Thanks for Carl Hiaasen

[rog8732]

A few days ago, a week maybe, someone posted about books by this author, Carl Hiaasen.

I can't remember the comments exactly, but mostly about his "side-splitting" humor; and with a recommendation to grab one of his books and have a good belly laugh.

I picked up two at the library yesterday, started one last night and thought to myself: "I have got to post an everlasting Thank You on the forum to whoever it was that made that post".

I howled with laughter several times, and indeed I thought my sides might "split !

Certainly the humor is not for all, some of it pretty rank, but in the vein of the great "Dutch" Leonard, Hiaasen has words coming from his characters that fit like a glove.

There is one problem. Perhaps to my detriment, I like to sip along on a CR and ginger while I read.
On about 3 occasions I had just taken a sip, and resumed my reading when I nearly choked keeping the drink from squirting out my nose. May have to start reading "dry" !

Thanks again to the poster as well as the forum in general for bringing up another subject I might otherwise have missed entirely.

 

[doublesharp]

Mebbe Friday night we can all get together and lick some toad. Party on!

 

[walkinghorse]

Starting on Double Whammy...."...star tenant of the local trailer park and neophyte private eye, is fishing for a killer...body floating in Coon Bog, Florida-and a lot that's rotten in the murky waters of big stakes, large-mouth bass tournaments.... ".
Sounds good, and will see!
This brief statement really challenges spell check, etc. So don't know about a further review, so lots of good possibilities here!

 

[Rpg]

Wonderful author!!

 

[Ranger514]

been reading Hiaason's novels since the 90s, and they never fail to entertain. I see he has a new one out that I haven't read. Hope it includes the ex Governor who lives in the swamp. Another author that injects a lot of humor into his mystery writing is John Sanford. If you haven't read any of his Virgil Flowers novels, you're missing out.

 

[Watchdog]

A few days ago, a week maybe, someone posted about books by this author, Carl Hiaasen.

I can't remember the comments exactly, but mostly about his "side-splitting" humor; and with a recommendation to grab one of his books and have a good belly laugh.

I picked up two at the library yesterday, started one last night and thought to myself: "I have got to post an everlasting Thank You on the forum to whoever it was that made that post".

It may have been me in the "I've found my calling (finally)" thread. See Post #6.

If it was me, glad to have brought a new Hiaasen fan into the fold.

I'd be interested to know which two books you got from the library.

 

[Watchdog]

been reading Hiaason's novels since the 90s, and they never fail to entertain. I see he has a new one out that I haven't read.

Probably Razor Girl. It's okay, but not his best, in my opinion. In all his earlier books, his cynicism and sarcastic style seemed to flow naturally and kept me reading and rereading everything he's written. But with Razor Girl, he seems to be trying too hard to achieve that natural flow. It still works, but for me not to the degree as before.

Another author that injects a lot of humor into his mystery writing is John Sanford. If you haven't read any of his Virgil Flowers novels, you're missing out.

I hate to say this, because I'm a huge Sandford fan, and have been since his first book. I think Sandford peaked with the Flowers series with Shockwave. I'd been eagerly waiting on Escape Clause, the newest in the Flowers series...bought it first day in the stores. I don't think I read past page twenty-five before throwing it over into a corner (literally). I'd never thrown a hardback book before. It laid there for a couple of weeks before I finally picked it back up and stuck it on the shelf with the other Sandford books. Haven't opened it once since.

 

[rog8732]

Watchdog, it surely was your post that brought me to write down the author's name and see if our library had any.
It may well have been your comment that you had read one of his books several many times.
I do that as well when I find one I like. (Or perhaps here of late forgetting I already read it. )

I once heard Shelby Foote tell an interviewer he had some favorite authors he read continuously. Until then I thought only I did that.

Your other note today about being disappointed with an authors latest work rings a bell too. Several that I followed book after book seemed to begin "phoning them in" in some cases.

 

[Roadtrash]

If you can't laugh at a Hiaasen book you must be dead.

 

[mtgianni]

If you like Hiaasen try James W Hall for more Florida humor.

 

[Old TexMex]

Any villan with a weed whacker for a prosthetic arm (which he lost to a barracuda in stiltsville) is worth following.

 

[Tom S.]

It may have been me in the "I've found my calling (finally)" thread. See Post #6.

If it was me, glad to have brought a new Hiaasen fan into the fold.

I'd be interested to know which two books you got from the library.

WD, I Googled Carl Hiaasen and see he has written a boatload of books (some co-authored as well). Rather than fish around for my first experience with him, are there a couple of titles you can recommend? Thanks!

 

[Ranger514]

I guess some have higher standards than others when it comes to authors. To each his own. I stopped reading CJ Box because I felt he was straying out into the Twilight Zone with some of his plots. Same for Patricia Cornwall and Nevada Barr. Sometimes I wonder if the authors imagination has dried up, or if the pressure to meet some contract deadline is fueling their writing creativity. Hiaason's "Razor Girl" is high on my reading list. I enjoyed reading Sanford's "Escape Clause" last month, and especially liked the manner in which justice was served.

 

[Ranger514]

WD, I Googled Carl Hiaasen and see he has written a boatload of books (some co-authored as well). Rather than fish around for my first experience with him, are there a couple of titles you can recommend? Thanks!

It's been years since I last read his books, but I remember laughing my butt off reading "Double Whammy."

 

[Watchdog]

WD, I Googled Carl Hiaasen and see he has written a boatload of books (some co-authored as well). Rather than fish around for my first experience with him, are there a couple of titles you can recommend? Thanks!

Well, you can hardly go wrong with any Hiaasen novel, but if you want to start at the beginning, go with Tourist Season, his first big success. In it, you can see the beginnings of his humor and writing style, and you can see it develop as you read successive books. Even though Tourist Season was written over thirty years ago, it doesn't seem dated at all.

Hiaasen combines humor, mystery, and social commentary on Florida and its ecosystem's destruction at the hands of greedy developers better than anyone I've read.

If you have nothing but time (as I do) just read the books in sequence. There are a few recurring characters over the course of the books.

Native Tongue, Stormy Weather, and Sick Puppy come to mind as notable reads in Hiaasen's work. Oh, and Skinny Dip!

Enjoy!

 

[Tom S.]

Thanks WD. I ordered his Omnibus: Tourist Season, Double Whammy and Skin Tight from Amazon. Cost a whopping $1.19 plus $3.99 for shipping.

Stay tuned for a review.

 

[joeintexas]

Thanks for the tip! Just went to Amazon and did the same thing. Always looking for books I haven't read, these sound interesting. Planning a move to Florida this year sometime so this is timely.

 

[Old TexMex]

If you want to go to the beginning of all the mad hilarious-ness read "92 in the Shade", (written back in 1972)by Thomas McGuane. He's brother in law of Jimmy Buffet (of key west fame) and mentor to Carl Hiaasen. A fabulous author. There's a character in there called Skelton, who I once "knew".

 

[Watchdog]

If you want to go to the beginning of all the mad hilarious-ness read "92 in the Shade", (written back in 1972)by Thomas McGuane.

Thomas McGuane wrote a short but brilliant remembrance of his good friend, the author Jim Harrison, in the New Yorker last March.

He also wrote the screenplay for (among others) that somewhat strange western, The Missouri Breaks, starring Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson.

He's an extremely talented author.

 

[rog8732]

Thomas McGuane wrote
He also wrote the screenplay for (among others) that ***somewhat strange western***, The Missouri Breaks, starring Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson.

W D I've read a lot of your posts through the years, and I do believe "somewhat strange" is about the MILDEST comment you ever made about something that is: "somewhat strange"; (and it truly was !)