>>>>Can't say I've ever been much for spy thrillers, but maybe I'll take a shot at one. I like a good mystery and I like a good comedy and when the two are mixed, I'm a happy camper.
>>>>
>>>>Of course, then there is Stephenson. BTW, I assume you read Anathem? I can't imagine where that guy's head is at, but I hope he keeps it there.
>>>
>>>Yeah, did read Anathem. I'm still not sure how I feel about it (that said, I'm saying in comparison to his other stuff, not writing by ordinary mortals.)
>>>
>>>Get into Gibson's Spook Country yet ?
>>
>>Have it. Haven't read it yet.
>>
>>>
>>>Oh and if you want something delightfully weird, Thomas Pynchon is back, for crying out Lot49. He's got a 60s detective yarn called Inherent Vice that for some reason reminds me of The Big Lebowski. (at least the protagonist is Jeff Bridges in my head )
>>
>>Have it. haven't read it yet. After Gravity's Rainbow, V, Crying of Lot 49, and Vineland, and Mason & Dixon (in that order), I just don't know if I can handle another one. Although, I have to admit that even though I have no idea what Gravity's Rainbow is really all about (and I actually read it twice), I sure enjoyed every single phrase, line and image in the book. Well, maybe there was an image or two that I didn't enjoy so much. But Byron was my hero for a long time. In fact, I imagine he's still out there somewhere leading the grid a merry chase.
>>
>>And by God man, read The Sot Weed Factor (John Barth). Unless you already have, of course, in which case, read it again.
>>
>>>
>>>In the genre of spy with humor, how about some Eric Ambler - Dirty Story (1967)
>>>
>>>And of course my guy - Ross Thomas
>>>
>>>The Eighth Dwarf
>>>Missionary Stew
>>>The Fools in Town are on Our Side
>>>Chinaman's Chance
>>>Out on the Rim
>>>and absolutely ever other word he ever wrote both under his own name and as Oliver Bleek.
>>>
>>>And the original Alan Furst - before he got really serious in period spy stuff.
>>>
>>>Your Day in the Barrel won the Edgar in 77 or so and was the impetus that finally got me kick started in writing.
>>>
>>>All his other stuff isn't funny but is very very good.
>>>
>>>And Phillip Kerr with the adventures of a Berlin cop from about 1929 - 1950
>>>
>>>http://www.amazon.com/Berlin-Noir-Violets-Criminal-Requiem/dp/0140231706/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267667098&sr=1-1
>>
>>I've picked up and put down the Kerr books many times in the bookstore. Maybe I'll actually buy a couple and see. I'll check out the others too.
>
>I was either doing a lot of drugs when I was reading Pynchon or he made me feel like I was. (probably a mixture of both )
>Completely spacing on Gravity's Rainbow but remember Lot 49 and, I think, V.
>
>But I do remember I was reading them contemporaneously with the Illuminatus Trilogy so I think somewhere they are all munged together. Robert Anton Wilson actually made sense to me at one point so you get the idea. ( btw his Historical Illuminatus Chronicles trilogycould have been his best work if he could have stayed on - or even hovering over - the rails long enough to finish it as the pentology he imagined )
>
>I always swore I would go back and read all of them straight someday, but now that that is possible I may find they'll slip in priority in the queue to the point of my senility setting in and then it's just going to be like the first time.
>
>I ran across the Sot Weed Factor and Gile Goat Boy right out of college and life was getting pretty weird right them so i think I just didn't read them though they were on my shelf for so long I think maybe I thought I did. ( kind of like to this day I cannot actually remember where I was for about three months in 1970.)
>
>I just ordered Sot Weed Factor from the library so it may all come back to me.
>
>I have to do something to stay busy while waiting for George RR Martin.

On your recommendation I reserved "Berlin Game" at the library. When I got the email saying it was ready for pickup I at first thought they had a mixup in their records. It said your copy of "Game, Set and Match" is ready. Turns out it is an omnibus consisting of three books, the other two including the words set and match in their titles. Will let you know how I like them.

Who did I tell I would tell them how I liked the new, non-Rebus Ian Rankin book? Alan, I think. The early returns were not good and I returned it after about 100 pages. It didn't exactly suck but it was not compelling enough to keep reading. The characters never seemed like more than sketches.