir gem.
B & N | Indiebound | Amazon | Borders | Powell’s
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"I am not a blogger, dammit."
Probably a good thing as it's a habit that can easily suck up a lot of productive time.
OTOH, it's a great way to blow off the day job.
(Wait. Does my boss read this? Prank caller! Prank caller!)
Posted by: Jim Winter | August 14, 2006 at 06:00 PM
George, I don't think you're really blogging until you link to something entirely useless and goofy.
But hell, I'm damned glad to see you here anyway.
Posted by: Duane Swierczynski | August 14, 2006 at 06:56 PM
Great impression! Now try Otto ...
Posted by: Bill Peschel | August 14, 2006 at 07:34 PM
*waves at George*
Posted by: JDRhoades | August 14, 2006 at 07:42 PM
Hell,I'm wondering what's on your turntable.. Uhm,Ipod. [This new steam- driven technology is giving me a headache.] "Hey, you kids get off my damn lawn!" Second time I've said that this week and 3rd time I've tried to post this blabbery.
John McAuley
Posted by: John McAuley | August 14, 2006 at 07:59 PM
John raises a point. This doesn't seem like an authentic George Pelecanos message unless it ends with a note about what he's listening to.
Which is far more important than any silly links!
Posted by: Sandra Ruttan | August 14, 2006 at 08:13 PM
Hey George,
Lets here some cool tunes. I'm looking at my Dennis McMillan Copies of THE NIGHT GARDENER, very cool...
Posted by: Aldo | August 14, 2006 at 09:58 PM
Uh, I sent that first comment off by mistake. Shows you that, indeed, I do not know what I'm doing.
Today I listened to tracks from: The English Beat, My Morning Jacket, Marvin Gaye, Morricone (theme from The Big Gundown), The Pogues, Wyclef Jean, The Jam, O.V. Wright, and others.
Just got back from the Nationals game...talk to you guys in the a.m.
George Pelecanos
Posted by: Shoedog | August 14, 2006 at 10:31 PM
Good seeing you here George -
One question that's been bugging a lot of people who saw you at Harrogate a few weeks back - How come you didn't sweat in the heat - was it that your cool jacket had refridgeration coils built into the lining?
Good seeing you in Yorkshire
Ali
www.shotsmag.co.uk
Posted by: Ali | August 15, 2006 at 08:50 AM
Forest Knolls Rules !!!!
Posted by: Pete | August 15, 2006 at 01:49 PM
A welcome surprise to find George on here as I'm just heading out to pick up "The Night Gardener". And My Morning Jacket rocks.
Posted by: Rob Smith | August 15, 2006 at 06:18 PM