Ed Lynskey's Blog: Cracked Rearview Mirror - Posts Tagged "classics"

A bucket list (from "kick the bucket," according to the Urban Dictionary) is a list of things you want to do before you die. Since we're all readers here, my list is the 10 books I've been meaning to read, but haven't gotten around to yet:

1. GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell.
I saw the flick a few times but I figure the storyline is syrupy while the prose is overwrought. Not true at all, say her fans. So, GWTW goes as #1 on my bucket list.

2. DELIVERANCE by James Dickey.
Like #1, I saw the flick when it hit the theaters eons ago. Love his poetry. He was the writer-in-residence where I went to college. I recall seeing him with his guitar. Later on, I met him at a Library of Congress gala.

3. TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller.
This is one of those taboo novels from my youth. It's probably tame by today's standards.

4. DOCTOR ZHIVAGO by Boris Pasternik.
Its doorstopper 558 pages sounds daunting, but I like the cool-sounding name of the novel title and its author.

5. Anything by Jack Kerouac but ON THE ROAD.
The guy had to have carried more than one big book in him. Don't tell me my boyhood hero was a one-hit wonder. His DHARMA BUMS sounds colorful and inviting.

6. ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayan Rand.
I used to see this book mentioned everywhere. I've heard good things and bad things about it. I guess I'll have to read it and make up my own mind.

7. ROBINSON CURSOE by Daniel Defoe.
What makes me hesitate is slogging through the 17th-century prose style. My reader's patience wears thin real fast nowadays.

8. MOBY DICK by Herman Melville.
I read several other Melville books in college. That should suffice, I believe. Still...

9. SANCTUARY by William Faulkner.
I've started it several times before I got lost and chucked it. Hemingway, Dos Passos, and Fitzgeralds from the same generation of scribes appeal to me more than Faulkner does.

10. ??? by ???
I'll leave the tenth slot open on purpose. I hate the finality of ending my bucket list.

So: what and who go on your bucket list?

By classic, I mean all of the listed authors are now dead. Also, I'm sure other books will appear on the list as get to them. Only one female author is included, but Margaret Millar is a giant. Happy reading.

Disclaimer: Your mileage will probably vary.

Drumbeat, please. In no particular order, and away we go...

#1. Cry Hard, Cry Fast by John D. MacDonald

#2. The Men from the Boys by Ed Lacy (real name: Len Zinberg)

#3. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? by Hoarce McCoy

#4. An Air That Kills by Margaret Millar

#5. Web of Murder by Harry Whittington

#6. Dead Calm by Charles Williams

#7. The Evil Days by Bruno Fischer

#8. Wild to Possess by Gil Brewer

#9. To Find Cora by Harry Whittington

#10. Uneasy Street by Wade Miller

Ed Lynskey
@edlynskey

The low budget film noirs arising in the post-WW II era seldom fail to engage me. I rarely pay to watch today's Hollywood mainstream stock. I prefer gritty, authentic acting over the glitz and digital wizardry (No Avatar for me, thanks). Take Aphalt Jungle out on DVD, for instance. Leaving aside Sterling Hayden's somewhat wooden, oafish performance, consider Sam Jaffe as Doc, a slick crook who's flaw is his lust for the nubile young thangs. Or Marilyn Monroe and her 10,000-watt aura playing the pouty mistress. The following are my favorites chosen off the top of my head.

Disclaimer: Your mileage will probably vary.

Drumbeat, please. In no particular order, and away we go...

#1. The Hitch-Hiker

#2. Out of the Past

#3. Gun Crazy

#4. Asphalt Jungle

#5. Double Indemnity

#6. Dark Passage

#7. The Maltese Falcon

#8. Force of Evil

#9. Laura

#10. Kiss Me Deadly

Ed Lynskey
@edlynskey

Bogie, what can I say? He was the stone-cold epitome of style. As PI Sam Spade recovering the "dingus," he defined the private eye, so there's a connection right there for me. If you like watching old movies, he's probably going to be in one of them. I heard somebody make the point that Bogie had a distinctiveness to his acting that male leads no longer possess. Maybe that's because he toiled in a slew of B-movies before his break out came. Anyway, here are my faves:

