RIP Robert B. Parker

I can’t think of many books that've meant as much to me as “Mortal Stakes” did the summer I read and re-read it, when I was 11 or 12 years old.

Same goes for “A Catskill Eagle,” read a decade or so later, during three days in bed with the flu.

I’ve only read half a dozen of the Spenser books, so I can’t say I’ve kept up with Robert B. Parker. But, Christ, who did?

And I was never as fond of Spenser as Parker kept nudging me to be -- but I can say the same thing about John D. MacDonald and Travis McGee, and I’ve never let Travis McGee stand in the way of my enjoyment in reading John D. MacDonald.

I started reading “The Judas Goat” last night. I’ve got to cut this short, so I can get back to it. You know that feeling.

Godspeed, man.

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Reread/Reading (Auld Lang Syne Edition)

I used to like to start a new year with a doorstop.

It’s comforting, during a cold snap, to know there’s 600 pages of story remaining, and I’ve spent some fine Januarys in the company of Nazis, Cold War spies, and vampires.

Currently, though, I have less time to read than ever before, and I’m trying to put a bad year, during which I wrote nothing whatsoever, behind me.

Reading a doorstop makes me want to keep reading that doorstop; reading a potboiler makes me want to write a potboiler.

And so, even though the likes of Mason & Dixon and The Count of Monte Cristo glare at me from the shelf, their still-uncreased spines a reproach, I said goodbye to 2009 and hello to 2010 like so:

Reread:
Split Images, Elmore Leonard
Cat Chaser, Elmore Leonard
Out On The Rim, Ross Thomas

Reading:
The Bounty Hunters, Elmore Leonard

...

Favorites of 2009

BOOKS:
Bury Me Deep, by Megan Abbott;
Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers;
Honey In His Mouth, by Lester Dent

MOVIES:
Inglorious Basterds,
The House of the Devil,
A Perfect Getaway

ALBUMS:
Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is! -- Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears;
Brain Cycles -- Radio Moscow;
This Brings Us To, Vol. 1 -- Henry Threadgill & Zooid

THREE MEMORABLE PERFORMANCES:
Cliff Lee, in Game 1 of the World Series;
Tilda Swinton, in the movie Julia;
Dick Cheney, ongoing

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