BS: Books you read multiple times

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Don Firth
Date: 01 Dec 13 - 05:46 PM

I read Rafael Sabatini's Scaramouche when I was about thirteen and have reread it several times since.

Sabatini was famous for setting his historical novels in carefully researched backgrounds, and Scaramouche covered a wide area. The abuses of "privilege" that led to the French Revolution, much of the politics of the time, even the hero's hiding out with a troupe of travelling Comedia del Arte players from those who would silence him because of his "dangerous gift of eloquence"—and taking the name, "Scaramouche." Again, forced to flee from the comedy troupe, he takes refuge as the assistant of a fencing master in Paris, profits by the master's tutelage, eventually inherits the academy when the master is killed in a mob riot (leading up to the Revolution)—then is pressed into service to provide a nasty surprise to the aristocratic "bully swordsmen" who force political opponents into duels and kill them to get them out of the way.

In the milieu of the Assembly, he encounters his old enemy, the Marquis who killed his best friend because of his populist political views.

The novel has one helluva surprise ending!

The Fifties movie with Stewart Granger was a pale, deeply flawed attempt and didn't even come close.

I don't know how many times I've read this novel. It is one whacking good adventure story!

In fact most of Sabatini's novels are excellent reads, several of which have been made into movies. Early on, Errol Flynn made his career playing Sabatini heroes such as "Captain Blood" and "The Sea Hawk." Tyrone Power did similarly in "The Black Swan." Sabatini's novels are well-known for their carefully research historical backgrounds being woven into the fabric of the plots.

There are many other books I reread, but right now I have an urge to pull my copy of Scaramouche off the shelf and at least give it a thumb-through. . .  .

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: kendall
Date: 01 Dec 13 - 03:44 PM

Treasure Island.
Robinson Crusoe. Based on a true story. A sailor maned Alexander Selkirk was marooned on Juan Fernandez island. Actually, it was his choice rather than continue in what he thought was a cursed ship.

Kidnapped is also a favorite. (Robert Louis Stevenson)

These days I'm deeply into books by Bernard Cornwell. Today's favorite, 1356. All those battles between the French and the English, lots of blood and gore; I feel sorry for the horses.The English archers took them out to make the French men at arms fight on foot which they did not like to do.
I have to wonder if they were really that cruel in those days.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Janie
Date: 01 Dec 13 - 03:34 PM

Here are few I have read twice or more.

"A Species of Eternity" by Joseph Kastner. Reading it now for the third time after having found this out of print book on-line. (Previous copy stayed with the ex in the property settlement *smile*.) It is about the early New World naturalists - Colden, Banister, Lawson, Bartam, etc.

"The Best of the West Virginia Hillbilly" Jim Comstock (may his curmudgeonly and comic, sharp witted soul rest in peace, even if he was a Republican:>)

"A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century" Barbara Tuchman

"Bodyguard of Lies" Anthony Cave Brown (Allied espionage and the resulting smoke and mirrors to conceal preparations and plans for D-Day.)

Most of E. B. White's books.

Several of John Steinbeck's novels.

A slew of books I read for the first time between the ages of 11 and 25. I had the vocabulary and the basic intellect to enjoy them at the time, but not the life experience to fully appreciate their richness and complexity. would certainly include several of Steinbeck's novels, a few by Hemingway, and "To Kill a Mockingbird" among them.

"Fair and Tender Ladies" Lee Smith

"A Place to Come To" Robert Penn Warren

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: sciencegeek
Date: 01 Dec 13 - 02:41 PM

" Lehninger,Principles of Biochemistry" ROTFLMAO!

a 40 year flashback... but Morrison & Boyd's Organic Chemistry was the bane of my existence.... :)

I re-read any number of books- fiction & non-fiction. My hope is to reread a whole lot more in my retirement.... she fondly dreams on...

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 01 Dec 13 - 02:29 PM

Glad this thread re-appeared.
It reminded me of many books that are worth re-reading, and I have some on my bookshelves.

Does anyone remember the odd (hilarious) mysteries by Elliot Paul (Paris locale)?
Mention of Thorne Smith brought him to mind.

Archy and Mehitabel is a favorite of mine that I didn't see mentioned so far.

Poetry by Badger Clark.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 30 Nov 13 - 11:19 PM

Don't think I have mentioned Treasure Island yet.

