Every once in a while, I get an urge to revisit books and authors that I have loved for most of my life. This weekend was one of those times. Due to some karmac thing the universe does to me occasionally, a mail list I follow sent me a free link to Amazon.com for one of Pete Dexter's books, Paper Trails. Once again, I was sucked into Dexter's amazing worlds. The man writes with heart, head, courage, raw brutality, insight, and brilliance. Now, I'm digging back into my Pete Dexter collection and reading it all again, for I don't know which time. This will be, at least, my fifth time through Deadwood, one of the best western novels ever written. Once I got on the Dexter kick, I found a terrific interview which listed a few of his author recommendations, "He likes Mike Connelly's stuff ('He knows what's he's doing'), and Scott Turow ('He always aims high. You can see him really trying'), and just about anything by Elmore Leonard.
"Among more traditional novelists, Dexter admires Padgett Powell, Thomas McGuane, Tom Wolfe, and Jim Harrison. But it is friend and author Richard Russo (Nobody's Fool, Mohawk, The Risk Pool, Straight Man, Empire Falls) who is Dexter's absolute favorite."
Now I have some new authors to chase down along with my old friends who I am re-reading. Like Mr. Dexter, I am a fan of "anything by Elmore Leonard," so we have, at least, that in common.
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