Comments on: Vacation Reading (Or, a Book-Plugging Post)

By: Tim Zinnecker

Tim Zinnecker — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 20:39:14 +0000

The Alienist, and The Angel of Darkness, both by Caleb Carr, and both historical fiction / mysteries.

By: Don Morrisey

Don Morrisey — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 07:37:58 +0000

If it’s historical mystery you want, try “Two Trains Running” by Andrew Vachss. The subject is how contemporary America created the pattern of its politics as a result of events in the year preceding the 1960 election, when his story takes place. While rival criminal organizations fight over the future of a midwestern city, larger and more corrupt forces clash over the future of the country itself. Just as Vachss portrays far more than the city in which the tale is set, so too is his subject far more than crime. He delves deeply into the still unresolved problem of race animus. He examines the genesis of gang violence and the motivations that draw the young and rootless into joining. He examines how government surveillance can extend into all aspects of society, and how the investigation of corruption can lead to the corruption of the investigator. Vachss’s style here is jounalistic: the novel is constructed through a series of scenes presented chronologically with the date and time at the start of each. He reports the dialogue and actions, without adverting to an omniscient narrator that reveals the characters’ thoughts. With such a tightly disciplined manner of relating events, the warmth and compassion infusing the story amazes and entrances the careful reader.

By: Benjamin Nelson

Benjamin Nelson — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 04:09:32 +0000

I’m almost finished the Gormenghast series (Titus Groan, Gormenghast, and Titus Alone). So far, it is excellent. Every single line is poetry and wit. Every description is cinematic, in the sense that, if you’ve correctly understood what the autor (Mervyn Peake) has written, then you’ll immediately have a picture in your head of the event.

The central society, the kingdom of Gormenghast, is a satirical portrayal of a law-abiding, rule-following society which has been alienated from the meaning(s) and goals behind its laws and traditions. And that’s just the background for the story, which chugs forward by the intense personalities of the main characters.

What’s especially appealing about the series is that it’s set in a fantasy universe, but fails to be fantastic — there are no dragons, no elves, no magic, one moon, one Earth, the usual months, and so on. The most glaring eccentricity is that almost everyone has a ridiculous compound name, like “Prunesquallor”, “Muzzlehatch”, “Flannelcat”, or “Steerpike”.

By: Belle Lettre

Belle Lettre — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 02:17:53 +0000

If you like historical mysteries, might I suggest a few literary mysteries?

Possession by A.S. Byatt, about a fictional poet named “Randolph Ash”

The Archivist by Martha Cooley, a fictional account of T.S. Eliot’s life.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Luis Zafon (probably the most thrilling of the bunch)

For completely fun reading, Found Magazine, edited by Davy Rothbart–it’s a collection of “found stuff” (letters, pictures, etc.) around the world. Trash is more interesting than you think, and sometimes better than “trashy” literature.

And every summer I read a lot of Agatha Christie, but mostly the Hercule Poirot mysteries: best bet: The ABC Murders.