On the recommendation of an aggregate of postings, I started
reading
Leonard's Freaky Deaky, and am about half way through now.
I've read
Glitz and listened to City Primeval on tape. I still can't
quite bring
myself around to believing that Leonard deserves all the
praise he gets.
I'm trying to like his books. I want to like them. The books
seem a
little bloated and the prose is not too interesting. If the
action were
quicker or the plots tighter, I might be higher on him, but
no such
luck. I'll try Swag next, then that's it. (Though I hear from
other
sources that his westerns are better. True?)
I looked a few places for Hollywood Nocturnes, couldn't find
it, but
turned up a copy of Kent Harrington's Dark Ride, much praised
by Mario
last Friday. I'm only just beginning, but the book definitely
has
teeth. On any day, I'd defend the prose and vision of
Harrington's
first lurid chapter to the action of Leonard's first Freaky
Deaky
chapter. (Of course, I have a soft spot in my heart for
degenerates
doing crank in Northern California.) The book reads a bit
like
Thompson, and I'll report on where it goes, but probably
worth checking
out for the readers that Mario described last week.
Meanwhile, I could
be in trouble for having had a co-worker read said lurid
chapter at work
today. It does seem unfortunate that Harrington didn't earn a
wider
readership, which has minimized readers' access to his next
book, as I
understand.
Best,
Doug
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