Anodyne
Saturday, April 10, 2004
 
"Boy, what a great job," says an unthinking bookstore visitor almost daily. "You must have lots of time to read!" Well, not really, as this all-too-brief list of recently completed titles should show:

Peter Rabe, Kill The Boss Goodbye. The German psychologist-cum-noir-novelist's best known book, originally issued by Gold Medal in 1956 and reprinted by Black Lizard. Gang boss Fell is sprung from the private hospital where he's been recovering from a psychotic breakdown, only to find himself falling apart all over again as he tries to piece his empire back together. . . .

Rabe's my favorite non-canonical noir writer; his stories are distinguished by their constantly shifting points of view; spare syntax; and dry, coal-black humor. Much admired by major crime novelists like Donald Westlake and John D. MacDonald, Rabe is almost unknown today, a situation I hope to fix by compiling a critical bibliography of Rabe's twenty-plus novels, to be posted on the store's website sometime soon. . . .

Georges Perec, "The Winter Journey." Borges? He loved him madly.

Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron. Recommended by Warren Buffett in Berkshire Hathaway's 2003 annual report and, sure enough, a thoroughly detailed and entertaining account of American capitalism run totally amok. Very much in the spirit of a late Shakespearian history play set in 20th century Houston. An entire chapter is devoted to a play-by-play reconstruction of Enron's power traders busily scamming the state of California. Highlights here soon!



- posted by cjb @ 9:51 AM


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