Point Blank discussion

Loads of Hemingway goodness.....

Excellent podcast...great summation of THAHT story-line by Justin to start it off, this book is a little slippery with all the diverging sub-plots...I agree that both scores of 3.0 & 3.75 work. It's kind of a kitchen sink novel, but it is “interesting”. I enjoyed reading THAHT, glad you put it on your list...also liked the insights of Hemingway's use of Iceberg writing, very interesting...but, just a flash thought, I think you'll find the use of analogies more common in crime fiction. One that I really liked was “The gun coughed apologetically.” in the last chapter of Black Money by Ross Macdonald (that's just an add-in, not really making a point)...The Men From The Boys by Ed Lacey sounds pretty good, it's now on my list...yeah, great podcast...-I'm about half-way through with No Country For Old Men. So far so good, it's excellent...Oh yeah...5 Round Burst > Man in Havana by Graham Greene...I have read many of Greene's books but not Havana. It's now on my list...The Heart of the Matter is a good one, life of a soldier in the desert out-back of Africa...The Power and the Glory is pretty good too. About life of a priest on the run in Mexico during a christian purge...Greene wrote a few noirish “entertainments”, A Gun For Sale, The Ministry of Fear, The Confidential Agent are all good reads...Anthony Burgess (A Clock Work Orange) wrote a great book of reviews called 99 Novels: The Best in English since 1939...it covers what he thinks are the best novels from 1939 to 1984...he includes essays Graham Greene, Hemingway, Ian Fleming (Goldfinger), Norman Mailer (The Naked and the Dead), Joseph Heller (Catch 22)and many other action/adventure authors...along with Orwell & Huxley, etc...99 Novels is a good reference or bath-room reader book...

I can't get along with Greene myself (I know I'm in the minority), and yeah No Country... was flipping brilliant!

SO, I'm practicing being retired (it's coming in a few months), i'm off this week and catching up on podcasts. I must say, you have discouraged me from reading this Hemmingway book. I'm halfway through part two of the podcasts. It just seems not to be worth my while.

Then again, from the first half podcast, i've added Milwaukee Noir to my list of books to be read. I have seen these noir collections for years and never thought to pick one up. As they are all short stories, this will be a good way to read something without needing a lot of time with my current hectic schedule. Thank you...