“A dazzling study of mental anguish and moral dilemma” Author Nick Taussig picks his essential crime fiction reads… The Big Issue, 7 August 2013
1. Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Following the nihilistic student Raskolnikov, this is a dazzling study of mental anguish and moral dilemma.
Following the nihilistic student Raskolnikov, this is a dazzling study of mental anguish and moral dilemma.
2. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
We’ve all seen the trilogy of films but read the original novel, stunning in its detail of the inner workings of the Cosa Nostra.
3. Papillon, Henri Charrière
First published as a memoir – the tale of a French criminal escaping from countless penal colonies – it later transpired the author was prone to fantasy and that the book was a novel after all. But what a creation.
4. The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, John le Carré
The master espionage writer’s third novel was brilliant, not least because you feel the writer in every sinew of his hero, Leamas.
5. The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler
Revel in the plot’s complexity and how Chandler leads you one way then the other. Yes, the double-cross extends to the reader also.
Nick Taussig’s latest novel, The Distinguished Assassin, is out now in hardback (Dissident, £12.99)
This prompted me to peruse about half of The Drowning Pool – 133 pages or so – to see how many similes I could count. (I’m using the Vintage Crime Black Lizard edition from May 1996). I counted thirty four and no doubt missed a few. I haven’t done the legwork, but I think some of the later books might have a slightly higher ratio. That’s a lot, but in any case I would argue that many of Macdonald’s similes are so strong that they infinitely enrich the work. Not only that – they are so strong that they put many “serious” writers of fiction to shame.
http://postmoderndeconstructionmadhouse.blogspot.com/2014/11/ross-macdonald-drowning-pool.html#.VHVcctKUeRZ
In studying the Lew Archer novels of Ross Macdonald I’ve tried to identify certain characteristics, themes, motifs, images – call them what you like – that crop up frequently throughout the various books. I don’t claim that the following are particularly important or have any special significance or meaning; nor do I say this is a comprehensive list. They are simply some things I’ve noticed in more than one of the novels. Some of these appear in quite a few of the Archers. In time I hope to post the results of reading through each of the books individually while searching for these ‘repeaters’.
http://postmoderndeconstructionmadhouse.blogspot.com/2014/12/ross-macdonald-characteristics-of.html#.VMMrA9KUc7V