>>>>>(badly needed snip)
>>>>>
>>>>>>>Glad you liked it. I suppose my next Littell recommendation would be The Company. Pretty much his magnum opus
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>http://www.amazon.com/Company-Novel-CIA-Robert-Littell/dp/0142002623
>>>>>
>>>>>I am back to the classics. Graham Greene and Raymond Chandler. And Lorrie Moore just for fun. You can tell from her writing that she would be more fun than a barrel of monkeys.
>>>>
>>>>Funny you should say that. i just picked up the 6 Charlie Chan books by Earl Derr Biggers. I also have all the Fu Manchu stories by Sax Rohmer. I haven't read them yet. I think I'll save them for when I retire. Same with Ngaio Marsh, I've been buying (and not reading) her stuff at used book stores for years, and I think I now have everything. Naturally, they're now re-publishing all her stuff in three story volumes.
>>>>
>>>>I tried reading Mickey Spillane, but I find I just don't much care for his books. It's the same thing over and over again and I get really bored with it.
>>>>
>>>>The old classic stuff can be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to a lot of good reading some day when I finally decide I'm done with commuting.
>>>
>>>Funny you should say that. Now that I spend an hour and a half a day commuting on the train I am catching up on my reading backlog. I cancelled both my newspaper subscriptions and it's all books now. Some tech stuff (.NET) but mostly fiction or popular nonfiction like "Too Big To Fail."
>>>
>>
>>Ah, don't I just wish. I used to read during my commute on the train when I worked in downtown Toronto, but now that I work 80 miles away, and have to drive, I find that when I try to read at 80 miles an hour on the highway, the book keeps slipping off my lap. ;)
>>
>>I envy your commute.
>>
>>>We seem to have very different tastes in books, which is fine. Ian Rankin would be an exception. Richard Price might be another. And Richard Russo. OK, I'll shut up ;-)
>>
>>Not to mention Robert Crais. ;)
>>
>>>
>>>Now I am laughing, thinking of the movie version of Russo's "Nobody's Fool." Paul Newman plays a chronic screwup called Sully, a good man who never seems to do what's good for him. (I can relate). His best friend is named Rub. Yes, Rub, not Rob. My favorite scene is when Sully gets arrested for hitting a cop and misses out on cashing in on his daily "fool's bet." He keeps picking 1-2-3 in the lottery and it hits when he's in jail.
>
>Robert Crais, you bet.
>
>You drive 80 miles each way every day? I know you work for a cool company but I don't think I could keep that up for long.

It's remarkable what one can get used to. The morning drive is just over an hour (I leave home at 5:30 am) and the traffic is pretty good, so that isn't too bad. The evening trip home is worse, and if it weren't for the toll road (Highway 407) it would take over 2 hours. Thanks to the 407, it takes about an hour and 20 minutes. Highway 401 which I have to take part way is the busiest highway in North America (believe it or not - http://www.thekingshighway.ca/Highway401.htm). Thank goodness I get off it and move to the 407 just before it gets inhuman. The 407, being a toll road doesn't get nearly the traffic the 401 gets.

And believe me, the job is worth it. My salary is way more than I was making at my last job, and the company is very employee-centric. I'm slavering waiting for bonus time. Right from the top down, the company has a great attitude. It was made very clear to me the day I started (from more than one exec) that if the weather got foul (this was winter remember), I shouldn't do anything as stupid as trying to drive to work, "You can work from home if you have to."