We were talking about books this week at Althouse and I just finished my third one this week. Ice, Iron and Gold by SM Stirling, which is a collection of some of his short stories. It was very entertaining. I also finished Paddy Whacked, The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster which is about Irish gangsters through the years. And I reread Now and Then a Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker. Re-reading is one of the joys of having a big collection of books. Parker is particularly good to read again and again because they are an easy read on the train.
This week we have lined up a new biography of Frank Niti, The Wolf Sea a Viking adventure and the latest issue of the Grantville Gazette which I downloaded from the website.
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I just finished Hit Man by Lawrence Block last week. It was really great, and pretty amusing.
Speaking of the Irish mob, my husband emailed me this story a couple days ago. Pretty interesting--you might already know about it, supposedly The Departed was loosely based on it.
I read the memoir Underboss years ago and realized how hard it is for me to read that sort of non-fiction. I guess I'm always wanting a "good guy" to sort of side with, and when the protagonist is a repulsive guy, I have trouble staying with it.
But obviously, I have no problem with *fiction* books like Hit Man, where the main character is quite likable, or even the show Dexter.
If you want to read a really good series based on a hit man you should get the Peter Macklin books by Loren Estelman. Macklin is a hit man for the mob and in the first book he is sent to confront some kiddnappers who have taken over an excursion boat on one of the great lakes. A lot of his stuff is based in Detroit and his Detroit series is really great especially King of the Corner and Motown. Highly recomended.
Of course one of my favorite books of all time is by Lawrence Block in his Matthew Scudder series. "When the Sacred Ginmill Closes" really speaks to me. It teaches you everything you need to know what it's like to hang out in bars. I had many of the same experiances that Block writes about and have been in many of the exact places that he is lightly fictionalizing. It is a great book.
Did you read the Babe Ruth bio which came out a couple years ago? I recommend it highly.
There were two _ I will get you the title of the one I read.
Yes I did AJ. But the one I really liked was Babe The Legend Comes to Life by Robert Cramer.
And of course you have to read
Ty Cobb by Al Stump which is one of the best biographies I ever read.
Finally, a great book as well is The Pitch That Killed by Mike Sowell about Ray Chapman who was hit by a pitch and killed. Great reading.
Have someone get one of these for you for Christmas.
That's what everyone gets me, books.
Matthew Scudder series
Is this "The Burgler Who..." series?
No knox. It is a series about an alchoholic. Thats what speaks to me. They made a movie about one of the stories. Matthew Scudder is an ex cop who quits after he kills a little girl by accident when he was drunk. He takes on jobs here and there and lives in a hotel in Manhattan. Blocks view of the streets of New York in the seventies and eighties and nineties really rings true. It should be pretty cheap to pick up used copies on Amazon.
You should read the series somewhat in order though because it is like real life. Nobody gets out alive.
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