(Thanking Gaia for sexy husband of many years, who likes long hair but is perfectly willing to deal with wispy red flyaway shoulder-length.)

Why am I suddenly jonesing to read a mess of Conan Doyle? And no, nothing to do with hair. I just really want to reread all my Sherlock Holmes. Especially Baskervilles.

Actually the other problem with pincurls is that they tended, by the fact of their placement and the length of my hair, to make my head look like a cube. Not entirely flattering. It would take a real expert (and probably many noxious chemicals) to get the proper effect; I'm happy with faking my '40s style with a few well-placed barrettes and a sidelong glance.

In similar vein, what is the first novel I should start with, for Pelecanos? (I.e., the first one, or does he jump-start quality-wise later on?)

In similar vein, what is the first novel I should start with, for Pelecanos?

Jesse started me with Right As Rain and that was a good place to start. He'd written several by then and gotten his footing, but he introduced some new characters so it's an excellent gateway.

Jess's teacher was on the money about Heart of Darkness! My favourite ending ever, though, is Flaubert's Sentimental Education.

Also, the ending of the movie of A Clockwork Orange is so perfect that I was disappointed to find the book didn't end the same way!

Trollope fans, which of his novels had the following ending?

The novel (and I know this doesn't narrow it down much) involved man who needs to marry money in love with poor young woman. At the end, she inherits enough, thanks to a convoluted will, that the couple can marry.

The kicker is, it was the second time he'd used that resolution. The first time, he described the will in such a way that the woman didn't inherit. So the second time, he said (paraphrasing), "Anyway, that's the way it was described to me. Maybe I got it wrong, but whatever the will said, she inherited."

It's one of my favorite endings, and I think it's from one of the Barsetshire novels -- Doctor Thorne, maybe.

Right as Rain is the first Derek Strange, and those have apparently done well -- his bio now says he's "the author of the best-selling Derek Strange novels" or whatever. But I love Nick Stefanos, and Dmitri Karras and Marcus Clay, and want people to read about them! King Suckerman is a good time, but really, I've loved them all. And the timeline bounces around, so there's not that continuity issue, necessarily.

Weird -- his website doesn't even list The Big Blowdown, which was awesome. It's post WWII, about Nick's grandfather (big Nick) and Dmitri's father, among other neighborhood guys.

I love stories like that. Maybe cause I grew up without neighborhoods...well, not in a free-range house or anything, but you know. Deb, I love Holmes stories, esp. "A Scandal in Bohemia"...Holmes and Irene Adler. Sigh. ION, I loved "King Suckerman"...excellent humor and suspense, both.

Someone mentioned books with bad endings earlier. The first thing that came to mind was Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Loved, loved, loved it ... until the end, and then I was just crushed by the stupidity of the ending.

Or Hannibal by Thomas Harris. I think that's the only book I ever threw across the room at the end.

until the end, and then I was just crushed by the stupidity of the ending.

Word, Alicia. So. Incredibly. Stupid. When K gave it to me (back when I first met her, fall of 1999, pre-YV!), she said, "some people have issues with the ending."

And I so did. Argh.

Or Hannibal by Thomas Harris. I think that's the only book I ever threw across the room at the end.

me too. Along with screaming "The FUCK????" The movie wasn't _much_ better, but at least I wasn't angry at the end.