BILL RYAN Book Recommendations & Book Mentions

BILL RYAN

14. BILLY SUMMERS by Stephen King - This book manages to be an interesting departure for King without actually being very good. https://t.co/DQmLcvoqxx

BILL RYAN

6. GOLD COAST by Elmore Leonard - Solid '80s Leonard, with a more interesting ending than I was expecting, though he does take something that had been subtext and promoted it to text. Also, what's up with that gun on the front cover. Why didn't it fall off the hat? https://t.co/APAlakXOXJ

BILL RYAN

Watching a sitcom that has a character whose interests are "boring." One character is trying to cheer him up & suggests watching the NICHOLAS NICKLEBY because there are lots of long, quiet scenes. Charles Dickens, the man who wrote novels where nothing ever happens. Dumb assholes

BILL RYAN

8. SYMPOSIUM by Muriel Spark - Scenes from a climactic dinner party are interwoven with chapters about the guests, day or weeks before the gathering. This book almost plays like a thriller, though a highly idiosyncratic one. My fourth Spark, and I still don't know what to expect. https://t.co/JFocMxXkvN

BILL RYAN

35. THE IVORY GRIN by Ross MacDonald - A very solid mid-20th century detective novel, typically convoluted plot, Archer rules, darker and more bitter than I expected, and all the better for it. https://t.co/utgesinTVN

BILL RYAN

25. QUICK CHANGE by Jay Cronley - Bill Murray didn't take many liberties, but those he took were rather large. https://t.co/LP65GTsVUG

BILL RYAN

21. FIRST LOVE, LAST RITES by Ian McEwan - I know a lot of people have given up on McEwan, saying his books are now dull and that he puts on airs. I'm still a fan, though a more cautious one. His two early story collections are so different, so perverse [cont'd] https://t.co/MNEzPMzUAl

BILL RYAN

34. FLOATING DRAGON by Peter Straub - More to come. https://t.co/TgeIpVFlAl

BILL RYAN

14. THE STRANGE by Nathan Ballingrud - Ballingrud is one of my favorite living writers, of horror or anything else & with his first novel he's written a coming of age story free of sap or sentimentality. It's also an eerie, pulp adventure on Mars. Wonderful, excellent, gripping. https://t.co/tx5xG0O03S

BILL RYAN

24. PASSERSTHROUGH by Peter Rock - My third by the undersung Peter Rock. In his one, he effectively toys with horror, with a mysterious ending that was more satisfying than something seeking closure could ever manage. https://t.co/qBRJjXvjun