3 Favorite Books of 2008 - Part 8

Read this post to see what this is all about. For more favorites, see here.

Barry Eisler, author of Fault Line

Between the massive distraction of the election, the related demands of blogging, and the insanity of moving to Tokyo, I read a lot less fiction this year than I would have liked.  But one book definitely stood out:

 

Richard Price's Lush Life was a masterpiece. Price just nails the whole Lower East Side milieu (or, if what he's writing doesn't exist for real, he gets at least equal points for conjuring something so real). The cadences of his prose in the opening scene, where Matty and his crew cruise their beat looking for lowlifes to bust, is like a drumbeat in your head. He's got a Mamet-like ear for the patois of the culture he captures, and the people he creates -- their broken dreams, their foolish hopes, their battles with self-loathing, the fleeting moments when they transcend their own pettiness -- haunt you long after you've finished the book. My only quibble (and it's a subjective one) is that the title was way too modest for a story with so much heart. I wish they'd called it City of Gold instead -- a line straight from the text, and far more resonant with the world Price brings to life in this gorgeous book.

P.S.  And after you've read the book, check out Michael Chabon's terrific in-depth review in the May 1, 2008 New York Review of Books.

Sean Chercover, author of Trigger City

• Cormac McCarthy - The Road. The most emotionally shattering reading experience I've had in years.
• Dennis Lehane - The Given Day. I was already a huge fan of Lehane before picking up his latest. Gotta admit, I was skeptical. I'm always wary of LONG books. If anything, the hype is understated here. The Given Day really is all that.  Brilliant.
• Jonathan Santlofer - The Murder Notebook. I enjoyed the hell out of NYPD sketch artist Nate Rodriguez's debut, but this one tops it. Santlofer is doing some really powerful stuff here.

Oline Cogdill, critic (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

• Colin Harrison - The Finder. A scheme to steal paperwork erupts into a perceptive thriller about New York life.
• Michael Koryta - Envy the Night. The legacy of violence, the relationships of parents and adult children and the futility of revenge make for an action-packed story.
• Ian Rankin - Exit Music. The perfect send-off for Scottish cop John Rebus who's retiring at age 60, but refuses to go gently.

See the complete list of Oline's picks.

Cameron Hughes, critic (January Magazine, etc.)

• Colin Harrison - The Finder. Colin Harrison has been destined for the big time for years now and The Finder deserves to be the book that gets him there. A great thriller with a brain.
• Don Winslow - The Dawn Patrol. With so many P.I. novels being mediocre with only a few real stand-outs, this was a pleasure. I love that Winslow tells a P.I. novel and when he does use a cliché, like a powerful criminal trying to pay off the hero, it feels real, not just a device to advance the plot. It’s wonderfully refreshing to read a P.I. novel that feels like it belongs in the present, unlike so many P.I. writers in the past that think they need to emulate Chandler and Hammett to succeed.
• Nathan Singer - In The Light of You. Jesus. I used to think American History X was hardcore, that it pushed the envelope and was a really brave story about what hatred can do to you. Then I read Nathan Singer’s masterpiece about coming of age and how easy it is to go down the wrong road. Now American History X is like a Disney flick to me.

Charles Ardai, Editor at Hard Case Crime

• Paul Auster - Man in the Dark. Though the book's invocation of the Iraq war is a little facile and the dropping of the "alternate history" subplot two-thirds of the way through the book a little frustrating, Auster does an impressive job of bringing his characters to life richly in a very short space and the story packs a surprising emotional punch.
• Peter Blauner - Casino Moon. Not my first reading of this one, but each time I read it I'm reminded of just how good it is. The story of the son of an Atlantic City mobster who wants desperately not to get sucked into a life of crime and for salvation reaches out to the world of professional boxing.  Only to discover, of course, that the fight game is dirtier even than the Mob.
• Lawrence Block - Hit and Run. A pleasure to see the master back in vintage form, telling the story of his killer Keller suddenly forced to abandon the props that made his peculiar life livable.

Comments

[Theodore Johns]

CIty of Gold would have been an awful title. And Barry's fawning paragraph was about as painful as Tasha's sentence example. Yes, we all know you're educated Barry, we've known from the beginning, so please stop continually trying to show us.

Oh, and a Mamet-like ear would mean his dialogue is heightened, as opposed to authentic. Something Mamet himself admits most readers get wrong. So don't feel bad.

[Cozy Crime]

That's not a very respectful way to speak to someone, Mr. Johns. I think it's nice that Mr. Eisler shared his feelings about the book with us. YOu can't nitpick everything in the world. I don't care for Mr. Eisler's books because they have too much foul language and dirty sex in them (I think he's obsessed with dirty sex) but he has a right to express his opinions without people jumping all over him.

[RG Jonas]

That's sad when a writer of fiction only reads one decent novel in a year.

[Barry Eisler]

Thanks for the thoughts, everyone. Theodore, certainly reasonable people can differ regarding the relative merits of different titles and I'm sure you have good reasons for your opinion. Not sure what you found particularly fawning or educated about my thoughts; perhaps this is another subjective area? You're right about Mamet -- poorly put on my part (though I'm not sure "heightened" quite gets it, either), and thanks for the correction.

Cozy Crime, your comment reminded me of Woody Allen's line in response to someone's assertion that sex isn't bad or dirty: "It is if you're doing it right..."

RG, FWIW, I read many decent novels last year, but as I noted in the review, Lush Life was the standout.

Cheers,
Barry

[First Children Fiction]

First Edition Book offers a wide range of children's first edition books by various contemporary authors. If you are a connoisseur of first edition books or are planning to buy some children's fiction, why not get a first edition children's book