Ask Bestselling Author Lawrence Block a Question discussion

I just read your first Matthew Scudder novel a couple of weeks ago.I book podcast I listen to recommended them highly.They are a perfect summer read.Are you surprised people are just dicovering them now?They stand up well to the passage of time!

I wish I could go back and feel the first thrill of reading a Matt Scudder book.

My fav I think is When The Sacred Ginmill Closes. I do so love them sll.

I'm also new to the Matthew Scudder series (and to this group as well!) and I've just finished book three. Scudder is the type of morally ambiguous ex-cop/PI I like, but I have one little problem with him and that's that he strikes me as a little whiny and selfish.

Shit happens in life and bad things happen to people and I get why Matthew would have wanted to leave the police force - he has the right to do whatever he wants with his own life - but I don't get why the shooting accident, a random event that wasn't his fault, would make him withdraw from his family and leave his kids without a dad. Why withdraw to that extent?

Have you ever read John D. Macdonald's Travis McGee series? They are set in Florida just when the buliding boom starts to hit and JDM is so againsst the fouling of the enviroment.
Travis is just wonderful.
They are all color titles and the first one is The Deep Blue Goodbye.
The answer to your question I believe is ...have you ever been around a bonefide drunk? All they need is an excuse for the next drink and the guilt of the shooting an innocent just pushed him over the edge of being a functioning drunk to all out rock bottom drunk. He had to have a place to come from in order to be Matt Scudder the recovering drunk.
That is just my opinion.All drunks are whiny in one way or another. Life is never fair to them and they only drink because of that. If that were the reality of life ( life is not fair) we would all drink LOL!
Get back to me when you read "When The Sacred Ginmill Closes". [email protected]

I am currently trying to track down the third book.I have this thing about reading books in order even if not necessary.I like characters that are not perfect and live a life completely different from my experiences.

GO to Larry's web site and get the order of the books. If not there then Wikipedia...it is very good for book lists when you read the bio of the author.
If you like black Irish suspense read Ken Bruen. His latest "The Devil" is sooooooo dark.
Larry is still the creme dli la creme of writers.
Some of his other series works are : Evan Tanner-4 books and the Bernie Rhodenbarr Burglar books.

Some series can be read out of order, but I'd suggest that the Scudder books should be read as they were published. The flashback books work the way they should, but watching Matt's gradual rebuilding is what makes the series work best in my book. "In my book ..." I meant to do that.

To all of y'all,
My gig here was supposed to be from May 28 to June 3, but I started early and have stayed on a few extra days, and while I've enjoyed the ride, it's taking too much time. So I'm signing off as of now. Some of you have friended me here, and I feel friendly toward you, but won't be active on this forum. And those of you who expressed an interest in following my reviews, well, I don't do reviews, so following them, while admittedly tricky, at least wont be time-consuming.

Again, thanks.

LB

One last thought—

I wrote afterwords for all my Open Road ebook titles, and they're being gathered together along with other material as AFTERTHOUGHTS; it amounts to a piecemeal memoir of my early writing days, and will be available soon as a 99¢ ebook. Meanwhile, you can read some of the pieces in my Kindle listings. Here's how to find them:

Go to Amazon and then to the Kindle store, search for a title, then scroll down, all the way below the reviews, to Discussions. If I've started a discussion of that title, click on it; if not, try another title. Searching can be problematic; I've found the best way is to search for title, author, and Open Road. Like so: "Warm and Willing Lawrence Block Open Road."

You don't have to buy the book to do this. You don't have to buy the book to participate in the discussion, either (and I hope some of you will be inclined to join in). You don't even have to own a Kindle.

I'll post this on the various topic boards here, in an effort to reach all of the folks Ive chatted with this past month so you may get sick of reading it. But I do want to get the word around. . .

Wanda wrote: "Get back to me when you read "When The Sacred Ginmill Closes".

I'm checking in a little early. I just finished Eight Million Ways to Die and I enjoyed it a lot. I'm still new into the series so I don't know what's in store, but if there's a standard-setter amoung the books then I think this has to be the one. There are good writers who tell good stories but then there are a few writers who are so good that they can make you feel like their characters are a part of you and that's what I felt with this book. When Scudder took that drink at the end of chapter six I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach.