Pieces Of Eight! Pieces Of Eight!

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: SINSULL
Date: 30 Nov 13 - 09:07 PM

Moby Dick
Atlas Shrugged
A Planet Called Treason
A Prayer for Owen Meanie
Pride and Prejudice
Time After Time

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 30 Nov 13 - 02:15 PM

Guest at 02:13 PM is me. Sorry.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Nov 13 - 02:13 PM

Like Q, I recapped my earlier post before rereading it, and found it was virtually the same. Since that post I have re-reread from the list The Egyptian, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, part of A Peace to End All Peace, and parts of the Rubaiyat (just last night by coincidence).

Since, I have reread:
Exodus
The Maltese Falcon
Five Weeks to Winning Bridge]__Both pretty much out of favor these days
Goren on Defense            ]

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 30 Nov 13 - 12:29 PM

Just noted that I posted three years ago. No changes, but two additions.

The Rubaiyat
The Leopard
Seven Pillars of Wisdom (the beginnings of the Mideast upheavals can be seen here)

Add- Poems of Robert Burns and poems of Cicely Fox Smith.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Eldergirl
Date: 30 Nov 13 - 06:38 AM

A winter's tale by Mark Helprin.. (Or is it Halprin? Damn synapses fritzed again) full of wonderful characters, and wouldn't I just love to spend some time at the Lake of the Coheeries? - where Daythril Moobcot is always the first resident to greet you.
Horse of Air by Lindsey Campbell. (kept me sane-ish when I was a child)
The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Glory Season by David Brin
Miss pettigrew lives for a day
Anything by Catherine Fox, Haven Kimmel, Christina Jones,and Sharon Penman.. Wildly different women writers, but have read much of their stuff often.
And if I only had a copy, I would gladly re-read Emmett Otter's Jug-band Christmas by Russell Hoban. Anyone out there have a spare ??

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 30 Nov 13 - 02:18 AM

Another fave I had forgotten is John Mortimer's stories of Rumpole, the fat scruffy old ❤·in·right·place barrister. I think they started as a tv series, but he adapted the episodes as short stories for print, and has also added a couple of novels. Recently came across them all stashed away in the office & am wallowing in a full reread.

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 15 Sep 10 - 09:41 AM

The Prince and the Lily, by James Brough about the story of Lily Langtry. I find it fasinating from being a Reverend's daughter in Jersey to becoming mistress to the future King of England and how she managed to get away with it in Victorian England. Apart from all of that it is an interesting look at the Theatre, Victorian society, and also it touches on how ordinary people who virtually did the same thing didn't fair so well and the double standards of the time.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 09:00 PM

I reread Mrs. Mike several times in my teens.

As I mowed the lawn this evening I remembered another: I've reread Under the Tuscan Sun a couple of times since the first reading. The movie is cute, but the book has a lot more substance.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: LilyFestre
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 07:16 PM

Some of my favorites to read over and over are "Mrs. Mike" and "King Henry VIII" by Margaret George.

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Joe_F
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 06:22 PM

Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell
The Age of Longing, by Arthur Koestler
The Revolt of Mamie Stover, by William Bradford Huie

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Micca
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 06:16 PM

One I left out was for several years I re-read " Lehninger,Principles of Biochemistry" (probably the same 3 pages) as it was the greatest soporific ever, and perfect if one had any difficulty sleeping, it worked better even than "Case law relating to issues in Health and Safety" I got so that opening Lehninger produced sleep!!

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Stringsinger
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 12:48 PM

Darwin's "Origin of Species".

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 12:46 PM

Mention by at least two posters of The Bishop's Jaegers and other Thorne Smith books got me to thinking about those and other books I compulsively read and reread when an adolescent.

Which reminded me of the funniest book I ever read, I think, Barefoot Boy With Cheek, by Max Shulman. And reread. And reread. His later books were good, but to my mind he never again achieved the sublime zanyness of Barefoot Boy.

To this day, sixty-six years later, I remember verbatim the first paragraph of the novel, where the hero, Asa Hearthrug, says:

The morning of the great day dawned bright and clear. "Huzzah!", I cried, bounding out of bed. I bounded right back in again. During the night my drop-seat pajamas had become entangled in the bedspring.

