Not much makes me happier than coming home from the library with a new James Lee Burke novel. A lot of people tell me he is too dark for them and I must admit when I first began reading them I felt the same way. Then a few years back, my husband and I began a marathon reading from his first to his most recent. I was caught up in his beautiful words that so describe South Louisiana, my adopted homeland.
The last book I read was by John Grisham and as I read I recalled just how jam packed with words his novels are. While reading him I am exhausted trying to keep up. The totally opposite of Ernest Hemingway's economy of words, which totally wrap around my heart and enrich me.
Now with Dave Robicheau in hand, I see that Burke's writing is a perfect fusion of the two. For me. I keep a dictionary at hand to look up words I have never before heard, yet when I read the definition, I find they perfectly describe what he is depicting for me.
The first word that comes to mind is recidivist: a person who has "fallen back into prior criminal habits." Webster's Mew Collegiate Dictionary"/1959
Lots of those in Dave's books. But also much deep description of characters that I can recognize and identify with.
On a March Saturday that can become a lazy day if I choose to let it, I am grateful for such luscious reading material.
Namaste-
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