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    Tuesday, December 29, 2009

    The Good Stuff: Books of 2009 

    I’ll keep the preamble to a minimum. The books are listed in the order I read them. More detailed posts can be found here.

    Favorite crime fiction:

    Beat the Reaper, Josh Bazell
    Safer, Sean Doolittle
    American Rust, Philipp Meyer
    No More Heroes, Ray Banks
    Bury Me Deep, Megan Abbott
    Dark Places, Gillian Flynn
    The Jerusalem File, Joel Stone
    The Ghosts of Belfast, Stuart Neville
    Pariah, Dave Zeltserman
    Losers Live Longer, Russell Atwood

    Favorite not-crime fiction:

    How I Became a Famous Novelist, Steve Hely
    Hummingbirds, Joshua Gaylord
    The Financial Lives of the Poets, Jess Walter

    Bonus Categories:

    2008 novel that would have been on this year’s list and could have been on last year’s had I read it in time: The Age of Dreaming, Nina Revoyr

    2010 novel that would have been on this year’s list and will probably be on next year’s: Print the Legend, Craig McDonald

    Favorite novels that were new to me in 2009: The Red Right Hand, Joel Townsley Rogers (1945) and Adios, Scheherazade, Donald E. Westlake (1970). Again, a thousand thanks to Duane Swierczynski for introducing me to the latter.

    Favorite non-fiction:

    The Complete Game, Ron Darling
    Methland, Nick Reding
    L.A. Noir, John Buntin

    And finally, the best book I read in 2009 regardless of genre or year of publication is Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis (2003). I’ll go you one better. This book – about economics, business, mathematics, baseball and life – goes on the short list of the greatest books I’ve ever read, along with Dino, Nick Tosches’ biography of Dean Martin, and The Hardy Boys Detective Handbook. Illustrious company indeed.

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    Monday, December 29, 2008

    The Good Stuff: Favorite Movies of 2008

    Ask people to name the best of anything and they’ll dither, and think about the weight of history, and draft a lengthy list of possibilities to winnow down. I don’t have that kind of time. But ask for favorites and the answers come quick and can be counted on the fingers of one hand. These are movies that spoke to me personally. The marketing workups for these movies identify their target audiences in terms of oddly specific categories (“Copy Shop Employees Who Eat Sack Lunches and Have Never Seen Seinfeld”) and my name. This year, there are five of them, listed in the order seen.

    In Bruges. Martin McDonagh’s scabrous and soulful comedy about a pair of hit men awaiting further instructions.

    The Bank Job. A heist movie like they used to make.

    Man on Wire. The documentary about Philippe Petit’s “coup” of walking a tightrope between the towers of the World Trade Center. It’s structured like a caper, and is a poem to possibility and to New York.

    The Fall. Tarsem’s fantasia on the power of storytelling.

    OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies. Sublime silliness, with many of the laughs coming from the flawless recreation of ‘60s spy movies.

    Here’s how far out of the Oscar loop I am: not only are none of these films year-end prestige releases, all five are already on video. You could watch ‘em tonight if you wanted. In fact, you should.

    This is where I’m supposed to name all the movies that came thisclose to making the cut. Instead, here’s A Half Dozen Thrillers That More People Should Have Seen, again in the order I saw them.

    Married Life. Calling this a thriller is stretching the definition a bit. Consider it a small, arch marital noir, and proof that Pierce Brosnan should narrate every movie he’s in.

    Jar City. A spare, haunting adaptation of Arnaldur Indridason’s Icelandic crime novel.

    Tell No One. Some plot contrivances from the book remain, but you won’t notice thanks to Guillaume Canet’s breathless pacing and focus on the emotional underpinnings of the story. That this became a summer arthouse hit is one of 2008’s nicest surprises.

    Transsiberian. Brad Anderson’s train-set drama takes its time getting started, but never goes where you’d expect. Emily Mortimer delivers one of my favorite performances of the year.

    Body of Lies. And here I thought it had everything: two big stars operating at their peak, exotic locales, a smart script, and energy to burn.

    JCVD. I described this to my video game colleagues as “a Charlie Kaufman movie with kickboxing.” I stand by that summation.

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    Monday, December 22, 2008

    The Good Stuff: Favorite Novels of 2008

    Some years I don’t feel like making lists. This year I do. Blame the weather. These aren’t “bests,” just my favorites.

    To begin, the Grand Master slots. It’s not fair to cite these authors here, because my saying I like them is akin to opining, “I endorse breathing” or “You know what’s good? Bourbon.” So I again salute Donald E. Westlake in his Richard Stark guise for Dirty Money, the last of his triptych about a very hectic month in the life of his thief Parker. And Lawrence Block for Hit and Run, in which philatelist assassin Keller goes to ground in a gratifyingly old school way.

    Now, ten books listed in the order I read them with minimal commentary, as I’ve already bragged ‘em up good.

    Money Shot, by Christa Faust. Hardboiled stuff served up straight. I want more Angel Dare. I’d say please, but how hardboiled would that be?

    Saturday’s Child, by Ray Banks. Banks! Get that website back up! You’ve got more books coming out.

    Gas City by Loren D. Estleman. An almost clinical look at corruption in a fading Midwestern burg. Beautiful prose on every page.

    Matala, by Craig Holden. A slim volume full of menace.

    Frames, by Loren D. Estleman. Estleman’s second book on the list is a complete change in tone, an almost lighthearted story of a “film detective” caught up in a decades-old Tinseltown murder.

    Hollywood Crows, by Joseph Wambaugh. Another peerless picaresque about day to day life in the LAPD.

    Vampyres of Hollywood, by Adrienne Barbeau and Michael Scott. The most fun I’ve had reading all year.

    Small Crimes, by Dave Zeltserman. Lean and dark with a chest punch of an ending.

    The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson. A haunting tale made all the more so by the author’s death.

    Toros & Torsos, by Craig McDonald. The only book on this list I haven’t mentioned before because I just finished it, so allow me to sing its praises now. Hector Lassiter, the two-fisted pulp writer who featured in the Edgar-nominated Head Games, is embroiled in a series of murders inspired by Surrealist art. Spanning many years and locations with cameos ranging from Ernest Hemingway to Orson Welles, it’s a ferocious, wildly ambitious novel and a grand way to close out a year’s worth of reading.

    And yes, I am aware that half of these titles involve the nexus of crime and movies. You should know to expect that when you come here.

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