Thomas Cobb is the author of Crazy Heart, which was adapted into a 2009 Academy Award-winning film starring Jeff Bridges, and Shavetail, among other books.Cobb's new novel is Darkness the Color of Snow.
Recently I asked the author about what he was reading. His reply:
Starting with the present and working back a couple of weeks, these are the books I’ve been reading.Visit Thomas Cobb's website.
Bodies Electric by Colin Harrison. This is an older book of Harrison’s, his second novel if I’m not mistaken. I’m only fifty or so pages in, but Harrison has already set the major conflict asJack Whitman, who works for The Corporation tries to do a good deed for a woman he met on the subway. The Corporation would seem not in favor of doing good deeds. Colin Harrison is, perhaps, the best thriller writer we have. I always find things to admire in his books.
Go Down Together by Jeff Guinn. Jeff Guinn is the author of The Last Gunfight and Manson, and a personal favorite of mine. Go Down Together, the story of Bonnie and Clyde, is also an earlier work I’ve gone to because Guinn isn’t writing his new books fast enough to suit me. He’s a meticulous researcher and a very fine writer. Guinn sifts through legend to find the truthabout Bonnie and Clyde, and comes up with a story that’s even better than the myths we know.
A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson. Kate Atkinson is my newest favorite writer. I first read her novel Life after Life and was dazzled that she was able to pull off literary effects so beautifully. Reading Atkinson is like watching a great magician. It’s a trick of course, but done so wonderfully, it’s better than reality. A God in Ruins is something of a sequel to Life after Life, and probably better read after Life after Life, but not necessarily so. Her accounts of bombers in World War II are breathtaking.
The Page 69 Test: Shavetail.
My Book, The Movie: Crazy Heart.
The Page 69 Test: Darkness the Color of Snow.
--Marshal Zeringue
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