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Welcome! Here you can find a list of Lorenzo's Top Ten books (title and reason why they are just THAT good!)  You can also read the introductions Lorenzo has done for  classic novels, including his recent introductions for Modern Library Classics. Additionally, Lorenzo provides us with a Read of the Month. Enjoy!

1. The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas. The greatest adventure and revenge story ever written. It has affected my writing to this very day.
Read Lorenzo Introduction to the Modern Library Edition of this book by clicking here.

2. The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway. It was the first time I got a sense of the power of great writing.

3. The Sea Wolf - Jack London. I read it, as most people first do, as a teenager and was stunned by the pure evil of Wolf Larson.

4. The Hound of the Baskervilles - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I was in fourth grade and it was the first time I was so lost in a story that my surroundings disappeared.

5. A Childhood: The Biography of a Place - A brilliant piece of writing by Harry Crews (one of America's great writers) and the single best memoir I've ever read. I lived in that book for a year before I wrote my first book. Among many other lessons, it taught me if you are going to write a memoir, be brutal, be honest and leave nothing behind but blood and truth.

6. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo. It was a great story to get lost in, the characters so alive and the city so real that I felt as if I were no longer in a midtown Manhattan library, but in the center of Paris, crawling though the sewers. It is also a great cat and mouse adventure between two brilliant and flawed men.

7. The Godfather - Mario Puzo. A great novel with great characters, an opera with bullets. And it was also a novel written by someone from the same neighborhood I grew up in. I knew I could never be as good, but at least someone else from those tenements came out and made a career from writing.

8. Five Decades - These short stories by Irwin Shaw are all mesmerizing, the beauty of the language disappearing inside the power of the stories.

9. The Continental Op - Dashiell Hammett's detective was so real, his dialogue so on the money, his characters so true, that he seemed like he'd been hanging out in my neighborhood. I never wanted any of the stories to end.

10. The Collected Stories and Poetry of Edgar Allan Poe - His suffering, his pain, his anger and his massive skill come through with every word.

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NOVEMBER READ
I got an early peek at Thomas Perry's latest, NIGHTLIFE, which hits stores this spring--great thriller, one of his best. P.D. James is back with another out-of-the-park shot, THE LIGHTHOUSE, and there's a classy new collection of LOST STORIES by the master himself, Dashiell Hammett, that is well worth the time and effort it will take to score a copy.

2005 read of the month choices

OCTOBER READ:
Patricia Cornwell has once again come through. BLOW FLY was an amazing book and everything a thriller should be, while her new hardcover PREDATOR, took that achievement even one step further and slam dunks home another winner. Also on the must read list are Mike Lupica's TRAVEL TEAM (if you have a son and a beating heart, you will love this book) and Don Winslow's THE POWER OF THE DOG (I dare you to start this book and not finish it. A GREAT thriller by a gem of a writer).

SEPTEMBER READ:
Michael Connelly comes through as always with THE LINCOLN LAWYER.

JULY READ:
I recommend to all of you ANY book by Ed McBain, creator of the 87th series of books. McBain/Evan Hunter died this month after a tough and brave struggle with cancer. I was proud to have known him and consider him a friend.

JUNE READ:
This month's book recommendations are The Devil's Corner by Lisa Scottoline and The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez-Reverte.

MAY READ:
Elmore Leonard and Michael Connelly deliver as always.

Leonard has THE HOT KID and it is all that we have come to expect of the master. He may be closing in on 80, but he writes with the passion and the skill of the seasoned pro he has been since before many of us were born (he sold his first story in 1951). He's an example of what a writer should do -- write them well and sell them fast. He has, down the years, written over 40 novels, hundreds of short stories, dozens of scripts for movies and television. And each time, he makes you shake your head in wonder as you close the pages to the latest work.

And Connelly has written his BEST book with THE CLOSERS. The guy brings it and works his story like Ali used to work an opponent, taking advantage of every opening, landing with full force on his intended target. And NOBODY working today writes about cops and crime better (except maybe for Mr. Leonard). You want to know what cops really sound like and you want some great writing along the way, read these two. And a tip for next month -- get ready for the new LISA SCOTTOLINE.

