Filed under: thoughtful | Tags: las vegas, literature, nevada, tbr stack
Mexican High by Liza Monroy
Demian by Herman Hesse
Resistance, Rebellion, and Death by Albert Camus
The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
A Mercy (ARC) by Toni Morrison
The Gone-Away World (ARC) by Nick Harkaway
Juniper by Monica Furlong
Colman by Monica Furlong
Cunt by Inga Muscio
At the end of October, for Halloween weekend, I will be in Las Vegas. While not my first trip to Nevada it is my first trip to Vegas and my interest was immediately peaked in getting some books from fiction to travel writing to true crime on that fabulous desert city. But what I’m finding is not a lot. Sure there’s Erin McCarthy’s vampires in Vegas romance series and roughly a dozen books that I found in mystery but I’m having trouble finding a seriously tempting read. (Not that I’m entire adverse to romance or mystery.)
So dear readers, as the tags at LibraryThing and Amazon have done me little good, what do you suggest? Please comment with some titles and recommendations if you’re familiar with some good books that take place in Las Vegas.
9 Comments
Adventures in Reading 
I read one several years ago called Neon Mirage by Max Allan Collins. Its a little pulpy but still an interesting book (a fictional account of Bugsy Siegel–who had a pretty big vision for Vegas before it was really on the map). Anyway…
Comment by Trish September 1, 2008 @ 1:24 pmBad Monkeys by Matt Ruff and Coyote Blue by Christopher Moore both take place in and around Vegas, although their Vegas-osity is not really the focus of either story, if that makes sense. Both are pretty quick, light reads, although neither is the best book by their respective authors.
Also, I’m jealous of anyone getting to read Juniper for the first time… that’s one of my childhood favorites that I pull out to re-read every time I’m feeling crappy. Although I have to wonder how it would be reading it as a grown-up for the first time…
Comment by fyreflybooks September 1, 2008 @ 2:46 pm“Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” perhaps? ;)
Comment by Mys Ebrel September 2, 2008 @ 9:08 amTrish: Thanks for the heads up Trish. I’ll add Neon Mirage to the list.
fyreflybooks: Thank you so much for pointing these out! I completely understand what you mean that Vegas isn’t the focus of the story, but now I have two more books (and I’ve been eying Bad Monkeys) for the list.
Mys Ebrel: Egad! Thanks for pointing out the obvious one here. ;) While I’ve been warned about Thompson’s books in the pass, I’ll have to see where I can get with this one.
Comment by bookchronicle September 2, 2008 @ 9:18 amO my! I actually lived in Vegas for a couple of years and haven’t read any Vegas books. How awful is that? But I liked the movie Casino which was first a book by the same name by Nick Pileggi. Apparently he wrote the book Wiseguy which was made into the movie Goodfellas. Interesting. I haven’t read those books though.
Comment by Amanda September 2, 2008 @ 2:56 pmBookchronicle: I am the proud owner of a copy and is yours if you’d like to borrow it.
Comment by Mys Ebrel September 2, 2008 @ 3:04 pmAmanda: Any bookstores or coffee shops you recommend visiting? ;) I admit I’m not much of a gambler so I’m trying to find some other exciting activities. Thanks for the Pileggi suggestion. I love Goodfellas and will have to see how Wiseguy turns out.
Comment by bookchronicle September 3, 2008 @ 8:52 amJust came across this book on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Children-Novel-Charles-Bock/dp/1400066506/ref=pd_sim_b_17
Comment by Mys Ebrel September 8, 2008 @ 9:16 am[…] September 14, 2008, 1:43 pm Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: books, las vegas, reading, travel My search for Las Vegas related literature has been fruitful and I wanted to share some of my […]
Pingback by Viva Las Vegas « Adventures in Reading September 14, 2008 @ 1:51 pm