author’s only novel of any note as far as I know, it’s a modern classic.

Friday, March 26, 2010

One title from Jonathan Lethem's 1999 list of five terrific novels overshadowed by their film versions:

The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon

An abundance of weaker work has blotted out Condon's few best novels, which have a prescient paranoiac verve that holds up nicely -- he's sort of a pop Don Delillo. "Winter Kills," another splendid novel, was also made into a lesser-known but excellent film. Oddly, in the 1950s and '60s, Frank Sinatra made a habit of starring in films made from underrated novels: Both James Jones' "Some Came Running" and Roderick Thorp's "The Detective" are worth a closer look.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

For the Guardian, she named a top ten list ofbooks on the Spanish Inquisition. One title on the list:

Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition by Rafael Sabatini

If you're looking for factual background to the subject of the Spanish inquisition, Sabatini would be a good first port of call. This is a colourful and dramatic biography of the monk who became the first Grand Inquisitor of Spain, and whose name has come down to us through the ages associated with torture and terror.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

A decade ago David Bowman picked a list of five great noir novels from the post-Chandler generations.

One title on the list:

Children of Light by Robert Stone

The most unloved child of all Stone's work (even editor Robert Gottlieb hated it), this novel contains the psychic framework of a good noir while simultaneously being the burnout