Everything I Consume: A Spectacle of Corruption

This book is David Liss' sequel to his book, A Conspiracy of Paper. That book was set in 1720 London and told the story of Jewish ex-boxer turned proto-private detective Benjamin Weaver navigating the financial shenanigans leading up to the collapse of the South Sea stock market bubble. I'm pretty ignorant about that period of time so I learned a lot. That's one of the things I like about mysteries, they can take you to so many different places and times. Anyway, Conspiracy of Paper was a good book and I think it won an Edgar Award. When I was reading it I bumped into my friend Annie on the subway and she said she was envious of me reading it for the first time. IMHO, it's a good book but not that good.

The sequel is set a few years later and opens as Weaver is being falsely convicted of murder. Not only is he being set up for execution he is also set up to escape prison. It's a complex story set against the background of the 1722 parliamentary election. There's a much-needed historical note in the front of the book and the players are often recapped. Still, I don't think I ever got a handle on it. Throw in a conspiracy where people may be trying to implicate the other side of crimes and it's very hard to follow. Like Conspiracy of Paper, it's all talked out in a lengthy explanation at the end of the book.

This book seemed to lurch in a pattern of Weaver interviewing someone, finding out a small piece of information then he talks to someone else and finds out more information. Then there's a fight scene. Repeat. Maybe most mysteries and even most books and movies are like this and it just seemed more artificial and exposed in this book. Like I said before there's lots of recapping.

Despite all my complaints I really liked this book. I fell into the rhythm of the plot and the dialogue was great as were the descriptions of London. Weaver is a great character. He is strong but unsure of himself intellectually. Weaver is constantly proud of himself when he figures something out or says something witty. I cared about the mysterious conspiracy and even the election. So, go figure.

Everything I Consume: Slayground

I had to read this one fast and finished it in two days but it was a doozy. Donald Westlake (here writing as Richard Stark) never disappoints. This book is part of his series about the master thief, Parker. In Slayground, Parker is in a heist gone bad and must flee into closed for the winter amusement park where he is pursued by mobsters and corrupt cops. That's all you need for a great book. Brilliant killing machine trapped in an amusement park, it writes itself! I liked that this this book got straight into the action. Only a few pages are spent on the robbery and blown escape before Parker is trapped in the park.

Westlake's great at writing description. This book has long passages where Parker explores the amusement park, thinks about his situation or gets into fights and it's always easy to see what Westlake is trying to show and is never dull. You always feel the cold. I think this is about the toughest kind of writing and it always impresses me.

Parker is not the main character's real name and the action takes place in a fictional, never identified city. This gives the story a feeling it could be happening someplace we know, just not quite here. I wish more writers used fictional locations, I think they can make books more interesting than spewing out information to get the feel of an actual location. That was another problem with my book so maybe that's why I like Donald Westlake so much, he has the solution for all my problems.

An interesting sidelight is the opening chapter was recycled for another Stark/Westlake book called The Blackbird. In it we find out what happens to Grofield, another member of Parker's gang involved in the heist. Grofield is also the main character in Lemons Never Lie, a Westlake recently republished by Hard Case.

Reading, Reading, Reading

I'm very anal about my reading. When we rejiggered the apartment for my son Owen's arrival one of the things I demanded was a shelf in the bedroom with a To Be Read pile. Every few days I fiddle with it and move a few books around or think about reading a book that's way in the back. Like most people's To Be Read pile it's larger than I'd like it to be and I'm always coming up with systems to whittle it down, if only to make my wife happy. It's also spread to another shelf. Last month, I was reading short books so I could finish off a higher quantity. This month I'm going with larger books to make more space.

I don't read the next book in my pile, that would be way too simple. I pick five books based on theme, what I've read recently or whatever crosses my mind and then find an order to read them. An important caveat is to include two books from the Hard Case Crime Club. Since these are pretty much the only books I buy retail (the rest are from Amazon Marketplace, paperbackswap.com and gifts) I feel an obligation to read them and sell or swap them as soon as possible.

I believe none of this makes me a crazy person.

Anyway, here are the next five books I'm reading and a brief explanation of why:

Baseball Before We Knew It by David Block. I've always been obsessed by the Abner Doubleday myth and this book is supposed to have the inside story.

Lucky At Cards by Lawrence Block. I suspect this book is going to suck and don't want it to lie on my shelf forever so I might as well get it over with.

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky. My wife said it was amazing.

The Vengeful Virgin by Gil Brewer. The day I stop wanting to read books with titles like the The Vengeful Virgin drop me off at the mall and drive away.

The Shroud of the Thwacker by Chris Elliott. I like Chris Elliott.