Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Anybody read James lee Burke?

Best and most beautiful use of the language of anyone writing fiction today. Period. I simply don't give a damn about his politics. Talent like that gets to be an azzhat.

By the way...you know a man is selling a lot of books when his publisher lets him get away with a title like "In the Electric Mist With Confederate Dead."

The Electric Mist was also a decent movie with a nice song at the end: "La Terre Tremblante"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9752u61LqEg

One line from a JLB book me and the wife always say... "I ain't did it"

I have read the majority of his books and enjoy them immensely. He can turn a phrase like few others. You have to really let your imagination run wild to think anyone could get away with the stuff his characters do in the stories.

If you haven't read either of the two books written by his daughter Alafair (same name as Dave's daughter in the books) then go look for them. They are also great reads. Not sure of her age but she has been a lawyer for quite a few years. She seems to have learned a lot from Dad.

Jim

One of the best things about Burke is that now you can pick up his used paperbacks for $2 apiece at the used shops if you look around...

I've only read one of his books, Bitteroot. I had heard good things about his books and wasn't disappointed at all. I wanted to start with the Robicheaux series but couldn't get my hands on The Neon Rain so I just picked up what was available at the store.


Nail

I have read several of his books. I'm not all that convinced that he's a superlative.

What he does is to pick a title that sounds cool, then go over pretty well plowed ground for his plot. I also notice that he hammers the last lines of a chapter, like a fighter showboating during the last 10 seconds of a fight. It leaves you with a feeling the rest of the chapter, or the round, was better than it was.

He does well, and good on him for that. Just not my style. For a far better writer in the same geographical era, Walker Percy is the man.