Charlatan: America's Most Dangerous Huckster, The Man Who Pursued Him, and The Age of Flimflam by Pope Brock.
That's a book Warren Ellis should read. And anyone in the grip of the brainwashing the Republicans have done for the past three decades over how government regulation is evil should read it. The kind of con man who flourished before there were regulations would be all over the place today without regulations. It's also some wonderful writing.
The latest -- in America -- of Ken Bruen's Jack Taylor series. Ah, what he puts that poor man through! With this, it's best to start with the first Jack Taylor mystery, The Guards. Half the pleasure of the series is seeing not just how the main character evolves (as well as devolves!), but the other characters who appear throughout the series. Bruen is on my list of Must Buy when I finally assemble an ebook library.
Shinjuku Shark by Arimasa Osawa (website in Japanese)
The trouble with reading books originally written in Japanese is that I don't know how good a job the translator did. I always feel -- with all Japanese books -- as if the text has been wrapped in plastic, making it distant. I don't know if this is actually the style of writing in Japan (just as there is an anime style) or if the translator is just inept at conveying whatever -- if any -- emotional impact is in the text. That said, I still liked this very much. This is the launch of a series, already well underway in Japan, and I'll have to wait until the end of this year for the next one.
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