A Shot in the Heart - Mikhal Gilmore
Story from the brother of Gary Gilmore who was a guy who was executed & who himself campaigned for his own death. Tells of dysfunctional family politics, how the author was the favoured son & how the other brothers were mistreated by the father.
The Executioner's Song - Norman Mailer
The famous book on Gary Gilmore who was the first man to be excecuted after the re-introduction of the death penalty.
Home Before Dark - Ruth Park
About Les Darcy, famous boxer. Born in 1895! (didn;t think he was that long ago!)
S is for Silence - Sue Grafton
from the The Murder Mystery Alphabet Series. From A to S so far.
Devi'l's Feather - Minette Walters
Walters is a British mystery writer. This particular book comes highly unrecommended.
The Rider - Tim Winton
Winton is a prize-winning Aussie author. He also wrote Cloudstreet which I think got a little famous. Or maybe just because an Aussie author got noticed in UK.
some still going or going around or just gone:
Billy - Pamela Stephenson
How the Mind Works - Stephen Pinker
Short History of Myth - Karen Armstrong
First Century After Beatrice - Amin Malouf
Root of Wild Madder - Brian Murphy
A lovely book about Iran & Afghanistan & what carpets mean to the people there. For some carpets are the soul, for others they are a place to socialise, for others they sell them willingly & unwillingly in order to get ahead. Madder is a natural red dye.
Sharon & My Mother in Law: Ramallah Diaries - Suad Amiry
A view of Ramallah-ian life from a human perspective. Funny & disturbing at the same time.
1 comment:
Just a suggestion regarding my current favourite author.
Neal Stephenson started out as a science fiction writer (Snow Crash is brilliant and surreal) but then wrote Crytonomicon, a brilliant geeky mixture of computers, code breaking, action and treasure hunting that jumps between WW2 and the present day.
All fine and good, but his next book, Quicksilver took it another step. This is the first book in his baroque cycle and is set in the late 17th century. It's characters are the ancestors of the characters in Cryptonomicon with plenty of real historical figures thrown into the mix. The book is slow but rich in texture and concerns itself with the transition from alchemy to the age of science.
Two sequels follow, The Confusion and The System of the World. In these books the pace picks up with piratical adventures, the intricacies of baroque finance, the pursuit of mysterious gold, bloody revenge and a total immersion in the world Stephenson creates.
And that's all I'm going to say.
Wasn't the last episode of Carnivale a let down!
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