Tuesday 2 September 2008

Reading: James Ellroy - The Cold Six Thousand

I used to read a lot. I kept a notebook listing everything I read and
a rating out of five. It abruptly stops January 2006 - when my
daughter was born. Suddenly not so much time for books.
There's one other entry since then: Truman Capote's In Cold Blood
which took me a RIDICULOUSLY long time to read. And now I'm reading
James Ellroy - The Cold Six Thousand.
I would probably never in a million years have picked this up in a
library or bookshop, but I actually won it in a competition. It sat
around on my shelf for a long time (I find it hard to part with books)
until a couple of weeks ago when I suddenly found myself with the time
and inclination to read again.
A two-year break can cleanse the palette and I found myself quite open
to trying something new bookwise.
I'm actually REALLY enjoying this. I'm halfway through. I love the
fast pace, the slang and the short sharp sentences. It fits perfectly
my current reading abilities: reading in snatched moments, a page here
and there while she drinks her milk in the morning, while I wait for
the vegetables to boil, while my computer boots up at work.
And even though it's a chunk of a book, I'm getting through it much
quicker than my last read (sorry Truman)

I found this Tuesday Teasers at A library
is a hospital for the mind...
and played along. With a little trepidation at what this book might serve up.

The rules:
1. Grab your current read.
2. Let the book fall open to a random page.
3. List the book Title and author.
4. Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.

I got:

The Cold Six Thousand James Ellroy (page 242)

"Sonny Tufts. What's the story on him?"
"He bites showgirls on the thighs. The girls get rabies shots when
they hear he's in town."

That's better than it could have been!

Can anyone recommend any other fast-paced reads?

2 comments:

Sarah M. said...

LOL. That's quite a quote! :) Thanks for playing along! And I know what you mean about trying to find time to read while carrying for a baby/child. Keep at it though! :)

What's your favorite genre? I might have a few books I could suggest. :)

Sarah M. said...

Hmm... being from the UK might prove a problem as your library may not have a copy of Manhunt, but I checked and for a little over 5 pounds you can get a used copy on Amazon.UK. Hopefully you'll be able to find a copy easily. It was a good read.

As for "shaking it up" wow... I don't know where to start... Funny I realize now I've read a lot of British lit in the last few years, including some "chick lit". A quick, fun read was "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" -- written in the 1930s (I posted a review on this a few weeks ago). Also, cute was Penelope by Marilyn Kaye. If you're in the mood for a mystery than Agatha Christie if my favorite mystery writer. Oh and another dark type drama - Daphne DuMaurier... though quite a few of those are from British authors, so maybe you've already read them. LOL If I think of any others I'll let you know. I tend to read classics and novels from the pre-1960s than modern ones.