Last week I finished My Dark Places and Far Eastern Tales:
My Dark Places is a great book for those who are already fans of Ellroy’s writing, or are fans of true crime writing in general. It’s very weird to have true crime mixed in with memoir, but Ellroy is definitely a special case. If my mother had been murdered when I was ten and my father had spent all his time talking shite about her (constantly referring to her as an alcoholic whore, I recall), I’d grow up pretty fucked up, too.
I got Far Eastern Tales out from the library. I remember my mother being a fan of Somerset Maugham’s short stories, but she’s also into chick lit and self-help, so I was a bit wary. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would — it’s really interesting to see the society of early expats to Southeast Asia through this medium, and how Singapore, briefly mentioned here and there, has changed in (what must amount to) a century or so.
I’ve just started Country Driving, a proof of a book being published in January 2010. Given the time I spent in China, I’m pretty keen to see what the author has to say.