8.08.2006

The first of what is sure to be many Wire related posts...

Has anyone read any of George Pelecanos's novels? And do they have any suggestions regarding which are better than others?

I ask because I have decided that George Pelecanos is awesome. Let me enumerate why:

  1. He grew up in the District.
  2. He writes books about DC that don't involve politicians.
  3. He is a writer for The Wire.
  4. In the Tour Music section of his website he admits to liking Q and not U, The Replacements, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding and Bruce Springsteen.
Really, the whole list could be that he writes for the Wire, the rest is just gravy. I ask for suggestions because it is time to stock up on more books, and I don't want to ruin my estimation of the man by reading a lesser work first.

In related news, I am overwhelmed with anticipation for the new season of The Wire. I have to agree with Yglesias and declare it to be the best show on television. If you haven't seen it, you are really missing out. I use to work as a criminal defense investigator, and I can say that the show is surprisingly accurate. Particularly regarding the street level aspect of the drug trade. Unless they have moved since I left the criminal world (a strong possibility), I can take people to places that look exactly like the courtyard D'Angelo worked in during the first season. As you can imagine, my mother was heartbroken when I left that job.

And finally, because I think spell checkers are hilarious, I just realized that Blogger's spell checker really wants to turn "Yglesias" into "eyeglasses."

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5 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:32 PM

    I've read The Big Blowdown and King Suckerman which were both pretty enjoyable pulp, especially since they were set in DC and were not (as you note) political thrillers, which generally don't interest me. I've forgotten most of TBB, but KS was pretty entertaining, except for a pointless, tangential plot line about suburban kids buying drugs.

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  2. Anonymous5:37 PM

    Turns out I still have my copy of King Suckerman if you want to borrow it sometime.

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  3. charles5:42 PM

    Cool, I might take you up on that.

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  4. Anonymous9:51 PM

    No problem, certainly doesn't do any good just sitting on my shelf. I'm sure I could get it to you sometime soon.

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  5. Heather10:49 AM

    Don't do it! Alright, do it, but with my reservations strongly noted. My copies of Drama City and The Night Gardener are floating from Martin to Tommy soon, so just steal them when he's not looking. TNG, admittedly, could be worse, but the "pointless, tangential plot line" also appears here.

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