Smooth Criminals Challenge Sign-up
Oh dear, another challenge I just can't resist! Dead End Follies is hosting a Smooth Criminals Reading Challenge in 2012; its purpose is to bridge the gap between crime fiction and literary fiction.
The challenge requires participants to read one book in each of the following 8 categories:
The challenge requires participants to read one book in each of the following 8 categories:
- Hardboiled classic -- I'll probably read Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon.
- Noir classic -- Not sure about this one yet.
- Prison book -- Don't know about this one either. I've already read Don Carpenter's Hard Rain Falling and Norman Mailer's The Executioner's Song, both of which would be good picks for this category.
- Book written by an author who did time -- I'll need to do some research for this. Should be an interesting category, though!
- Book with a psychopathic protagonist -- Jeff Lindsay's Darkly Dreaming Dexter would probably fit the bill, but I might do a little digging to see what else is out there. I don't want to read anything too gruesome, though!
- Gothic novel -- This one should be fun! Again, though, I'll need to do some research.
- Classic where the plot revolves around a crime -- The Count of Monte Cristo seems ideal for this. Of course, it'd be nice to find something shorter....
- The "Why am I doing this to myself?" book -- Meaning, a book that looks menacing or intimidating to you. The challenge site doesn't specify whether this book has to be crime-related or not. If not, I'll probably go with Sharon Kay Penman's The Sunne in Splendour, which has been on my shelf for years. I'm sure I'll like it, but her books are LONG!