Mystery Books

I've finished the first five stories of The Name is Archer, and they've all been really good. Each one is very simple, but all are very different from the other. Each is set up through a murder, and Detective Archer is sent out to investigate each one. Every murder is intricate and the cast of characters are always interesting. That being said the longer the story, the better the story. Because it allows MacDonald more time to test the reader through puzzles and cover ups. My favorite story so far pertains an artist who is murdered, but not before he can leave his final clue that helps the case get solved. I've come to the conclusion that short stories are really great, I've read so many and by so many great artists such as: Ray Chandler, John Steinbeck, and many, many others. They don't allow you to become to invested in a character which always end up dissapointing and they never let your interest wane. My next book will be Dashiell Hammet's The Thin Man, and after that either A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood, or Push by Sapphire (a prevalent slam poet). I look forward to reading all these stories and my inevitable finishing of The Name is Archer.

The Awesome Archer

Lew Archer is an awesome character. The character is the subject of The Name is Archer by Ross MacDonald, MacDonald being a fifties writer whose work comes from the same place as other novelists Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. The only difference is Archer is better than both Marlowe and Nick and Nora. If he saw the thin man he'd break him in half. And thats the conceit of the novel. Archer walks into trouble and he solves it. Each case is wildly different from what would seem as conventional plots like jilted lover kills partner or motel slaying and yet he spins these routines on there proverbial heads. It's similar in fact to many Coen brother movies, where the main character has no place being where he is, and the rest is a struggle to stray out alive. Nearly everyone either dismisses Archer as a stupid grizzly bear of a man, or asks for his help looking to stab him in the back when the situation gets rough. But Archer is not stupid and you always feel as if he's a step ahead of you. I tried guessing the ending everytime, but I never even came close. The book divided in vignettes shows you the power of a good mystery before CSI came along and turned intrigue into lab work. After reading this it's easy to see why MacDonald was named grand master of the myster writers association of america.

New Year, New Books

I'd like to think 2009 was a great year for me rediscovering my love of reading that included alot of hits (Watchmen earlier this year, Moneyball, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, etc.) and a few misses (my forays into the weird minds of Thomas Pynchon and William S. Burroughs). This year their are alot of books i'd really like to read as well as authors. For poetry i'm probably going to read a collection of Langston Hughes poems because ever since I first read "Harlem" by him a long time ago, he's easily been my favorite poet (it's not a coincidence that tomorrow i'm reading his aforementioned poem to my english class). Although I really think Walt Whitman's vision of America is cool, his poems bore me. Other books i'd like to read are The Tao of Wu by The Rza, Push by Sapphire, Road Dogs and Out of Sight by Elmore Leonard, and maybe Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I'm really starting to love gritty urban novels which is one of the reason's i'd like to read Push, as well as I recently saw the movie "Precious" which was amazing. I'm also interested in reading a good World War II novel, but I don't know any good ones so suggestions would be really appreciated.