#1. The Maltese Falcon

#2. High Sierra

#3. Dark Passage

#4. Casablanca

#5. African Queen

#6. The Harder They Fall (last movie)

#7. Key Largo

#8. The Caine Mutiny

#9. They Drive by Night

#10. The Big Sleep

By Ed Lynskey
@edlynskey
Author of Lake Charles
"Satisfying."
The Rap Sheet/Kirkus Reviews

Today a local D.C. rock station on FM radio had a call-in lunchtime show on musicians and singers snubbed by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I was surprised by the ones who'd yet to make the grade there. I always thought I'd good tastes in music, and I really think the following candidates should be considered for the honor.

#1. Moody Blues. Never bought their LPs but I dug their tunes in the early 1970s. Classic: "Just a Singer in a Rock-and-Roll Band."

#2. Todd Rundgren. Runt is an old fav of mine. Classic: "Hello It's Me."

#3. Bad Company. Huh? Bought their LPs. Classic: "Bad Company."

#4. Warren Zevon. Huh, again? Bought his LPs. Classic: "Lawyer, Guns, and Money."

#5. Deep Purple. Bought their LPs and 8-tracks. Loved them cranking loud. Classic "Highway Star."

#6. The Guess Who. Canadian giants. Can't remember if I bought their LPs. Classic: "Share the Land."

#7. Chicago. You got to be kidding me. Sweetest brass section ever. Classic: "Color My World."

#8. Heart. Wilson sisters made my heart soar many times. Classic: "Crazy on You."

#9. Foreigner. Head-knockers galore. Classic: "I Want To Know What Love Is."

#10. The Cars. Great sing-along, toe-tapping rock group. Classic: "Touch and Go"

Who are your candidates to induct into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?

By Ed Lynskey
Twitter: @edlynskey
Author of Lake Charles
"Definitely recommend you take a fictional journey to Lake Charles."
Elizabeth A. White's Musings of an All Purpose Monkey

As you get older, you realize you'll never get to reading many of the so-called classic books. I got to thinking about this while out jogging a few days back. Face it," I thought. You'll never have the time. Nobody wants to admit their age, but none of us are getting any younger.

For example, Moby Dick. I'll just have to be happy to know Ahab went after the big mammal of the deep. Or Faulkner. I read a bunch of his stuff in grad school. Since then, nada. Or Henry James. Never again. I know: my loss. I can live with that. War and Peace will never grace my eyes. Charles Dickens is an author I admire. I doubt if I'll get to his printed words.

Gone With the Wind may have a better chance to get read. Hemingway I have read since college. Ditto for Fitzgerald. Flannery O'Connor I've read several times. I seem to gravitate to American Southern authors (except Faulkner).

But I've made my peace with the classics I'll miss out on. Who knows? Maybe there's a big library in the sky where you spend eternity reading books. What a dream that is.

Happy reading to you and yours!

By Ed Lynskey
Twitter: @edlynskey
Ask the Dice (Newest Stand Alone Washington, D.C. Crime Noir)



The Zinc Zoo (Newest P.I. Frank Johnson Mystery)

Like many of us, I read a ton of novels in high school and later on at college. It was part of the education process to expand and shape my young, fallow mind. Then I never read another single word written by many of the authors (i.e., Faulkner, James). For whatever reason, their fiction just didn't track or click with me. I suppose I had in the back of my mind to try then again, but I never got around to it.

On the other hand, I did go on with reading a few such fiction authors. Flannery O'Connor springs to mind. Just this past year I read several of her books with relish. Ernest Hemingway is a long-time favorite. Harry Crews continued to interest me after my post-grad coursework. Edith Wharton I still read once in awhile. I also like F. Scott Fitzgerald. Also Hammett, Cain, and Chandler, of course.

So, I guess all that reading I did in school did carry over in my reader's days to come.

Happy reading to you and yours!

By Ed Lynskey
Twitter: @edlynskey
Ask the Dice (Newest Stand Alone Washington, D.C. Crime Noir)



The Zinc Zoo (Newest P.I. Frank Johnson Mystery)