New Member tholmes123 give me a great idea for a thread:

How did you discover Elmore?  By accident?  Through a referral? How?

Here’s what tholmes123 said that inspired this thread.

I discovered Mr. Leonard while reading Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone series.  The Kinsey character reads a lot of Elmore Leonard.

Top that!

I don’t think I can top that, as my ‘discovery’ of Mr. Leonard was fairly mundane. I had read of Elmore’s name in a recommended reading list, somewhere, some place. For the life of me, I simply can’t remember whose list it was. But when I came across a copy of Be Cool, sitting there at the front of the store (that has since gone bankrupt), the name struck a chord. So, I thought, why not give it a try? I did, and spent the next several months buying eveything I could lay my hands on, by him. Pretty much what I’m now doing with Richard Stark, and Donald Westlake.

You cant read modern crime and not have heard the rep of Elmore Leonard.  I heard he was known for well written,scam,criminal oriented crime books i knew i had to try him.  The movies didnt make you read him exactly.  Very lame the movies except Jackie Brown.

Quentin Tarantino mentioned him.
I bought Tishomingo Blues from a charity shop in Brighton for 50p.

My dad handed me The Hot Kid at the cabin a few years ago and I’ve been a fan ever since.

tarantino’s Jackie Brown

Travolta on Johnny Carson promoting Get Shorty.

Out of Sight was my favorite movie as a teenager. I even wrote a paper on it for a film studies class in college. I loved Jackie Brown, too.

A few years later, I was attracted by the blues music connotations in Tishomingo Blues. After that, I read the Western Short Stories. Last fall, I found Freaky Deaky at a used book store, and haven’t looked back since. I’ve been on a three, four-EL books-a-month clip for eight months now.

“Quentin Tarantino mentioned him.”

“Tarantino’s Jackie Brown.”

“Travolta on Johnny Carson promoting Get Shorty.”

“Out of Sight was my favorite movie as a teenager.”

This is very depressing for a novelist to read

For me it was the early 80’s paperback series: 52 Pick-Up, Unknown Man #89, City Primeval and Swag. There was an article about Elmore Leonard in the Montreal Gazette (around the time of the cover story in Newsweek) and the drummer in the reggae band I was in handed me Swag and said he thought I’d really like it.

I would like to say it changed it my life, but it was years before I was mature enough to realize what was really going on in Elmore Leonard novels and how great they really are. He was just so far ahead of the curve. Still is.

JohnMcFetridge - 02 May 2009 02:44 PM

“Quentin Tarantino mentioned him.”

“Tarantino’s Jackie Brown.”

“Travolta on Johnny Carson promoting Get Shorty.”

“Out of Sight was my favorite movie as a teenager.”

This is very depressing for a novelist to read

For me it was the early 80’s paperback series: 52 Pick-Up, Unknown Man #89, City Primeval and Swag. There was an article about Elmore Leonard in the Montreal Gazette (around the time of the cover story in Newsweek) and the drummer in the reggae band I was in handed me Swag and said he thought I’d really like it.

I would like to say it changed it my life, but it was years before I was mature enough to realize what was really going on in Elmore Leonard novels and how great they really are. He was just so far ahead of the curve. Still is.

It shouldnt be, there are some authors readers of new genre,type of story they like always hear about.  I knew of his rep way before i knew anything about his movies.  You didnt care the american papers called him Detroit’s Dickens you cared when other crime fans said he is a legend and a must read,told you what he is about.

That is the case for people who care about trying the best ones in stories they are interested in.

I finished Swag last night and i remember hearing his rep before i read him at how good he was at dialouge,characters.  Heck there wasnt anything else in Swag.  Still i rated it 5/5 stars in Goodreads.com bookshelf.

Speaking about City Primeval, isnt it about a cop ?

Although I saw Jackie Brown when it came out, it was still years later when I read first Elmore book (“The Switch”). I moved on to “Swag”, “Unknown Man 89” and “52 Pick Up” and the addiction kicked in.

I saw and loved the movie ‘Get Shorty’ and during the promotion John Travolta said in a TV interview that the dialouge had been changed from the original script to better reflect that of the book.
I picked up the movie tie-in paperback and by the end of the month had emptied my local bookstore of everything they had by the great man.

I had to read 52 Pickup for a Lit. class at Eastern Michigan back in the late Eighties.  Been HOOKED ever since.

I knew about him for years from the movies: Get Shorty, Out of Sight, Jackie Brown. One day I was at a book store and picked up The Big Bounce. That did it for me. Seven years later, I own every novel he has ever written and most of his short stories.

Elmore Leonard first came to my attention in the UK music weekly NME (New Musical Express) in the early 80s.  I remember buying Swag around that time and errrh well you obviously know the rest. Bizarely the same music paper was where i first discovered Ross Macdonald a few years later.

Hi dear friends,
That is the case of the people, Who are you believe in the stories. There are many author who are written this type of book.