>>>>>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".

Don't know Whittemore but putting him on the research list now. Don't know Quarrington either but remember I have a thing about baseball - my eyes glaze over at the very thought of it.

The Jerusalem Quartet reminded me of a true favorite of my youth : the Alexandria Quartet - Justine, Balthazar, Montolive and Clea by Laurence Durrell. They hold a particular place in my heart as I read them all when hanging out with the Levantines in Izmir and Beirut, but I think they hold up as literature.

Just googled Whittemore and realized I had read Quin's Shanghai Circus and seem to rmember liking it. I'll start with Sinai Tapestry. (evidently hard to find now, but fortunately Ohio library systems are pretty good - just ordered a copy from Toledo.)

BTW, the George RR Martin stuff - for lurkers - is the Songs of Ice and Fire series, starting with A Game of Thrones. We've been waiting 5 years for Dance with Dragons, the fifth in the series. His stuff is worth the wait. Read the first four. Not exactly sci-fi or fantasy but ... well, read the first one and you'll get the idea. Highly character driven.

http://www.georgerrmartin.com/bibliography.html