Carl Hiaasen is a national treasure.

[terrya]

I just started his latest, "Nature Girl". It's amazing how effortlessly, in just a few pages, you're drawn into the story. This is yet another winner from a damn terrific writer. :-)

[NC_Nurse]

1. Love him.

Haven't got the new one yet, but I bet it comes from Santa! ;)

[hwmnbn]

2. hmmm, have never heard of him......

and am looking for someone new to read. What kind of stuff does he do, and what makes him so special to you?

[evermind]

3. He's a Floridian journalist turned comedy thriller writer

who writes books mainly set in Florida pitching unconventional individuals who value authenticity and nature against the forces of political and corporate hypocrisy, corruption and stupid venality.

Sort of a Floridian Tom Sharpe, if you've ever read any of his, but more politically astute and a bit more action.

An extremely entertaining ride if you hit it off with the style, and some great points made along the way.

Check his website:
http://www.carlhiaasen.com/

and his columns for the Miami Herald:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/columnists/carl_hiaasen/

[hwmnbn]

4. Thanks, sounds cool!!

[Lex]

5. I'm reading it right now too!

I really love Hiaasen. He's a great storyteller and he never fails to make me laugh out loud.

First one I read was about 10 years ago--"Double Whammy" and I was hooked after that one.


I'm loving "Nature Girl"

[greatauntoftriplets]

6. Oh, he is....

I love his Skink character. Definitely will put this on the list.

Have you ever read Tim Dorsey? He writes in a similar vein, also extremely funny.

[Richardo]

8. Dorsey's 'Cadillac Beach' is great...

...about three story lines and two time lines all converge perfectly at the end. Funny, and astounding.

[greatauntoftriplets]

9. Have you read the others in that series???

I think there are about seven by now, the latest being The Big Bamboo.

[Richardo]

10. No. But I should.

Since I'm caught up on my Hiaasen (Except for the last one)

[greatauntoftriplets]

11. The first one is Florida Road Kill.

Then Orange Crush. Dorsey has a wicked mind.

[Richardo]

7. Yay - yours is the first review I've seen.

I lost my source when I quit the bookstore...I guess it's the library for me now. :(

[hiaasenrocks]

12. As a huge Hiaasen fan, I found "Nature Girl" to be

among his two least satisfying efforts, the other being "Basket Case."

[hiaasenrocks]

29. Doing a re-read now, and I'm finding this to be much better the second time around.

I still wouldn't rank this in the top 5 of his works, but it's better than I first thought.

After this, I'll read "Team Rodent: How Disney Devours The World" which is a thin volume of Hiaasen's non-fiction look at the Disney corporation. I read it years ago and wanted to take it in again. All of his columns are great and you can get a few hundred of them in the two books of collected columns that he released -- "Paradise Screwed" and "Kick Ass." (I hope I haven't already mentioned them in one of my other posts in this thread. It's been a while since I posted in this discussion. Ah well.)

[gratefultobelib]

13. I have to respond here! I read Lucky You several years ago, and

I laughed out loud nearly all the way through it! I was so sorry when Hiaasen stopped writing his weekly column. It was in one of our Sunday magazines.

[Richardo]

14. 'Lucky You' is in the top 3 as far as I'm concerned...

"White Clarion Aryans" alone is worth the price of the book.

[hiaasenrocks]

16. He still writes it and you can read it for free

on the Miami Herald website.

Here! http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/columnists/carl_hiaasen/

[Forkboy]

15. I'm amazed he isn't even more well known

He writes capers as good as Ellroy.

As a bipolar liberal environmentalist it's hard not to pick "Sick Puppy" as my favorite,though I still have a couple of his to read yet.

[hiaasenrocks]

17. Out of all the writers who fall under that "Florida mystery" genre...

he sells the most books. That says a lot about his popularity considering that group includes Tim Dorsey, James W. Hall, and Randy Wayne White.

