Cargo Community - Forum

We've been reading Blood's A Rover by the American author James Ellroy. Quite good, but not like the past brilliance he's shown, do we have any fans of his work?

cargopublishing
We've been reading Blood's A Rover by the American author James Ellroy. Quite good, but not like the past brilliance he's shown, do we have any fans of his work?

Have to admit I read LA Confidential and was not very impressed. Should I give him another go then?

Definitely. I'd recommend American Tabloid which is incredible. LA Confidential is a better movie than book...

markbuckland
Definitely. I'd recommend American Tabloid which is incredible. LA Confidential is a better movie than book...

I know it's supposed to be bad to prefer the film to the book but in this case it's true. Cheers for the recommendation. I shall stick it on the pile of 'To be read post-uni hell'.

I think I've read most of his work, from 'The Big Nowhere' through 'The Cold Six Thousand' and I'm definately a fan - although the quality of writing can be a tad variable. I've always been a fan of noir and the like, from a very early age - I went straight from The Famous Five to 'My Gun Is Long' territory due to my Gran's reading habits.

reiver33
I think I've read most of his work, from 'The Big Nowhere' through 'The Cold Six Thousand' and I'm definately a fan - although the quality of writing can be a tad variable. I've always been a fan of noir and the like, from a very early age - I went straight from The Famous Five to 'My Gun Is Long' territory due to my Gran's reading habits.

I've been saying for years that writers like Walter Mosely and James Ellroy, actually capture time and place in, generally speaking, a much firmer and evocative way than most 'literary' authors. In fact, it's one time that being a genre author helps distill narrative voices: the story is told through speech patterns and patois. There's a Mosley novel set around the Watts riots, and it's excoriating, frantic stuff. The only downside, is that when not set around an interesting time frame, genre novels can really sag, as they have nothing but what I call Pure Plot to fall back on; everything becomes procedural.

I'd like to see some more prominence and respect given to 'genre' authors. They're like the designated hitters of literature. OK, so they've got one job, but once in a while, they absolutely melt the ball out the park. (I need to stop watching The West Wing. Aaron Sorkin's sporting metaphors are taking a hold of me)

white jazz-incredible.

markbuckland
Definitely. I'd recommend American Tabloid which is incredible. LA Confidential is a better movie than book

Just bought this book, purely on your recommendation Mark, so I'm hoping it's as good as people say.

I've never actually read any of his work, mainly cause I don't think it's my kind of thing, but I always think that shouldn't be an excuse for not reading a good/great author.

Will let you know what I think once I've read it - could be a while as my pile of unread books just keeps getting bigger!!

Uh oh...hope it lives up to all expectation then! I do think American Tabloid is an incredible novel. My Dark Places, his autobiographical murder hunt, is also good.

Hope you enjoy it Nick.

markbuckland
Definitely. I'd recommend American Tabloid which is incredible. LA Confidential is a better movie than book...

Nice call on American Tabloid - A really good book - will have to add him to the list of authors I have to read more of!