Welcome to Litsy!

An excellent short story collection & my second ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read of 2023. If you like crime fiction, I highly recommend this book. Even if you don‘t, Goldberg‘s crackling sharp prose, humor, & yes, in your face depiction of life in & around The Family/mob/mafia makes for very entertaining reading. Set in Chicago, Vegas, Palm Springs & elsewhere, these stories are visceral, hard driving, & compelling. I‘ll be reading this one again.

Going with short stories…GANGSTER short stories…to end the evening…The first story was great…

Superlative short stories that tie in with Goldberg's other two Gangsterland books. I'd recommend reading those first. "The Spare" is particularly touching. These stories are dark, tense, and poignant, but also funny in that twisted Goldberg way.

I finished this one during a summer storm last night ?

I couldn't wait to get my hands on "The Low Desert" because I have spent a lot of time exploring the area around the Salton Sea and that is the setting for these rough, sometimes violent gangster stories.

Such a unique setting. Take my word for it - lots of beauty and even more weirdness.

Book Soup purchase. My first blind date with a book! Any guesses?

Tuesday 3/15 6pm PST - join us for an online event with crime fiction author Tod Goldberg

Register for free at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/online-reading-interview-with-tod-goldberg-tickets-...

Today's reading

Highly entertaining, meticulously-crafted noir--with a deep streak! I hope to get back to Goldberg soon.

This isn't my usual cup of tea, but I found it very entertaining. Gangster stories it says, but more like small time crooks, three time losers, crooked cops and just general hustlers. Most of the stories didn't have real endings, the characters just moved on (dying most of the time). Some people might find the vague endings on most of the stories annoying, but it fit the genre. 4 💵💵💵💵

Tonight‘s reading is a short story collection billed as “Raymond Carver meets Elmore Leonard.” Set in the world of a pair of previously published books (neither of which I have read), these stories introduce readers to a cross section of people—some good, some bad, some just caught in the crossfire pulled into, directly or indirectly, the world of crime. Definitely sounds entertaining.