Author: James Ellroy
My first exposure to James Ellroy was through the film L.A. Confidential, which I greatly enjoyed. However, it didn't make me pick up the books. That didn't happen until repeated exposure to bart_calendar's ranting obsession with how great Ellroy is. Since bart_calendar is a pretty cool guy in general, I figured I'd give Ellroy a shot.
James Ellroy
It turns out that Ellroy's writing style could also be called sparse, with lots of short staccato sentence and omitted words. Apparently I have a thing for this, as both Hemingway and Cormac McCarthy have terse styles. More to the point, Ellroy (or at least his writing) has a deeply cynical view of the way the world works, with conspiracies, corruption and pessimism about the system.
I read four of his books in 2013 and three more in 2015, and of the authors I listed in the original project, he's one of three where I have not yet picked up another one of their books. I listed him as "I Definitely Want to Read More", but given that I haven't yet, I have to wonder how sincere I was.
Start Here
The LA Quartet includes both The Black Dahlia and LA Confidential. As movies, the former was solid and the latter excellent. As books, the ratio is about the same. White Jazz may be the best of Ellroy's novels that I have read, and The Big Nowhere is no slouch. Reading them in order is helpful, but not particularly required. I read these back in 2013.
If You Like Those
The only other Ellroy I've read was the Underworld USA trilogy, which features some character overlap with the LA Quartet. The first book, American Tabloid, was very good. The other two weren't nearly as interesting to me. I read all of these in 2015.
For Completists
Arguably the latter two books of Underworld USA aren't worthwhile, but you can judge for yourself after reading American Tabloid. Blood's a Rover in particular dragged.
What I Haven't Read Yet
Ellroy's mother was murdered when he was a boy. My Dark Places is Ellory's account of his attempts to solve the murder many years later when he could afford a private investigator, meshed up with his autobiography.
The first book of the second LA Quartet, Perfidia is out, and the next book drops this year. I'm not sure how I feel about reading something knowing that two more books may not arrive for years (there was a 5 year gap between Perfidia and the second), but eventually.
Cladestine shares several characters with the LA Quartet.
The Lloyd Hopkins trilogy is also set in LA, but not in the same universe.
Probably Won't
Ellory has a number of short stories and another autobiography. They aren't a priority to me right now.
James Ellroy
It turns out that Ellroy's writing style could also be called sparse, with lots of short staccato sentence and omitted words. Apparently I have a thing for this, as both Hemingway and Cormac McCarthy have terse styles. More to the point, Ellroy (or at least his writing) has a deeply cynical view of the way the world works, with conspiracies, corruption and pessimism about the system.
I read four of his books in 2013 and three more in 2015, and of the authors I listed in the original project, he's one of three where I have not yet picked up another one of their books. I listed him as "I Definitely Want to Read More", but given that I haven't yet, I have to wonder how sincere I was.
Start Here
The LA Quartet includes both The Black Dahlia and LA Confidential. As movies, the former was solid and the latter excellent. As books, the ratio is about the same. White Jazz may be the best of Ellroy's novels that I have read, and The Big Nowhere is no slouch. Reading them in order is helpful, but not particularly required. I read these back in 2013.
If You Like Those
The only other Ellroy I've read was the Underworld USA trilogy, which features some character overlap with the LA Quartet. The first book, American Tabloid, was very good. The other two weren't nearly as interesting to me. I read all of these in 2015.
For Completists
Arguably the latter two books of Underworld USA aren't worthwhile, but you can judge for yourself after reading American Tabloid. Blood's a Rover in particular dragged.
What I Haven't Read Yet
Ellroy's mother was murdered when he was a boy. My Dark Places is Ellory's account of his attempts to solve the murder many years later when he could afford a private investigator, meshed up with his autobiography.
The first book of the second LA Quartet, Perfidia is out, and the next book drops this year. I'm not sure how I feel about reading something knowing that two more books may not arrive for years (there was a 5 year gap between Perfidia and the second), but eventually.
Cladestine shares several characters with the LA Quartet.
The Lloyd Hopkins trilogy is also set in LA, but not in the same universe.
Probably Won't
Ellory has a number of short stories and another autobiography. They aren't a priority to me right now.