Every day the excellent House Next Door provides a series of links for essays, pictures, and articles that deal mostly with film, but will occasionally dive into non-film matters, such as this cool article from the UK Telegraph listing 50 Crime Writers to Read before You Die. The article reminded me of something I had been meaning to write about for some time: namely those authors or genres that provide us with comfort. Coming across the above link seemed too much like divine providence to pass up the chance to crow about a genre that has in recent years provided me with no end of succor.
Fill in the blank: "When I need a little pick-me-up I turn to __________."
I've heard a hundred different variations of the preceding sentence. Shakespeare, Dickinson, Judith Krantz and Dean Koontz...everyone has something they turn to when they need a break from whatever is stressing them in life, the universe, and everything (ed. note: weird....). Recently after dealing for about two and a half hours with my son's refusal to go back to sleep I had an irresistible urge to sit downstairs on my couch with a copy of Charles Dickens' Pickwick Papers. For two hours I completely forgot about the screaming, the crying, the lack of sleep as I read about the various misadventures of Mr. Pickwick and his merry band.
Excepting the above instance, my "comfort" doesn't align itself with a particular writer but instead with an entire genre. And that's the "crime" or "mystery" novel. From as far back as Arthur Conan Doyle to as recent as Dennis LeHane. When I was laid up after donating a kidney to my brother in 2006 it was Ed McBain and the 87th Precinct series that kept the pain and discomfort to a minimum (the painkillers didn't hurt, either). I keep piles of Agatha Christie and John D. MacDonald books around for trips to the beach, long train rides and quick business trips. Over the past few years Hard Case Crime has dedicated itself to renewing the fervor for the "hard-boiled" crime sub-genre by re-releasing lost classics as well as publishing new works by modern masters in the old style.
It's hard to readily explain what it is about the crime novel and the ongoing crime series that appeals so much to me. Part of it is comes from the chance to return to familiar ground - the same pull that draws people to so many of the epic the fantasy series Robert Jordan, Jim Butcher and so many others have carved into the granite walls of time. Who doesn't want to revisit a world we've come to know and love, and to stop by our favorite characters to see how they've been doing? I know that when I open up a Parker novel by Richard Stark or one of MacDonald's Travis McGee books that I'm coming across a compelling, complex character that inhabits a mirror image our own world - maybe the dirt's got more of a gloss to it, maybe the women are all full-figured, but it's a world I instantly recognize and relate to on a level that feels primal, bringing me back to lazy afternoons in the den, curled up with my father watching THE BIG SLEEP or MURDER MY SWEET. Looking up from reading feels like coming up for air, only to want to immediately drown yourself again.
So check out the link above and discover some great writers. There's often a misconception that "genre" writers can't write, which frankly is ridiculous. Writers like McBain (who I keep coming back to because he's one of my favorites) tap into a poetry and language that is concrete and smeared lipstick, back alleys and fire escapes. It's a poetry and language I find myself coming back to time and time again.
4 comments:
Good Omens Gaimen Pratchett, it's short, light, I know it back to back, the characters make me want to hug them and I go through the same gentle emotional journey everytime I read it.
Or, when I go to my parents home I read mum's books, Elizabeth George, Donna Leon, it feels like warm blankets and Lucozade when your ill and all the good things about the parentel home.
I usually turn to a familiar "self-help" styled book. "Life is Tremendous!" by Charlie "Tremendous" Jones is a quick read and full of zest.
I'll grab a Preston & Childs book.
Mmmm... the book equivalent of hot chocolate has to be Marian Keyes. I love her humour and quirky take on things, and her books generally deal with real-life issues rather than soppy romance, plus they are set in Ireland.
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