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Confession Time, /lit/
So, when I'm not reading the Greeks, other assorted ancients or wild metaphysical ramblings, and drunken Irish novelists, I sometimes take a sneaky peek at some cultish pulp fiction.
My Top Three:
1. Shibumi (pic related). This guy Trevanian was a literary meme unto himself: he literally couldn't get a proper work of literary fiction published so he just shoved every meme possible into a trash thriller and hammed it up. Absolutely classic stuff. Everyone on this forum owes it to himself to read this book at least once in his miserable life.
2. Rat Man of Paris, Paul West. Found this in a shit bookshop in a shit city abroad, and it was so outrageous that I went back and bought the handful of remaining copies for some friends, who couldn't believe this shit either. Imagine if some orphan autist has only a pet rat for company and a magical way with said rodents, seeking romance and revenge on evil Nazi occupiers of wartime Paris. Then it goes full retard...
I'd never heard of Paul West before, despite being reasonably well-read, and this made me sort of want to read more of his stuff but I never got round to it.
3. Martin Booth: A Very Private Gentleman/The American. Picked this up after being somewhat pleasantly surprised by the film, and enjoyed the book even more - the chatty tone is completely different to the film's noir and silent atmosphere. Literary fiction? No. Genre pulp? No, not that either. But bloody well written and entertaining at that.
Honourable mentions: James Clavell's slabs (Shogun, Taipan, Noble House, etc); John Le Carré; can't think of a third to be honest.
What are your sneaky pleasures, /lit/?
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Huh. I'll check em out.
I don't think Shogun should be an honorable mention, since it's more like an honorary classic at this point.
I can't really read really bad books, because I get itchy if it's too bad, but I do enjoy pulp on occasion. I once read a book called Vampire$ (the dollar sign is not a typo) and a few books by Simon R. Green, which, mmm. They are not good.
I do like Tanya Huff a lot, and Book of Tongues by Gemma Files isn't even bad- it's fucking amazing, and I can't believe no one in SFFG has said anything about it:
An old west magical preacher and his lover, a bloodthirsty gunslinger go around killing people and robbing trains and shit goes fucking down, I tell you. It's amazing. I love it. Also the prose is strangely engaging.
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>>9749794
Thanks for those recommendations, hadn't heard of them. I can't stand bad books either, but the above listed are ones that wouldn't usually fall on my radar but that surprised me nonetheless.
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>>9749696
i like shibumi too anon those go metaphors
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I really, really like Howard and Lovecraft and their associates, although that's nothing to be ashamed of
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>>9750785
Hmm, I was too - when I was 15. But I think an enjoyment of their work could only be prejudicial if it's exclusive and/or juvenile.
Also, Robert Chambers 'King in Yellow' stuff is not bad at all.
I know there must be at least more than a handful of Tom Clancy fans on here somewhere... Come out lads!
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