[mitchum]

19. and the late, great Charles Willeford

[mitchum]

18. "Basket Case" is the only Hiaasan that I didn't enjoy...

it just seemed to be very dashed off.
"Nature Girl" is wonderful

[Richardo]

20. I had the exact same feeling

In fact I think 'Sick Puppy' was also somewhat sub-par (still better than most other writers). I thought he recovered his form with 'Skinny Dip'

[mitchum]

21. Basket Case really seemed to suffer from the cartoonish depiction of...

Jimmy and the Slut Puppies (I can't beleve that Zevon helped him with this one) Rock and roll bands are silly, vulgar and ludicrious in their own right (which often makes them quite good) without blowing them up to even more absurd proportions.

I also enjoyed "Skinny Dip" thoroughly.

[hiaasenrocks]

31. "Sick Puppy" was one of my favorites.

It provided us with geat insight into former Governor Clinton Tyree (aka Skink). That's the most he's written about Skink in any one book.

[hiaasenrocks]

30. I think "Basket Case" suffered because...

Hiaasen broke from his usual method. This was the first novel he wrote in first-person. The type of stories he writes are much better in third-person because you can get a more complete view of the entire plot. His stuff just works better when you can get a "wider" view of what's going on, because there are usually several sub-plots that will be tied up neatly at the end. It's also fun to see things through the eyes of different characters.

That would probably be true of any story, but it's especially true in Hiaasen's case because of what he's trying to do. It just didn't come off that well in Basket Case, and I think that's why.

[SteppingRazor]

22. A journalistic colleague of mine once remarked...

your success as a columnist can be measured in how far removed your employer allows you to live from the city you cover.

In Hiaasen's case, he's pretty damn successful. Dude writes about Miami and lives in Vero Beach, 150 miles away. That's always struck me as kinda phony about him, at least in his most recent writing. Back when he lived in the 305, though, he was a stud.,

[Democrat 4 Ever]

23. I loved "Skinny Dip" by Hiaasen - any book that starts out with

a woman musing as she is tossed over the side of an ocean liner, "I knew he was a son of a bitch but never thought he would kill me" as an opening line (paraphrasing here) is a keeper. Funny, funny book. "Skinny Dip" was my introduction to Hiaasen and I have read everything he has written since. Even enjoyed "Hoot" with my granddaughters. Excellent brain candy.

[Richardo]

24. I loved 'Hoot' and I'm a grown man.

It captured all the insanity of an adult Hiaasen book, just without the swearing.

'Flush', however, was a disappointment.

D4E, try 'Lucky You' next, if I may be so bold. ;-)

[hiaasenrocks]

28. It doesn't matter where he lives.

It sure didn't for all those years that he was living in Islamorada, about 80 miles away from Miami. He nailed it then, and still does. The editors thought it was a great idea to have him spend more time at home, writing, than driving over and hour a day to write. Smart move. And we get more Hiaasen that way.

[codjh9]

25. YES!!! If you care at all about the environment, like humor, quirky characters,

and a story where the good guys win out in the end (usually against greedy developers, politicians, or both) - you'll like Hiaasen. I've read ALL of his novels... fun stuff.

[raccoon]

26. I wish he'd write a fiction book based on the current administration.

I'll have to get hold of Nature Girl.

[Crocodile Hunter]

27. Hoot

I enjoyed Hoot.

[shortcake]

32. He recently spoke in Fort Pierce

I was going to see him, but it cost $60.00. Tim Dorsey, you can see at Vero Beach bookstore for free.

[hiaasenrocks]

33. Hiaasen does regular book signings as well

where it doesn't cost anything. Sometimes he does signings as benefits for charities, though, so perhaps that's what it was.

[hiaasenrocks]

34. For anyone interested, here's a video of Hiaasen

This is a 6 minute excerpt from one of his speaking engagements. Too short, but it'll give you a little taste of his work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8_O6nOgL4Q