It was "the great day" because Asa was about to leave home to attend the "University of Minnesota". It is explained by the author, of course, that "The University of Minnesota" is a purely fictional institution. The word "Minnesota", we are informed, is actually an American Indian word meaning "The place where three Braves and two Squaws ate underdone pemmican." Shulman gives the reader, through the mouths of various characters, the history of what he calls "The University of Minnesota". Or maybe I should say "histories". Each "history" is wildly different from the others, but equally weird.

His characters have magnificent names. For instance, the glad-handing president of Asa's fraternity is Roger Hailfellow. The fraternity treasurer is Shylock Fiscal. Asa's girlfriend, an enthusiastic missionary Communist who interprets EVERYTHING Asa mentions in the light of dialetical materialism, is Yetta Samovar.

I've got to quit now. I have way too many hilarious instances and circumstances from Barefoot Boy With Cheek to give any fair representation of the book in this post, which is too long already.

Now I have to quit this post, to put in a request to the library for Barefoot Boy With Cheek, which I have neglected reading for about twenty years.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 11:11 AM

Thank you, Bill D ---

*~Michael~*

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 11:05 AM

"Night Life of the Gods" by Thorne Smith! Thanks, Micca, for reminding me -- it needs rereading on of these days, too -- along with the Topper books.

Robert Hellenga's books (did I mention them already?). I've reread "The Sixteen Pleasures" several times, but his others I've read a little too recently to reread.

Shirley Jackson (actually just reread "We Have Always Lived In a Castle" within the past couple years),

I'd love to find a copy of Thurber's "The White Deer" and read it again.

Oh, "The Decline And Fall of Practically Everybody" by Will Cuppy along with everything else he wrote. Maine writer/journalist John Gould, too. Some other Maine writers like Elizabeth (ohmagawd, I'm drawing a blank -- too early in the morning) and Ruth Moore. Especially Ruth Moore. ("Spoonhandle" was the most recently read.)

Linn who really MUST head to work...

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Bill D
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 10:42 AM

MtheGM - you mentioned Thurber. One of the most fascinating things I have seen in ages is Friday nights on a national news program.

Thurber read on TV

The article was written many weeks ago, but the weekly reading still continue.
I'm sure many are bored, but millions are hearing Thurber for the first time.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Wesley S
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 09:38 AM

I'm glad to see that Bat Goddess mentioned Harlan Ellison. I rarely see his name mentioned here at the Mudcat - but looking through my books I probably have as many titles by him as I do any other author.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Micca
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 03:43 AM

Most of my "re-reads" have been mentioned already but a few notable exceptions
" Puckoon" by Spike Milligan ( I strongly advise against reading this on the Underground, as you tend to be subjected to giggle and LOL fits)
Thorne Smith. especially
"Night Life of the Gods"
" The Bishops Jaegers"
" Turnabout"
The 2 Topper Books
and many more of his (all,to my great glee, available from Project Gutenberg as FREE downloads for my e book!!!)
John Harveys "Inspector Reznick" Novels
and as anyone who knows me will tell you
"The Rubiyaat" is a constant and much quoted companion
"The Prophet" Khalil Gibrhan

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 01:37 AM

Linn, I've been meaning to re-read those Merlin stories. I have re-read some of Mary Stewart's modern mysteries. I think I read all of hers over the years - they were very well written and researched. (The gift of a writer who is able to travel a lot!)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 01:13 AM

I also constantly return to Thurber, & to Anita Loos' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 11:35 PM

Question, have any of you read any of the Spanish Bit series by Coldsmith? I can't tell if I'd like them or not...they *look* a little formulaic, but who knows? Tks!

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 09:29 PM

John Dunning!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Mrrzy
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 07:42 PM

Also, we have always lived in the castle, by Shirley Jackson.

And, ye, to kill a mockingbird. Just reread that last year as the twins were studying it in school.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 07:41 PM

I keep thinking of more --

Of COURSE, the Mary Stewart Merlin Chronicles. How could I forget?

Christopher Morley's Haunted Bookshop and Parnassus On Wheels -- and anything else he's written that I can get my hands on, like his books of essays and short pieces.

One of the things I like about Spider Robinson is that (among other things) he writes science fiction that takes place in 1972.

