I happened to see THE READER'S COMPANION, edited by Fred
Bratman and Scott Lewis, on the shelf the other day, and when
I flipped through I noticed an entry by Lawrence Block where
he talks about the books that influenced him. I photocopied
the page the wrong way so I lost the first words, but he
starts with
James T.
Farrell, STUDS LONIGAN
Thomas Wolfe,
OF TIME AND THE RIVER
John
Steinbeck, THE GRAPES OF WRATH
John dos
Passos, U.S.A.
Then he says, "When I began to have some acceptance in the
field of crime fiction, I read whole libraries of the stuff.
Much of what I read had an impact. I'll list some individual
titles, but I didn't really read individual books; I gulped
down complete works.
Dashiell
Hammett, THE MALTESE FALCON
Raymond
Chandler, THE LONG GOODBYE
Frederic
Brown, THE FABULOUS CLIPJOINT
Agatha
Christie, THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD
Rex Stout,
BLACK ORCHIDS
"The works of one American novelist and short story writer
have had a continuing influence on my writing and, I
shouldn't wonder, on my world view. I've read all of his
books over and over, and I wouldn't be surprised if I get
rather more out of them than he put into them. I'll mention
two favorites: John O'Hara, TEN NORTH FREDERICK and FROM THE
TERRACE.
"I should mention a very uneven writer who, in his best work,
made enormously difficult narrative tasks look effortless and
natural: Somerset Maugham, CAKES AND ALE and THE MOON AND
SIXPENCE.
"And a man I wish I'd had a chance to meet, who wrote
relatively little and died too son: Walter Tevis, THE QUEEN'S
GAMBIT and THE COLOR OF MONEY."
-- William Denton : Toronto, Canada : http://www.miskatonic.org/ : Caveat lector.
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