What are you reading?

[dungeonmaster20]

breathtaking. 99 pages of noir crime fiction bliss.

[Night Editor]

I'd never heard of Manchette - until last night. I'd just started 'He Died With His Eyes Open' by Derek Raymond and in his introduction, James Sallis says Manchette:

"Derek Raymond occupies much the same space in England as does Jean-Paul Manchette in France. Manchette salvaged the French crime novel from the bog of police procedural and colorful tales of pigalle lowlife to which it had sunk. 'The crime novel', Manchette claimed 'is the great moral literature of our time".

It's great to know that once I've finished with Raymond, I've got Manchette to look forward to. Many thanks.

[aldabright]

I'm reading Rebecca, and I've read it for months; it's not until its half past I know the book is relate to horror and suspense. Before the half, I thought it might all be about stream of consciousness, and I found it's not so easy to read to the last then. But now I'm eager to finish it and know the last answers.

[Adam Lounsbery]

I just finished reading Ed McBain's Killer's Payoff (1958). It's the sixth book in McBain's 87th Precinct mystery series, which I'm working through in order, and really enjoying. You can read my review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/198056450. (Also, if anyone on this forum is a Goodreads member, feel free to send me a friend request.)

[Steve-O]

I muddled through most of Cloud Atlas -- ultimately I got sick of that annoying fake future language in the middle of it...

Now I'm moving on to the new Hard Case Crime novels!

Christina Faust and Lawrence Block first...

[Raven]

How about something on the most noirish event in history? Namely volume III of Samuel Elliot Morrison's "History of the United States Naval Operations in WWII: "The Rising Sun in the Pacific."

[HJ]

How about something on the most noirish event in history? Namely volume III of Samuel Elliot Morrison's "History of the United States Naval Operations in WWII: "The Rising Sun in the Pacific."

I know you're not going to believe this, Raven, but I read all 25 volumes of Morrison's WW II Naval Ops series back in 1964-65 when I was just a young buck. Great stuff, too! Instead of being dull and boring history, it had some "personality" to it that kept me turning the pages.

Might be a good re-read for me now that I'm an old buzzard......

[Raven]

HJ,

With a degree in history, I never find it "...dull and boring..."

Wow all 25 volumes when you were a "young buck!" What's wrong with you, didn't they have girls around where you lived?

Doubtful I'll get thru all 25 as my main interest is in the Pacific theater.

[HJ]

[QUOTE=Raven;8506]HJ, .....Wow all 25 volumes when you were a "young buck!" What's wrong with you, didn't they have girls around where you lived?......QUOTE]

Plenty of girls, Raven, but none of them interested in the "less-than-handsome" new guy in town.....

[dungeonmaster20]

I just finished another of Manchette's titles: "Three to Kill"



It was superb. Not as good as "Fatale" but very entertaining and obviously influenced by Hammett's "The Maltese Falcon"

[Dark Corner]

I read a lot of History, having been a History Major. And I keep about 4 books going at the same time.

I am currently reading In The Garden of Beasts by Eric Larson. I really enjoyed his Devil in the White City and Isaac's Storm.

I am reading the latest Sherrilyn Kenyon, Retribution, also. It is one of her Dark Hunter books.

And Horror Noir by Paul Meehen. I love that McFarland Press has been setting up at conventions. So I can buy from their reps directly and also check out the books before purchasing them. They were are Heroes Con in Charlotte and DragonCon at Atlanta this year.

If you like sci-fi and alternate history, I recommend the 1632 series by Eric Flint and others. It is really a good read. It is set during the 100 years war and is filled with historical characters.

Also, The Destroyermen series by Taylor Anderson. An WWI era Destroyer in the Pacific of 1941 gets sent to another universe along with a counterpart Japanese ship out to destroy it.

[Guy Savage]

Just finished Duane Swierczynski's Severance Package.
Before that: Nigel Balchin's The Small Back Room.

Next? Dark Passage: David Goodis.

[Steve-O]

I'm reading Repeat Performance by William O'Farrell

Honestly, this book is outstanding. It's a big change to the soapy noir that was made from it. Well, I do love the beginning and end of the movie. The book does have a different beginning -- changing the sexes of some of the characters and being more "hard-boiled." Surprisingly, the events don't happen on New Years Eve in the book... one thing the film has over the novel...

