I just have to say I’ve really been into James Patterson, lately. The Alex Cross series, namely. What a great series! Been having a lot of time to read lately, in airports, and on planes. Right now I am in the middle of Four Blind Mice. I think the best so far though, is Double Cross.
I should also mention Nelson DeMille. Anything of his with John Corey is great! The Lion’s Game was one of the best books I’ve read yet (right up there with any of them in The Lonesome Dove series) The Lion just came out, and I can’t wait to read it.
Now, back to your regularly scheduled beer forum.
Yeah, those are entertaining. Didn’t realize there was a new one out. I’ll be getting that soon!
Be sure you’ve read “The Lion’s Game”, before tyou read “The Lion”.
I’ve read all of the John Corey books so far.
My wife has been reading James Patterson lately, she describes them as roughly equivalent to a CSI type TV show or crime drama movie.
I however am still stuck on the more obscure Wodehouse stuff. Just finished up “Uncle Fred in Springtime” and “A Few Quick Ones” nearly done.
Wodehouse’s Wooster & Jeeves stories are hilarious. You can get some of them thru PBS, as the BBC did an adaptation back in the 80’s. Wooster is played by the guy who now stars as Dr. House.
Fry and Laurie (as Jeeves, and B. Wooster, respectively) did do the best screen adaptations, definitely. I think those were done not for the BBC but for some other network, whose name escapes me…ah well. Masterful though…the empty-headed but likable twit was played perfectly by Hugh Laurie, and in general the whole thing was superbly pieced together, shot, and scored. Got the whole set on DVD. A lot of excellent supporting actors/characters, as well.
The only disadvantage to the video series is that the internal monologue of Bertie’s narration must be abandoned, which leaves out a not insubstantial source of humor.
Did someone say hilarious? I love hilarious! Just might have to check this out.
It’s hard to beat Wodehouse for dry British humor with a slapstick side to it. I own the DVD set of Wooster and Jeeves (Stephen Fry as Jeeves is too much!) and find myself watching it over and over again.
Yeah, its not really “hilarious” at least in the typical American sense. But quite amusing…he wrote 90 books, so as one might expect there are occasional plot recyclings, but I rather enjoy the stereotypes that arise. The Aunts, of course, representing the powerful ruling elite, both in the Jeeves line and in the Blandings castle series, to which I’ve more recently become addicted. The Psmith series is one of my favorites…Psmith himself is like an early prototype fusing both Jeeves and Bertie, a bit…the calm, well-spoken intellect of Jeeves with the social butterfly, suave boulevardier aspects of Bertie.
Last year I was looking for something a little different so I tried Cormac McCarthy’s Border Trilogy and Blood Meridian. All four of them get a little slow at times but that is fitting for their western style. In the end I found them all very enjoyable.
I read “The Road” last year and man did I need to read something lightweight, fluffy and fun after that.
You want lightweight, fluffy and fun summer reading? Try some of Kinky Freidman’s detective books!
After reading Ted Bell I just couldn’t get into Patterson for some reason. I wonder if that works the other way around. If you’re ever in Boise, I have the first three books from the Hawke series you can borrow. You can also drink some beer if you want. 
“The Road” is a good read, but definitely does not give you warm fuzzies.
Lightweight, for beach or travel, is Clive Cussler.
I saw the Wooster & Jeeves series before picking up the books. The books were even funnier, thanks to all that “internal dialogue”.
One area where the Granada TV series ups the books, though, is the songs. Hugh Laurie being actually not a bad singer and pianist (his songs on his sketch comedy show in the 80s were quite funny)…one funny one was “Nagasaki”, particularly when he went somberly out of time/swing for the “Back in Nagasaki where the fellas chew tobaccy and the women wicky wacky, woo” part. And “47 Ginger-Headed Sailors” has been stuck in my head for half a decade now.
Thinking about starting to read the Lonesome Dove series. I’ve got a lot of time to read given that my commute every day is about an hour each way (by bus). Already this summer I’ve read 100 Years of Solitude by Marquez, Kitchen Confidential and Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain, Night Soldiers by Alan Furst, and the Lord Of The Rings trilogy (again).
Larry McMurtry did some good work with Lonesome Dove.
Stephen King has some good work out. I particularly liked “Duma Key” and “The Stand”. Did not care for his Dark Tower series, and still think that the ending was the worst that I’ve ever read…especially after slogging through six or seven books to get there.
READ LONESOME DOVE SERIES!!! Best series ever. End of story.
If you want to read it order, read Comanche Moon, Lonesome Dove, Dead Man’s Walk, and Streets of Lorado. Do it. NOW!
I have spoken.