This Year's Model

Last year I warned the six people who read this blog that I would turn it into another one of those aw-shucks-isn't-that-cute things where people write about the books they read. So here it is, the third incarnation of the Pretzel Logic blog, which hopefully will turn visitors both known and unknown onto books they might not have known about, or begin discussions on books they've already read. (I deleted earlier posts, but kept those that seemed germane to the new mission statement.)

As far as the types of books I read, I use the all-purpose term 'eclectic' to describe my tastes. I'm willing to try any kind of book at least once, and I generally genre-jump (for lack of a better term) from book to book, so feel free to throw recommendations my way. I really only have one steadfast rule in selecting my reading material: what I read next should differ (at least superficially) in style and theme from what I just read. It keeps me engaged and prevents me from souring on otherwise revered authors and stories. And I don't read James Patterson, so stop asking me. Life is just too short.

I'll try to post reviews to each book I read (unless it's so blah that I can't muster up the enthusiasm); I'll also try to double back on books I've read recently that warrant the effort. First up: a modern noir set in a newsroom. Count me in.

"Occupational Hazards," by Jonathan Segura (2008)

With Occupational Hazards, first-time novelist Jonathan Segura has written an assured, delightfully profane, sometimes hilarious 21st-century noir set in the genre of hard-boiled fiction, giving us a newswriter as the protagonist rather than the customary detective -- and a memorable protagonist he is. Bernard Cockburn is a going-nowhere journalist writing for a go-nowhere newspaper that nobody cares about when he stumbles onto a potential scandal involving real estate. And his maybe-girlfriend Allison gives him the unwanted news that she's pregnant. That's all you need to know going in; the plot is secondary to watching Segura unleash Cockburn's inner monologue, revealing an attitude that is almost refreshing in its retrogradation.

Eventually the story, whose plot is teased out slowly, comes careening to a rather sudden and violent climax, but it doesn't affect the novel adversely since Segura has kept the tone consistent throughout. The language is vulgar and spare, like Chandler pumped up on steroids, and the humor tests the boundaries of good taste in all the best ways. I admire Segura's commitment not to redeem Cockburn in any way, up to and including the very last sentence (which of course makes Cockburn all the more sympathetic). So a few points are docked for the thinness of the supporting cast in relation to Cockburn, but really this book is just a lot of fun. Recommended for anyone who likes hard-boiled fiction and/or self-medicating anti-heroes. B+