What I'm Reading

Before I get to the post, two quick things. First, I am not doing an April Fool's joke on here. Not a big fan of sites that do, but oh well. Second and most important: Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to everyone following this blog. You guys are the bedrock, the foundation of what I hope will be some really loyal and helpful friends. I wanted to just say thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Giving you an update on what I'm reading and what's on tap for me to read. I follow the advice of Stephen King and a host of other writers that to be good at the craft of writing fiction, you have to read a lot of fiction. Here's my list:

What I'm Reading Now:

Galveston by Nic Pizzolatto

If you haven't picked this one up, let me forewarn you: Pizzolatto's writing will leave you wishing you had his talent with the written word. The story is a gritty kind of crime book set in the late 1980's and follows a muscle man working for a loan shark. Roy, the main character, has lung cancer and a boss who just tried to kill him. He and a girl named Rocky, who has an interesting story in her own right, and Rocky's sister leave New Orleans and head for the seedy streets of Galveston, TX. But trouble is waiting on them. So far, I love it.

To Be Read:

The Grove by John Rector

Lead Poisoning by J. E. Seymour

The Bayou Trilogy by Daniel Woodrell

The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy *

Saving Rachel by John Locke

L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy *

White Jazz by James Ellroy *

Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes

Origin by J.A. Konrath

And by the way, if that list seems short to you, that's because I read slow. If it seems long to you, well that's hopefully going to take me through the end of the summer, not the next few weeks. I hope so anyway. And just so you know five of the nine "to be read" books are on my Kindle.Galveston is on it.

I love to read. I love the escape to another time and place. I absolutely crave a good story. The writing doesn't have to be great, just enough so that I don't notice how bad it is. All of the writers up there are good ones, and if you haven't picked those books up or books by them, I highly recommend them.

* - throw in The Black Dahlia by Ellroy and you get the L.A. Quartet, which any serious crime writer should ready at least twice; Ellroy is truly the master of the genre that I love the most.