I also like Harlan Ellison, Arthur C. Clark, The Dragonriders of Pern books, John Dunning's bookstore mysteries...oh, and great pieces of literature with wonderful titles such as "Dwarf Rapes Nun, Flees In UFO" ("A novel of journalism") by Arnold Sawislak.

And, as far as books only published in audio format, I love the Jack Flanders series including "Fourth Tower of Inverness" and "Moon Over Morocco" -- and I really need to listen to them again REAL SOON NOW.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 12:17 PM

I've just found him this year, but I am sure I will be rereading Paul Coelho's books. Read the Witch of Portobello and am now reading the Alchemist, BOTH worth a second read.

Every other year or so, I read daily from The Cherokee Feast of Days by Joyce Sequichie Hifler and also, Women's Words, Women's Stories: An American day book by Lois Stiles Edgerly.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 12:04 PM

Oh, I'm embarrassed to say that, on reading my list above, I left out one of the greats: The Once and Future King.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 11:55 AM

I'm reminded by my bookshelves that I have also reread The Sun Also Rises and several books of poetry, the most prominent from childhood being a collection called Rainbow in the Sky.

More recently, I have reread and enjoyed some of the Harry Potter novels.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 11:34 AM

Books I've read and reread include

The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit

To Kill a Mockingbird

Moby Dick

Huckleberry Finn

several collections of stories by Roald Dahl (simply one of the best and funniest writers to come along ever)

A Sand County Almanac

Babbitt

Mama Makes Up Her Mind, essays by Bailey White that first appeared on radio's All Things Considered

Go Down, Moses

Cannery Row, Sweet Thursday and several others, including the two collections of Steinbeck's amazing short stories

On The Road

Many others, when I come to think about it, that I reread, at least parts of the books, every so often. And when I was a child I remember rereading Caddie Woodlawn and The Secret Garden several times.

An eminent book reviewer one time pooh-poohed the desire of many people to reread the same story. He/she (can't remember who it was now - so memorable was their work!) felt that once was enough and then you should move on. I disagree. Humans evolved as storytellers and privileged storytellers in all cultures before the written word. There are some stories we have heard many times and we love them each time - they tell us who we are, or teach us things about ourselves and others. Same with the written word (and film).

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: GUEST,Neil D
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 11:13 AM

I've read "Huckleberry Finn" three times. At age 12 it was the greatest adventure story of all time. At 18 it was the irreverent commentary on society that stood out. In my late 20's I realized that it was about many things but the most profound theme was one of friendship. It is still my favorite book of all time and I should probably read it again now in my middle age.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Bill D
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 10:58 AM

"The Callahan Crosstime Saloon series"

Someone gave me a couple of those: I couldn't put them down, though I am not sure why. The plots and premises are not what I would think I would like, and I find myself saying, Oh, c'mon! Thats silly!" all the way thru... and still reading.

I 'think' it's because of the characters and the relationships and thus, the insights into myself that those strange folk bring me.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: theleveller
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 03:21 AM

Every year or so I reread John Cowper Powys' 'A Glastonbury Romance' - IMO one of the finest books in the English language that can compare to the best of Dickens or Thomas Hardy. I also reularly reread Nikos Kazantzaki's 'Zorba the Greek' and 'Report to Greco'.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Naemanson
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 12:40 AM

This summer I have been rereading many of my old favorites. Guy Gavriel Kay's fantasies, Tigana and the Fionavar Tapestry, have to top the list.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Slag
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 09:18 PM

Bat Goddess! Lightening strikes twice! First margaritas, now you've mentioned one that I have been tempted to engage in so many times but... The Callahan Crosstime Saloon series!,, Is it that good? I'll accept your recommendation. Yes! Heinlein! and Yes Le Guin!

robo, I find a lot in common between Conrad and Melville. Never forget that they are works of fiction even though they are based on actual experiences and occurrences. Some of it that seems stultifying is in there for just that reason: to convey the stultifying nature of the environment and the tedium of the occupation(s). Sorry for the drift but we live in a high paced time like no other in history and it changes our perspective (ah, you probably already knew that).

