The Amazing, Individual Talent of Elmore Leonard

Yes, I've said it before. And I'll say it again. If you haven't stepped into the huge swath of Elmore Leonard books and picked out a few, do it now. There are no more coming, so no need to delay now.

Michael Weinreb had a nice article over on Grantland about Leonard. Check it out here.

Yeah, take a wild guess at when that paperback cover came out - I'm gonna say the 80's. What a decade. Oh, here's the back...it's just as good. I don't know who wrote that awful copy, but it sure wasn't Elmore.

Elmore Leonard Dies at 87

In my opinion, the best writer of all time. I know that sounds crazy about a guy that wrote crime novels and westerns, but it's true. Leonard's writing is the most effortless prose I've ever read. It just flows. It's fantastic to read.

Here is a story from the New York Times.

And a story from his hometown newspaper, the Detroit News.

And here's a bit from Wikipedia.

And Elmore's website.

If you're not familiar with Leonard, pick up these four books at your first opportunity:

-Out of Sight

-Forty Lashes Less One

-Pronto

-Tishomingo Blues

Trust me, you read those four and you'll end up reading them all. And it will be time well spent.

Ranking All 62 Stephen King Books!

I know I can go for weeks without considering the second R here at The Two R's, but every once in a while I find something about the subject of writing that's just too good to pass up...like Vulture.com's ranking of every Stephen King book!

Now, even if you're not a Stephen King fan, it's impossible to be unaware of his work. I mean, even if you don't read his stuff, there isn't a single person on the planet that hasn't seen Shawshank Redemption by this point, right? They show it four times a week on TBS, for Gob's sake!

Personally, I had a point in my life, early to mid 20's maybe, where I had read every single thing King had ever written. I can't say that any longer - the past ten years have been very hit and miss - but I've still probably read about 80% of his novels. I still pull The Stand off the shelf every year or two and reread it. I even found a paperback copy of It at one of the rental houses we stayed in last year in Hawaii - read the whole thing in the week we were there (Payton tried to read it as well, but got a little freaked out during the first few chapters and decided to put it down - yeah, it's still a scary read).

In other words, I have my own opinion of King's novels, so when I saw this list (I love ranked lists!) of every King novel, I just had to share it with you.

Now, I'm not going to spoil the fun for you, as seeing how the list unfolds, and agreeing or disagreeing with it, is the whole point. But I do have to make just a few observations...I have to!

-I've got to disagree with throwing in the non-fiction books in with the fiction. How do you compare a book about the art of writing with the Shining? They're not even from the same universe! They really should have narrowed it down to the fiction books - you only would have had to toss the writing books and the baseball books...maybe four books total? You just can't compare the writing and tone of those with the fiction. Well, I can't.

-I have no problems with the very bottom of the list. Many of those books are so-so, and a few came out during the "drug years," where King himself has said he was always doped up out of his mind and wasn't writing worth a damn.

-Firestarter is too low...way too low. I also have a soft spot for The Long Walk, but I realize that one shows it's age - and King's age when he wrote it. Still love it.

-Why is Thinner way down there?!? That is just a great read, and Richie Ginelli is one of my all-time favorite King characters. This is a top-20 King book!

-From a Buick 8 is way too high! Maybe I'm missing something here, but I thought that was an uneven, uninspired effort. Am I missing something?

-Yes, there is a brand new Dark Tower novel just out. It's called Wind Through the Keyhole. And yes, it is included in the 62 ranked books - number 35 to be exact.

Ah, that was fun. Looking through that list, and thinking back on all those books, made me wonder about other authors have a huge list of books we could rank. Hmmmm...Elmore Leonard anyone?

King Novels image by Marc Burnell

169

Tom Cruise is Jack Reacher?

GTFO.

No, seriously.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, let me clue you in. Jack Reacher is the main character in a series of 16 books, over the last 15 years, by Lee Child. In my opinion, Lee Child is the best action/mystery/suspense writer since Elmore Leonard and his one and only main character in every one of those books, Jack Reacher, is a classic hero. Check out Child's website here to learn more about the books.

OK, here's the problem: Reacher is 6'5", 250 pounds. And his size isn't just a throw-away point. Reacher's size is a huge part of his personality. His size drives the twists and turns of every plot in every book. The guy is an ex-Army M.P. who has used his size and strength to get through life since he was a kid! And you're going to tell me Tom Cruise, all 5'7" of him, is the guy to be Jack Reacher on the big screen!?!?

Hey, there are different takes on this out there. Check out what writer Alexandra Sokoloff thinks of idiot fans like me right here. Yeah, she's big on saying "you just don't get it," but I've got to say I don't think she gets it either. If she had read the novels - and frankly, I'm not sure she has - she'd know that there's more to the situation than "Reacher's size and six-pack are completely incidental to the man."

Sorry, but a 5'7" Reacher isn't even Reacher.

Yet another lesson to enjoy the printed word on the page, and in the mind's eye, and leave the movie screen to the comic book heroes.

Leonard...meet Leonard

Wow, if you closed your eyes and read the new Peter Leonard...wait, that wouldn't work.

If you opened your eyes, and tore the cover off the new Peter Leonard book, you could swear it was written by none other than his Father, my favorite author of all time, Elmore Leonard. I'm not saying that to knock Peter Leonard. I wish there were five or six people out there that could write novels just like Elmore Leonard - I'd have more to choose from at the library.

Anyhoo, go get the new Peter Leonard, "Trust Me," right now. Don't delay. Now! Schnell! I'll wait here until you get back...