>>>>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.
My intro to Pynchon was Gravity's Rainbow. After I finished it, I figured, "What the hell???" So I thought if I read another book by him I might get a better idea of what he was about. Stupidly, I picked up 'V'. Learned my lesson.
>
>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 )
By Gad man! I remember The Illuminatus Trilogy by Wilson - well... I sort of remember it. It was a very long time ago. I do remember thinking it was a wonderfully imagined concept, and it did get me looking up the Illuminati in whatever references I could find. Fun stuff.
>
>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.
Interesting thought. Kind of like re-listening to The Sub-Sylvian Litanies from The American Metaphysical Circus straight. I'm not sure there'd be much point.
>
>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 read Giles Goat Boy twice and Sot Weed 14 times. Funny though his award winner was a book called Chimera (National Book Award) and I was horribly disappointed in it. Sot Weed was amazing, but won nothing. Ridiculous.
>I just ordered Sot Weed Factor from the library so it may all come back to me.
Every time I read it, I enjoy it again as if it's the first time.
>
>I have to do something to stay busy while waiting for George RR Martin.
Another author that I haven't read in many years. At some point I just seemed to stop reading SciFi except for a very few authors (Morgan, Stephenson, Gibson, and maybe a couple of others that don't readily come to mind). Don't know why. I think maybe I OD'd on SciFi.
Another of my faves is Tom Robbins. My intro to him was "Another Roadside Attraction" and I loved it, but I think probably "Even Cowgirls Get The Blues" and "Jitterbug Perfume" were his two best (for me anyway).
Oh, yes, ever read Edward Whittemore? The Jerusalem Quartet, 4 books obviously, but they're probably real hard to find now:
Sinai Tapestry, Jerusalem Poker, Nile Shadows, Jericho Mosaic
And finally, here's a Canadian author for you - Paul Quarrington. His "Home Game" is another that I've read a number of times. I never get tired of it. A beautiful, funny, touching book. And a baseball book every bit as good as Kinsella's "The Iowa Baseball Confederacy".
