Convalescent Reading

While Frank was resting his ankle, he put his reading muscles to work. We all know there's nothing like a good book to help pass the down-time and make us feel better. Before listing these books, Frank cautioned me that "the list is heavy on spy thrillers, mysteries, and crime novels." Although as a group we have read only a few books that would fit in these genres, some of us would enjoy some of these stories. There might be a seed here for a future book club discussion! Here are Frank's feel-good choices:

ASSIGNMENT: SUMATRA by Edward S. Aarons. 1970s spy thriller featuring agent Sam Durell. A long running series that started in the 1950s and ran through the late '70s/early '80s.

BEAR ISLAND by Alistair MacLean. British adventure writer who gave us THE GUNS OF NAVARONE, ICE STATION ZEBRA, WHERE EAGLES DARE, etc.

SO RICH, SO LOVELY, AND SO DEAD by Harold Masur. Late 1950s murder mystery featuring a defense attorney as the crime solver, ala Perry Mason.

SCREAM STREET/STRANGLEHOLD: This was a late 1950s Ace Double Paperback which featured two short crime novels in one volume. Ace published many double volumes in the '50s and '60s featuring science fiction, mystery and western novels sandwiched together.

AMBER NINE by John Gardner. 1960s British spy thriller featuring a reluctant assassin. Gardner later wrote several James Bond novels in the 1980s and '90s.

DISGUISED AS CLARK KENT by Danny Fingeroth. Nonfiction examination of the role Jews and Jewish culture played in the development of the American comic book and the superhero genre. Many of the early comics creators were Jewish, as you will recall from THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND KLAY.

FAKE I.D. by Jason Starr. Modern noir novel about a loser trying to get rich quick by committing robbery and murder.

HELMET FOR MY PILLOW by Robert Leckie. Tough, hard-nosed memoir of one Marine's experiences in the Pacific Theater during World War II.

RIDE THE NIGHTMARE by Richard Matheson. Mid-1950s crime thriller by the author of THE SHRINKING MAN, HELL HOUSE, WHAT DREAMS MAY COME and I AM LEGEND. NIGHTMARE was filmed as an hour-long episode of ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS.

THE GREEN EAGLE SCORE by Richard Stark (Donald Westlake). Tough caper novel starring professional thief Parker. Stark's Parker series has been filmed as POINT BLANK, starring Lee Marvin and PAYBACK starring Mel Gibson.

CASINO MOON by Peter Blauner. Crime novel about "made guys" (aka The Mob) in Atlantic City and one man's attempts to leave the "family business" and make it big on his own through, again, crime and murder.

NOBODY MOVE by Denis Johnson. Fast paced noir with spot-on dialogue about lowlifes chasing a big score in and around Bakersfield, California. Johnson won the National Book Award for his Vietnam War novel TREE OF SMOKE.

DIE TRYING by Lee Child. The second Jack Reacher novel in a series that now numbers 13. Reacher is part Clint Eastwood/part Sherlock Holmes. Fast paced and action packed, a true page-turner in every sense of the word.

And the book I'm reading aloud to Judy right now is SUNNYSIDE by Glen David Gold, author of CARTER BEATS THE DEVIL (which our group read). This is an epic work of historical fiction concerning Charlie Chaplin, the American Silent Film industry and World War I. Reminiscent of RAGTIME.