[Nighthawk]

Just finished Lush Life by Richard Price. The book rockets out of the gate and keeps up a blistering pace for about 150 pages, but then it unfortunately slows down and bogs down by the end.

I just picked up Death on the Cheap and Dark City. Looking forward to reading both of them.

I'm reading Repeat Performance by William O'Farrell

I've never heard of this book until now. I love the dust jacket for that edition. I might have to check it out (the book, not that edition, since that particular copy costs several hundred dollars).

[JCharles]

I just finished one of George Pelecanos' latest: The Cut. I've read everything by him and this one is as strong as his other novels. This one's a real page-turner, with noir elements, but also (as is true of most of his works), a social conscience and depth of characterization.

[cigar joe]

Recently

Night & Fear (2005), Cornell Woolrich, a compilation of his short stories many of which first were published in pulp magazines. Woolrich was a real master of the genre called noir, author of countless pieces featuring hardboiled detectives, disenchanted cops, or ordinary citizens caught in desperate situations.

Ride The Pink Horse Dorothy B. Hughes, interesting but nothing really outstanding.

Dark City Dames The wicked women of Film Noir. (2001) By Eddie Muller

Just finnished Nightwebs, Cornell Woolrich compilation which has a nice checklist of all of Woolrich's work and screen adaptations in total 23, the Noirs in bold.

Children of the Ritz (1929)
Manhattan love Song (1934)
Convicted (1938)
Street Of Chance (1942)
The Leopard Man (1943)
The Phantom Lady (1944)
Mark Of The Whistler (1944)
Deadline At Dawn (1946)
The Balck Angel (1946)
The Chase (1946)
Fall Guy (1947)
Fear In The Night (1947)
The Guilty (1947)
I Wouldn't Be In Your Shoes (1948)
Return of the Whistler (1948)
Night Has A Thousand Eyes (1948)
The Window (1949)
No Man Of Her Own (1950)
Rear Window (1954)
Nightmare (1956)
The Boy Cried Murder (1966)
La Mariee Etait en Noir (The Bride Wore Black) (1967)
La Sirene du Mississippi (Mississippi Mermaid) (1969)

[JCharles]

Night and Fear is an excellent collection. I also recommend a more recent one by Woolrich; Four Novellas of Fear, well worth a look. As the title indicates, it collects four of his novellas from pulp magazines of the 30s and 40s. There's also a good study of the films made from his stories: Cornell Woolrich from Pulp Noir to Film Noir by Thomas C. Renzi. Good stills, factual but not stuffy.

[rizzo]

Hello, I'm new here, I'm french and a big fan of film noir. My first question for my first post : I want to know your top ten noir, pulp or crime novels and the first you have read and why you like it. I hope you understand my english writing ! Thanks to all of you.

Rizzo

[Adam Lounsbery]

Hello, I'm new here, I'm french and a big fan of film noir. My first question for my first post : I want to know your top ten noir, pulp or crime novels and the first you have read and why you like it. I hope you understand my english writing ! Thanks to all of you.

Rizzo

Hello, Rizzo.

The first noir/pulp/crime novel I read was probably Mickey Spillane's I, the Jury. The novel that seriously got me into the genre was Jim Thompson's The Killer Inside Me, which I read a year or two later. It's not my favorite Thompson novel, although a lot of people seem to like it the best. It's pretty hard to choose 10 noir/pulp/crime novels, but I'll give it a try. Here's a selection, in no particular order:

Richard Stark's The Hunter and The Man With the Getaway Face
Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe novels (I can't pick just one)
Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon and The Red Harvest
James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice
Elmore Leonard's 52 Pick-up
Chester Himes's For Love of Imabelle (a.k.a. A Rage in Harlem)
Jim Thompson's After Dark, My Sweet and The Getaway
Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series (I can't pick just one)

[rizzo]

Hello Adam,

thanks for this nice selection, just finish to read the high window by Chandler, but in french version ! I'm gonna buy some other stuff from noir writers but this time in original version, because in the high window all the people talks like if they're living in Paris in the forties, not in LA ! Very strange feelings about that....