A follow up to 'The Cold Six Thousand' the book is set in 1968 and is called 'Blood's a Rover' if the Cold Six Thousand is anything to go by this will be a classic, as for turning his books into films 'L.A. Confidential' was & still is brilliant 'The Black Dahlia' was a piece of tripe. Personally I cannot wait to read 'Blood's A Rover' what do you think of his past work, he'll be reaching the Reagan era soon if he follows the trail..........

I love his books have this on pre-order and have just re-read American Tabloid and Cold Six Thousand in anticipation. I believe he is stopping these at Bloods a Rover it won't go through to the 80s.

I've not really liked any of the films I've seen based on his work though LA Confidential looks like the best film ever made against the tripe (as you rightly say) of Black Dahlia. They all seem to miss the central unpleasantness of the books, I don't mean the violence so much as they look too slick and clean

I thought you meant the book Black Dahlia. I was going to have a big argument with you. :D

Already read, still being digested. I give nothing away when I say the advantage of this book is that it hinges around a more stable and less historical mystery. But having said that... Some deviously excellent character development as per, and a new new primary character that...

And if you like J Edgar, plenty still- and it's great how Ellroy brings out his darkly potent intuition by noting the subtle differences in other characters voices.

And you will roil and boil with laughter over Tricky Dick Nixon. Not so much sympathetic, but after his first appearance, I couldn't wait to here from him again. In the book, I liked him. :finger:

Haiti baby, Haiti- Welcome to voodooville. A black book indeed.

Mine's on its way :applaud:

Mine's on its way :applaud:

Twice apparently!

abouthalf way thrpough american tabloid

any reading tips?

i have a small piece of paper with names on it lol

how do you keep track of what is going on?

You don't.

[QUOTE]

for a while i WAS reading it like that

it was enjoyable to read without having any idea what was going on

was enjoying the scenes, the atmosphere, the language, the whole tempo of the the thing, drifitng from one event to the next without worrying at all about links, causality, cosnequences

and i know this is a perfectly acceptable reading practice (And a pleasurable one at that

but i think the plot in this book does matter?

[QUOTE=marvell78,Nov 22 2009, 10:37 PM] [QUOTE=Mr. Marshall,Nov 23 2009, 09:21 AM] You don't. [/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]

for a while i WAS reading it like that

it was enjoyable to read without having any idea what was going on

was enjoying the scenes, the atmosphere, the language, the whole tempo of the the thing, drifitng from one event to the next without worrying at all about links, causality, cosnequences

and i know this is a perfectly acceptable reading practice (And a pleasurable one at that

but i think the plot in this book does matter? [/QUOTE]
I think the plot might matter but as you're reading it, it doesn't. It passes in a whirl of whispers and hunches much like it probably passed at the time.

Blood's definitely seemed the most complicated of the three. For these books, I recommend parceled time- indulge with as little interruption as possible. Not something to put down for a week or two, or even a couple of days.

[QUOTE]

yes

and yet, if you are to adopt mr marshalls approach this would be a reasonable enough strategy

let weeks go by, then start up again

if the plot doesnt matter so much then there is no reason why you wouldnt read it in conjunction with othe rthings you do and wit the same irregularlity that you might do them. reading as an everyday thing, nothign special, no difference between it and anythng else you might do

i go swimming now and again, i read american tabloid now and again