I'm also a Thompson fan. At one point or another I thought I had all
his books (I tend to loan them out), and realize the one book of his
I've never read was Child of Rage.
My two favorites are easily Savage Night and Hell of a Woman. Savage
Night in particular is such a fierce and brilliantly written
meditation on death and dying. Whenever I need inspiration I go back
to that book. That, Maltese Falcon and Name of the Game is Death might
be my three favorite crime fiction books.
Thompson's take on Postman Always Rings Twice, Nothing More than
Murder, is his one noir book that I don't really care for. The writing
just seems too flat to me.
His Two non-crime novels, Heed the Thunder and Now and On Earth are
also well-worth reading. And for his more lighter books, I recommend
Texas by the Tail which features a Mitch Allison-type conman from his
great conman short stories (The Frightening Frammis, The Cellini Chalice).
--Dave
www.davezeltserman.com
--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, Robert Byrne <Bob.Byrne@...> wrote:
>
> Mark Francis wrote:
>
> 'I think when he was writing in a more humorous/light style, he
was very entertaining. They don't have the depth of his sociopathic
thrillers, but both of those novels are worth reading for pleasure and
to learn about Thompson as a writer.'
>
>
> I agree with Mark. I quite enjoy what Thompson's lighter, less
bleak books.
>
> And I'll never understand the fascination with Savage Night. I'm a
Thompson fan, and I've gotten through it twice. But with it's bizarre
last ten or so pages, it is the worst hardboiled/noir/similar genre
book I've read.
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
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