Hi i searched for a thread where i could introduce myself but there wasnt any so i made this.

Im a big lover of crime specially classic Noir/hardboiled crime.  I recently read EL and thought he was awesome and exactly what im looking for to escape the current formulatic crime that dominate the genre these days.

I have been reading the forums while i waited for the activation of my account.  Many interesting topics,crime fans.  Exactly the kind of forums i have been looking for i thought specially when i saw in favorite authors thread that several had Richard Stark/Donald Westlake as a favorite.  As you can see by my username Richard Stark is my favorite crime writer.  I love his lean,mean and awesome Parker books.

About myself i was born in Somalia in 82 and have been living in Sweden since 93.

Welcome to the forum, Parker.

One great thing about discovering Elmore Leonard novels is that there are a lot of them. Which did you read first?

Thanks for the welcome.

I read 52 Pickup a month ago and read Stick a couple days ago and finished last night.  As i said in Elmore Leonard 101 thread Stick blew me away.

Now i got so big of a urge to read another EL that i cant wait until i go to my bookshop tommorow.

I have already ordered The Complete Western stories,Swag(cause of Frank and Stick)

Can anyone help me with this choice ?  My bookshop only has these three EL in right now and i cant wait weeks for my orders.

Pagan Babies
Get Shorty
Up In Honey’s Room

Which do you recommend most ?

Parker - 01 April 2008 02:55 PM

Thanks for the welcome.

Pagan Babies
Get Shorty
Up In Honey’s Room

Which do you recommend most ?

A lot of people would say Get Shorty. It’s got great characters and a lot of humour. Elmore Leonard making fun of Hollywood pretention is just great to read.

Not many American writers really had much to say about Rawanda, so Pagan Babies can be very cool. Elmore Leonard is a rare writer who has characters of many backgrounds in his books and treats them all the same - just as real people. But the foreign setting (for some of the book, some takes place in Detroit) is different for Elmore Leonard.

Up in Honey’s Room takes place in 1945 and is a good take on the time - and the characters are good, especially Honey Deal, but it can be a little tough to get into.

I say Get Shorty first, then Pagan Babies while you wait for your order to arrive. After Get Shorty you’ll want to read Be Cool, don’t let the movie stop you, the book’s good.

Enjoy.

Thanks for the info its something to think about.

I think i will get Pagan Babies since it isnt seen as his weaker ones. I wondered about that.

I read about it in other threads it seems to have a good name among EL fans.  Its something close to my heart too the early setting as a black african.  Rwanda thing isnt something thats easy to forget.  Most i will get it for how unique its for the book to be set in a place like that even if its temporary thing.  Most crime books are about places in US.  LA,NY,Miami etc

“The church had become a tomb where forty-seven bodies turned to leather and stains had been lying on the concrete floor the past five years, though not lying where they had been shot with Kalashnikovs or hacked to death with machetes. The benches had been removed and the bodies reassembled: men, women and small children laid in rows of skulls and spines, femurs, fragments of cloth stuck to mummified remains, many of the adults missing feet, all missing bones that had been carried off by scavenging dogs.”

The opening lines of Pagan Babies.

Now I have to go read it again myself.

Hehe :D

What the heck i will get Get Shorty too.  Mostly cause i want to read something similar to Stick.  Also i loved and laughed cause it was so true when Janet was dissing hollywood people in Stick .  The thing about ET and how you cant a movie without a huge budget for special effects anymore is even more true today.  In the days of the superhero movies and blockbusters like 10,000 BC where its only about special effects.

I enjoyed his diss of hollywood cause as many others i have lost the respect for hollywood movies and when i read what they did to EL in the main page.

I just finished Pagan Babies and it’s instantly one of my favorites. I laughed myself silly during parts of it, especially the character of Mutt. The Rwanda parts are no laughing matter. That’s a pretty dark subject, EL handles it well, as always.

Favorite dialogue exchange (back in Detroit):

(Terry said) “Dickie lived with Johnny, his wife Regina and their three kids—two little boys swore all the time, did whatever they wanted, and a fifteen-year-old girl, Mercy, who was studying hard to become a hooker.”

Debbie said, “Mercy?”

(Terry said) “Regina’s born again.”

I let a friend read that part. I don’t think she got why I thought it was funny. Maybe no one does, but come on, “studying hard to become a hooker.”  That’s not just a great line, that’s a perfect line. Then the mom being born again, that’s the punch line to what’s not even a joke, but had me grinning from ear to ear.

And oh yeah, welcome. Good to know great writers (EL) are still being discovered, forty-something books in.

studiying hard to become hooker :D

I got it why that part its funny specially about Regina’s born again. 

There are many legendary writers in crime that as a new crime fan it takes time to try most of them.

Parker—you can’t go wrong with Pagan Babies. I just started re-reading it last night.

PAGAN BABIES is great.

SWAG is my favorite.  It is harder to find.  It is out of print at this time.  It was called RYAN’S RULES at once time.  You can find it online.  Most used stores have very few copies.

of course I would have to advise you
to start with the earliest EL westerns
and proceed chronologically
you can’t go wrong

I dont think i will at first read chronowise.

I want to try his different type stories and settings.  I liked Miami in Stick that i will get another Miami,Florida book along with a Detriot one ,the complete westerns and Pagan.