Sex and Violence
March 1, 2008 3:04 AM Subscribe
It's a bit weird that Gerald Kersh makes the Erotic list but not the Crime list.
posted by oh pollo! at 4:31 AM on March 1, 2008
posted by oh pollo! at 4:31 AM on March 1, 2008
Ahh, Europe, where mysteries are shelved in the crime-fiction section, instead of the other way around. Here in America more shelf space is given to cat-sluths and culinary mysteries (and, of course feline-sluth-culinary-mystery-cookbooks) than to anything good 'n hardboiled. It would be like if the erotica section was mostly books on tennis, with some heavy petting thrown in, or if most sci-fi books were just about people with really good HD teevees.
I'll forgive the list for missing Andrew Vachss. And Ken Bruen. And David Goodis. And Kem Nunn. And Dennis Lehane. It's not an American list, after all. But missing out on Donald Goines, Chester Himes or Iceberg Slim makes the list awfully, awfully pale. I guess if there is a genre given less respect than crime fiction, it would be black crime fiction.
posted by Bookhouse at 4:31 AM on March 1, 2008
I'll forgive the list for missing Andrew Vachss. And Ken Bruen. And David Goodis. And Kem Nunn. And Dennis Lehane. It's not an American list, after all. But missing out on Donald Goines, Chester Himes or Iceberg Slim makes the list awfully, awfully pale. I guess if there is a genre given less respect than crime fiction, it would be black crime fiction.
posted by Bookhouse at 4:31 AM on March 1, 2008
First off, I'd like to mention that on the final page of the crime books that they mention that all the above are available from Telegraph Books. I'm assuming this imprint is owned by the same people that run the website. I'm not accusing anybody, mind. Just saying.
I am, however, accusing them of missing Derek Raymond. Fuck that. That's inexcusable, especially for Brits.
posted by Football Bat at 4:42 AM on March 1, 2008
I am, however, accusing them of missing Derek Raymond. Fuck that. That's inexcusable, especially for Brits.
posted by Football Bat at 4:42 AM on March 1, 2008
No Sue Grafton? The Kinsey Millhone alphabet series is one of my guilty pleasures.
posted by essexjan at 4:55 AM on March 1, 2008
posted by essexjan at 4:55 AM on March 1, 2008
Any "Best Of" crime writer list that doesn't prominently feature Ross MacDonald is clearly idiotic.
posted by RavinDave at 5:24 AM on March 1, 2008
posted by RavinDave at 5:24 AM on March 1, 2008
These lists always shit me. When reading them I imagine Toby Clements, Jeremy Jehu, Jake Kerridge, Sam Leith, Andrew McKie and Sameer Rahim under extreme pressure to get to the pub.
Done! Lets go.
Oh shit, we almost forgot Elmore Leaonard!
Quick, google him then stick him at the end.
No Peter Corris (I mean the man's only written 50 novels)
No Ian Rankin?
posted by mattoxic at 5:25 AM on March 1, 2008
Done! Lets go.
Oh shit, we almost forgot Elmore Leaonard!
Quick, google him then stick him at the end.
No Peter Corris (I mean the man's only written 50 novels)
No Ian Rankin?
posted by mattoxic at 5:25 AM on March 1, 2008
She loved Metafilter. She tapped the keys of her silver silken laptop with her slender white fingers, red nails dancing like little fiery hearts, and selected "post". She sucked her fingers and made cool wet circles on her bare thighs as she waited the page to load. But something was wrong. She felt her stomach tighten. The page would not load. Someone had spoofed her password. Someone had stolen her user profile. Nothing would be the same again.
posted by KokuRyu at 8:24 AM on March 1, 2008 [5 favorites]
posted by KokuRyu at 8:24 AM on March 1, 2008 [5 favorites]
First off, I'd like to mention that on the final page of the crime books that they mention that all the above are available from Telegraph Books. I'm assuming this imprint is owned by the same people that run the website.
Eyeballing the list, they seem to be focusing on getting a wide spread of writers, with some favour for the English (e.g. Charles Dickens) and some prejudice against contemporary authors. Although the absence of Ian Rankin is puzzling, given his media ubiquity over here.
posted by outlier at 8:27 AM on March 1, 2008
Eyeballing the list, they seem to be focusing on getting a wide spread of writers, with some favour for the English (e.g. Charles Dickens) and some prejudice against contemporary authors. Although the absence of Ian Rankin is puzzling, given his media ubiquity over here.
posted by outlier at 8:27 AM on March 1, 2008
Ross Macdonald, who did not make the list, called Mickey Spillane, who did make the list, "the poet laureate sexual psychopathy."
posted by goatdog at 8:30 AM on March 1, 2008
posted by goatdog at 8:30 AM on March 1, 2008
It's a bummer to finish #50, the only thing left is to die.
posted by stbalbach at 8:30 AM on March 1, 2008
posted by stbalbach at 8:30 AM on March 1, 2008
No mention of the redoubtable Sir Richard Francis Burton in respect of London erotica? He of the unexpurgated Arabian Nights? The Kama Sutra? The Perfumed Garden of Shaykh Nefawzi? Come now. . .
posted by rdone at 8:54 AM on March 1, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by rdone at 8:54 AM on March 1, 2008 [1 favorite]
Only three women on the erotic list. You'd think Mills & Boon would get an honorary mention based on 100 years of bodice-ripping in quantity (millions and millions sold) rather than quality.
The crime division is a crime. Graham Greene and Dick Francis don't make the list but George Pelecanos does?
posted by grounded at 10:31 AM on March 1, 2008
The crime division is a crime. Graham Greene and Dick Francis don't make the list but George Pelecanos does?
posted by grounded at 10:31 AM on March 1, 2008
Do they read Charles Willeford in the UK? I'd like to throw a little shark infested custard in the face of whoever wrote that article...
posted by cinemafiend at 12:43 PM on March 1, 2008
posted by cinemafiend at 12:43 PM on March 1, 2008
No Josephine Tey? Most remembered for Daughter of Time, but Miss Pym Disposes is her best. (Also, To Love and Be Wise, a mystery based on Shakespearian comedy, and The Franchise Affair, based on an actual 19th C. case, and Brat Farrar which prefigured Martin Guerre, and...)
posted by CCBC at 1:13 PM on March 1, 2008
posted by CCBC at 1:13 PM on March 1, 2008
I only clicked on one of those lists. Make of this what you will.
posted by graventy at 1:51 PM on March 1, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by graventy at 1:51 PM on March 1, 2008 [1 favorite]
Have to link an old MeFi post about Ross MacDonald, whose absence from the 2nd linked list is completely unforgivable.
posted by mediareport at 6:41 PM on March 1, 2008
posted by mediareport at 6:41 PM on March 1, 2008
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posted by farishta at 3:14 AM on March 1, 2008