I wish I still had a couple of my H.P.Lovecraft books...all gone.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: robomatic
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 08:41 PM

Kendall, you just opened the door, so I'm gonna say as a PURELY PERSONAL note and with no aspersions on the lovers thereof, that as a kid I loved the notion of Moby Dick, I love the Rocky & Bullwinkle version (Maybe Dick), and I love the Steve Goodman synopsis-in-five-minutes of the tale "Moby Book".

But when I finally sat down to read the original I found it charming in spots, wrong in spots, and stultifying on the whole. It's one of the very few books I was unable to finish.

Again, no aspersions on the lovers thereof. Feel free to hurl verbal brickbats my way, I won't complain and I won't explain.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: bobad
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 08:34 PM

The Tin Drum = Günther Grass
The Master And Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov
Heart Of A Dog - Mikhail Bulgakov
St.Urbain's Horseman - Mordecai Richler
Borstal Boy - Brendan Behan
Water Music - TC Boyle
The Ginger Man - JP Donleavy

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 08:27 PM

OH, yes, Bat Goddess, almost everything you listed!:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: John P
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 08:09 PM

The Lord of the Rings
All of Mary Renault's books about ancient Greece
Dune
Mary Stewart's Merlin books
Another Roadside Attraction
The Chronicles of Narnia
The Riddle Master of Hed trilogy
The Earthsea books by Ursula K. Le Guin
Almost everything else by Ursula K. Le Guin
Darkover
Honor Harrington
The Dark is Rising books by Susan Cooper
Most books by Robert Heinlein
the Ender books by Orson Scott Card
the Alvin Maker books by Orson Scott Card

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 06:50 PM

AND all the Spider Robinson books -- especially the Callahan's Crosstime Saloon stories.

"If a person who indulges in gluttony is a glutton, and a person who
commits a felony is a felon, then God is an iron." -- Spider Robinson

Mistress Masham's Repose - T. H. White

And a lot of Heinlein.

It's about time to reread all the Brother Caedfel books by Ellis Peters, the early Lovejoys by Jonathan Gash, the early pub mysteries by Martha Grimes, all of the Boney books by Arthur Upfield...

Mostly, though, I'm trying to get caught up on the stacks of books I haven't yet read.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 05:45 PM

Re Rubaiyat- most of us know the Fitzgerald translation. New ones lack the poetical feel and inventiveness of Fitzgerald.
The Arabian Nights most of us know has been redone as well.
Look at Chaucer in the Graves edition. The tales are the same, but modern English completely changes the feel.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Paul Burke
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 05:29 PM

Red For Danger (LTC Rolt)

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: kendall
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 05:08 PM

Many people hate the story of Moby Dick. I think it is one of the best ever written, and it is based on a true story.

That's the book I was thinking on when I wrote THE LAST WHALE HUNT.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: Slag
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 03:49 PM

MtheGM, I think you would have to admit that The Robot series and Foundation not only overlap, they dovetail: dovetail in such a way that the implication is that the 'bots have been there all along!

Yes, now that I've slept on it, so many I've overlooked!

All of the Sherlock Holmes

Yes to 900 Grandmothers which I have in an anthology, I've read many times.

1984, and only recently

The Left Hand of Darkness

Moby Dick (though not recently)

any Philip K. Dick opus, especially: Ubik; Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said; and Radio Free Albemuth

Mote (yes, all you Motie fans, and associated tales { "I will teach your horse to sing hymns"])

Sirens of Titan

The Prophet

many more with multiple readings, more than a few already mentioned by others above. Gee, maybe I'll start reading again!

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 03:21 PM

Several others beside myself have noted the Rubaiyat. Recently I Googled that poem, and found a couple of recent translations which are supposed to be more accurate representations of the original Persian. The problem is that I could correlate only a couple of quatrains with the classic Fitzgerald. Moreover, they did not flow as well as Fitz's, irrespective of accuracy.

Subject: RE: BS: Books you read multiple times
From: robomatic
Date: 12 Sep 10 - 03:15 PM

Little Big Man by Thomas Berger
The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes
900 Grandmothers by R A Lafferty
Men and Women by Robert Browning
1984 by George Orwell
The Travis McGee 'color' series by John D. MacDonald
The Return of the Continental Op by Dashiell Hammett

I want to add an "AMEN" to the rereaders of Harper Lee and Dorothy Dunnett. I gave (leant out) my copy of the Lymond Chronicles at some point and haven't seen 'em since. Wonderful language.