Five and Thriving

Five years ago this week, Detroit author Patti Abbott suggested to her fellow crime-fiction enthusiasts and other book fans that they start producing regular blog posts in celebration of “books we love but might have forgotten over the years.” As she remarked on April 24, 2008, “I’m worried great books of the recent past are sliding out of print and out of our consciousness. Not the first-tier classics we all can name, but the books that come next.”

Abbott’s proposal has since generated a wealth of vintage-book recommendations, particularly from bloggers such as Bill Crider, James Reasoner, Todd Mason, Evan Lewis, Kerrie Smith, Randy Johnson, B.V. Lawson, J.F. Norris, Scott Cupp, Martin Edwards, Ed Gorman, and George Kelley. The Rap Sheet has pitched in more than 120 contributions to this remarkable series.

Although most such reading advice has been dispensed on Fridays, The Rap Sheet is commemorating this five-year anniversary with two successive days of book recommendations. We’ll begin today with a tip from British critic Ayo Onatade, and conclude tomorrow with a suggestion from Bay Area librarian Randal S. Brandt.

Tremendous thanks are owed to Patti Abbott for initiating this Web-wide project. It has opened the eyes of many readers to older works of fiction (and less non-fiction) that they had either never heard of, or that they’d been leery of picking up without a solid recommendation from somebody else. There are still numerous works worth rediscovering. Certainly enough to ensure that this Friday “forgotten books” series has a healthy future.

You should look for still more of these book tips tomorrow in Abbott’s personal blog, Pattinase.