GEOFF SCHUMACHER'S LAS VEGAS

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Schumacher Literary Hall of Fame

Here is a list of fiction writers who are among my personal favorites (with a representative book listed alongside). These are not the usual suspects, but some of the lesser-known writers I like. Richard Yates, "Revolutionary Road"; John Fante, "Ask the Dust"; Nelson Algren, "The Man with the Golden Arm"; Frederick Exley, "A Fan's Notes"; Charles Portis, "The Dog of the South"; John Williams, "Stoner"; Patrick Hamilton, "Hangover Square"; Richard Russo, "Empire Falls"; Richard Ford, "The Sportswriter"; Don DeLillo, "White Noise"; Jim Harrison, "True North"; Raymond Carver, "Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?"; Willy Vlautin, "The Motel Life"; Michael Chabon, "The Wonder Boys"; Ian McEwan, "Atonement"; Colson Whitehead, "John Henry Days"; Orhan Pamuk, "Snow"; Junot Diaz, "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao"; Avram Davidson, "Vergil in Averno"

Recent reading: recommended fiction

The Secret of Lost Things (2006), Sheridan Hay; Absurdistan (2006), Gary Shteyngart; Five Skies (2007), Ron Carlson; Citizen Vince (2005), Jess Walter; On Chesil Beach (2007), Ian McEwan; We're in Trouble (2005), Christopher Coake; Returning to Earth (2007), Jim Harrison; The Lay of the Land (2006), Richard Ford

My profile

Geoff Schumacher

What's a dogsbody?

It's British slang for "a worker who has to do all the unpleasant or boring jobs that no one else wants to do."

March 2005



Television

Wed, 03/30/05 7:39 A GMT-08
These are the television programs I watch religiously these days: "American Idol," "Survivor" and "Lost." Oh, and pro football in the fall. That's really about it. I irregularly check in on "The Simpsons" and "Everybody Loves Raymond." Not so long ag

New music

Fri, 03/25/05 10:55 P GMT-08
It's still early in 2005 but I've already come across several very good CDs. I don't think I have the energy to describe each of them in detail, so you'll just have to trust me, but here is a short list of recommended new music: Kings of Leon, "Ah

Brain death

Thu, 03/24/05 8:12 A GMT-08
President Bush and Congress are out of control. Not even the reactionary, conservative-minded American people are buying what Bush and Congress are trying to sell anymore. According to an ABC News poll, 70 percent of Americans think Congress was wron
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Bob Dylan show

Tue, 03/22/05 1:02 P GMT-08
Saw Bob Dylan perform Saturday night at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts. Nice venue, very good seat. Good show, not great. Dylan played 14 songs, some of them not particularly engaging. The highlights were "Highway 61 Revisited" and the f
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Algren revisited

Fri, 03/18/05 9:51 P GMT-08
Okay, let's try this again. "The Man With the Golden Arm" is a fantastic novel. It's the definition of gritty. Set in a Polish neighborhood in Chicago just after World War II, the book has an array of characters, all of them broken and battered in on

The Man With the Golden Arm

Thu, 03/17/05 8:26 P GMT-08
I just finished Nelson Algren's "The Man With the Golden Arm," published in 1949 and winner of the first National Book Award in 1950. This novel blew me away. I wrote about 500 words of scintillating literary analysis of the book a few minutes ago bu
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Last Mercury

Tue, 03/15/05 9:23 P GMT-08
It's 9:17 p.m. and we're wrapping up the last-ever issue of the Las Vegas Mercury. It's a somber mood here, and, naturally, we're having technical problems that have delayed us a few hours longer than necessary. But we're not complaining much, becaus
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Public speaking

Sun, 03/13/05 7:53 P GMT-08
A quick observation: I spoke to a group called the Las Vegas Breakfast Club today about my book. It went very well. (They eagerly bought a pile of books afterward.) I guess I was on my game, and they were responsive to what I had to say. This, thankf

Old media

Wed, 03/09/05 1:29 P GMT-08
A recurring discussion on this blog will be the future of "old media," by which I mean newspapers primarily, but also network news, newsmagazines, issue and literary journals, etc. I came across a nice phrase recently: "dead tree journalism." That's

Newteronomy

Tue, 03/08/05 12:26 P GMT-08
Newt Briggs, the former Mercury staff writer, is living in New York City now, and he hasn't told us a whole lot yet about his experiences. Although he continues to ghost-write the Buffalo Jim auto column for the Mercury and the occasional CD review,
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Curse of the blog

Thu, 03/03/05 9:20 P GMT-08
Well, naturally, it's only day two of my blogging life and I don't have anything particularly interesting to contribute. Par for the course, right? I was interviewed today by Northshore Magazine, an upscale glossy near Chicago, about the Las Vegas

16 best movies of 2004

Wed, 03/02/05 8:43 P GMT-08
I still haven't seen a couple of contenders but this seems like a fairly comprehensive representation of the best 2004 movies: 1. Hotel Rwanda, 2. The Aviator, 3. Fahrenheit 9/11, 4. Million Dollar Baby, 5. Sideways, 6. Finding Neverland, 7. Ray,

First blog entry ever

Wed, 03/02/05 7:44 P GMT-08
This is my first blog. I'm only about five years behind the times. I probably don't have time to make this a regular part of my life, but we'll see. I hear it's addictive, and I certainly have no shortage of thoughts that don't make it into my Mercur
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