RARA-AVIS: Re: bad casting, gist, list, good book, big books

Kevin Smith (kvnsmith@total.net)
Sun, 23 Nov 1997 10:50:20 -0400 I met Walter Mosley once and we chatted about Robert Johnson, book tours
and the then-upcoming film. He confided that the studio was leaning towards
Denzel Washington, but he sorta pictured Danny Glover. I wonder what he
tought of Don Cheadle (Picket Fences) as Mouse?

Which brings me to my next question? Has anyone read his latest, "Always
Outnumbered, Always Outgunned"? The New York Times Book Review evidently
has the first chapter online. I don't have the exact URL, but it's a few
issues (2?) back. You have to be a member but the price is right (it's
free).

Oh, and my last message crisscrossed the digest, so my previous comments
are actually replying to the previous one (#104), not #105, so please,
everyone, don't take my comments the wrong way. I'm not saying The Maltese
Falcon is not worth reading, re-reading or even having tatooed on your
stomach. And the reading list IS a good idea. I was just saying I wouldn't
personally be re-reading all of them.

Oh, and one more Falcon-type note: a few years ago (10 already!) North
Point Press put out a really fun edition of The Maltese Falcon, complete
with period photographs. If you can nab a copy, it's worth checking out. I
think it was done in both hardcover and trade paperback. It added a real
sense of place to the reading. Supposedly, someone put out a similiar
version for The Big Sleep.

Oh, and Frank, bienvenue, and it's nice to see someone else who has a
complaint about overly-long books. Seems publishers want 350+ pages these
days, resulting in some pretty padded, overblown books. And these are the
books that seem to get into the newstands and drugstore racks. Lately,
several highly-touted books I've read just seem so bloated. It's
interesting to note that most of my favorite crime novels are relatively
short (150-250 pages). Has anyone ever read a really good hardboiled novel
that went on for more than, say, 300 or so pages?

Kevin Smith
Web Guy for The Thrilling Detective Web Site
For info, mailto:kvnsmith@total.net

"You wanna talk to me, go ahead and talk"
Bob Dylan, via Sam Spade

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