Michael, thanks so much. I hope you'll continue to enjoy Scudder's evolving story. I can't tell which are the stronger books in the series—different readers have different favorites, and it sometimes seems to me as if they're all parts of a whole.

You might enjoy my blogsite: http://lawrenceblock.wordpress.com/

Hi im not asking a new reader question. I wonder about one important thing. Im gonna write literary science C paper about Hammett works, his times and your Matt Scudder works, the times they were set in. Try to analyze two writers works, their times through their works. I wanted to write about authors that show hardboiled PI can be quality literature, something that interested me.

What i want to ask is there books that talk about your writing that i can use as reference ? Hammett being classic author is easier to find books about than a modern great.

I hope you can help me out because i want to write a very good paper. Its not a fan thing only to compare two writers in the same field.

Mohammed, I wish I could help, but I don't know much about whatever literary criticism may exist regarding my work. I suspect you'll be able to find out more in a few hours of Google-directed research. There's a fair amount out there; it's largely a matter of sorting out what's useful to your purpose.

Thanks anyway.

At worst i can use reviews, essays, articles about your writing. Hopefully i can get past this stage and find what i need to write the paper.

It will be alot fun to write two authors whose works i know so well:)

Thanks anyway.

At worst i can use reviews, essays, articles about your writing. Hopefully i can get past this stage and find what i need to write the paper.

It will be alot fun to write two authors whose works i know so well:)

Have fun with it!

I'm a recovering drunk myself, and I've walked some of the places Matt Scudder walked (and found myself in a few meetings he'd feel at home at). I think "Eight Million Ways to Die" and "When the Sacred Ginmill Closes" describe the hardcore drinker about as well as anything I've read. Matt's losing battle with rationalizing in "Eight Million" is tragically funny since I know how that crazy logic works. The classic profound early-morning conversation between two drunks in "Ginmill" that ends when neither can remember what they were talking about-- spot on. The final line of "Ginmill" about the decision to put the plug in the jug making all the difference and Matt's subsequent adventures on the roller coaster of sobriety-- I'm right with him. The Scudder saga would be great stuff if it were just the mystery and crime drama, but the drinking dimension is what has always made those special for me!

Thanks, Tony. The new book, A Drop of the Hard Stuff, takes place during Matt's first year of sobriety; if you haven't read it yet, you might find it of interest.

Lawrence, among other things I was a book dealer for several years, and I'm a collector of modern firsts (notably your own)-- so my erstwhile employers had me a copy of "Drop" the moment it became available. It rang extremely familiar and true to me. (As a sidelight, I was just in NYC recently and encountered a young woman there who had returned to Manhattan specifically to do some amends much like Matt's friend was trying to do.) I was delighted to see a return to Matt's earlier days when his life was a bit more unsettled (I'm sure he'd disagree with me) ;-)

I just want to echo what Wanda said in response to the comment that Scudder's a bit whiny and self-pitying in the third book. Well, of course he is, which is the point -- but Scudder evolves in the course of the series, which Lawrence has taken pains to present to us in "real time" (the years pass, Scudder ages, goes through various stages of alcoholism and recovery, and so on). Count me too as one of those folks who like to read a series in order. (This works even for the comparatively ageless Bernie Rhodenbarr series too. And even -- in my view -- for Nero Wolfe.)

Have to say I agree about reading series in order. It's more important with some than with others, certainly, but I'd as soon read the books in the order they were written. Even when the character doesn't age or change, the writer does...

I think it holds true across the board that the optimal way to read a series is in order-- in a well-written series, the characters and even the background evolve, so there's a better sense of overall narrative. There is also always the possibility that in reading a later installment first, something will be given away regarding an earlier one. It doesn't always ruin the earlier book but it might take away something. I daresay that's also true in, just for example, Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series, Donald Westlake's comic Dortmunder series, or Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series.

If memory serves (as these days it does not always), there are at least two back references in later books to an important point in "When the Sacred Ginmill Closes." I don't know that that would have hurt my enjoyment of that book had I not read them in order, since it's a terrific book-- but I'm glad I did read them in order.