A Drop of the Hard Stuff discussion

I've never read Lawrence Block and I'm looking to. Any suggestions as to a good book to begin with?

Sins of the Father is the first Matthew Scudder book so you cannot go wrong there. however i found you could start with any book and get up to speed pretty quick. the Scudder, Burgler and Keller series are all very good reads.

You are in for a treat with Lawrence Block's books. I would suggest either When the Sacred Gin Mill Closes or a Long Line of Dead Men to start the Matt Scudder series. The Keller and Burgler series are both also good, but very different in tone from the Scudder books.

I second Dagny's comment. I feel it's always better to read a series in order. And like Dagny I often get exposed to a series by a book somewhere in the middle. If I like it, I then go back to the first in the series and read them in order.

I have to agree with starting at the beginning. You're able to better appreciate the richness of Block's protagonist as the story lines/character evolve, get richer, and more revealing. I do envy you starting on these books. I've never found a series that I've been so hooked on since the Scudder cases.

Good call Dagny! I read most of the Bosch books about the same time I was reading the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike books. Really good stuff.

I love Lawrence Block. I have not been disappointed by any book that I read that he authored.

The Matthew Scudder character series is good. I read everything I can get my hands on that he wrote. If you like Lawrence Block, you will like
Max Allen Collins
Ed McBain
John McDonald
Donald Westlake

to name a few.

I just finished reading the above book and I enjoyed it. I like Block's character, Scudder. You do learn a lot about the 12 step program in this book.

I kind of envy you, getting to enjoy the Scudder series for the first time. I'm a big fan. The burglar series is much lighter, very enjoyable also but different.

Agreed, this is a rich and satisfying series. Start at the beginning if you can and follow Matt Scudder's redemptive journey back into humanity.

He wrote a bunch. Just grab a "Scudder" and a "burglar" and see how you like them. They're very different--sort of hard to believe they're written by the same guy. If you like them and want to start at the beginning that's fine, or just whatever your library has. Enjoy.