APRIL READ:
I'm hooked on Arturo Perez-Reverte (Spain's latest gift to books) and THE CLUB DUMAS. It's available in trade paperback and is a terrific read.

MARCH READ:
If you can get your hands on it and don't mind your detective stories tough and gritty, Carlo Lucarelli's DAY AFTER DAY is an impressive thriller (translated from the Italian). Also, Robert Crais scores another bullseye hit with THE FORGOTTEN MAN. The movie version of Crais' novel HOSTAGE is currently in theaters and the paperback version of that is a MUST READ. And I've been on a Rafael Sabatini kick lately and am now reading SCARAMOUCHE THE KING-MAKER. Sabatini was a fun read when I was a boy huddled in the back of a Manhattan library and he's even more fun now that I no longer huddle.

FEBRUARY READ:
MAFIA SUMMER - a novel coming out in June.  I urge you to go and grab a copy when it hits the stores. The author is E. Duke Vincent and it's his first novel. He is vice chairman of Spelling Productions and has steered tons of TV shows to the air, including BEVERLY HILLS, 90210; DYNASTY; CHARMED; 7TH HEAVEN and the HBO movie AND THE BAND PLAYED ON. It's set in Hell's Kitchen (my old
neighborhood) in the summer of 1950 and is one terrific read.

JANUARY READ:
Grab Pete Hamill's newest, DOWNTOWN. It's a beautifully written trip through the streets of a borough (Manhattan) he knows so well and loves so much. He's been at the writing game for a long time and few are better at it than Hamill.

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER READ:
DEAD LAGOON by Michael Dibdin, and still making my way through SHANTARAM, by Gregory David Roberts, a brilliant but very long novel.

OCTOBER READ:
SHANTARAM by Gregory David Roberts

SEPTEMBER READ:
THE GOOD GUYS by Bill Bonnanno and Joe Pistone (co-written with David Fisher)

AUGUST READ:
Tess Gerritsen's BODY DOUBLE. This lady from Maine only gets better with each of her books.

JUNE READ:
UNIFORM JUSTICE, a wonderful mystery set in Venice, which continues her Comissario Brunetti series.
Adriana Trigiani's new novel THE QUEEN OF THE BIG TIME, a story well-told that will bring a smile and a tear along the way.

MAY READ:
Semiautomatic by Robert Reuland. It's out-of-this-city terrific. Last year, Reuland, a former Brooklyn Assistant D.A. working Homicide, wrote HOLLOWPOINT. You can start with the first and work your way to the second. Reuland is a younger, hipper, edgier version of the late and great George V. Higgins and a must read.

APRIL READ:
Resurrection Men by Ian Rankin, which was awarded this year's Edgar as best novel. It's great fun and a prime-time read, written by one of the top writers in the world. How can you go wrong?

MARCH READ:
Mr. Paradise by Elmore Leonard

FEBRUARY Read:
Side-Tracked, by Henning Mankell (Vintage Crime, paperback)
Mr. Paradise by Elmore Leonard

January read:
The Murder Room by the great P. D. James

December Read:
Pompeii by Robert Harris

November Read:
Train by Pete Dexter

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I loved CINDERELLA MAN with Russell Crowe. I wished the movie carried more of an emotional wallop, but I’ll say this about Crowe--the man brings it to the table and gives you everything you can ask for from a performance and then some. I can't picture anyone else in the lead role, he takes over the soul and spirit of James J. Braddock, a fighter who went from the tenement bottom to the top ropes, emerging as the heavyweight champion of the world.
THE SKELETON KEY was worth it just to watch Kate Hudson and Gena Rowlands work—the scares were minimal, the surprises few, but the two ladies, one a young star and the other a great actress, happily battled each other to a draw in every scene. It's always fun to watch the pros in action.

2005 MOVIE & DVD PICKS

OCTOBER
I've now seen the first two seasons of NIP/TUCK and am convinced it is both the best-written and best-acted show on television.

SEPTEMBER
BATMAN BEGINS was so much fun you have to see it twice. This is the first movie in the Batman franchise I really loved and Christian Bale proves again to be a wonderful actor, capturing both the character and the demons haunting his every move.

JULY
WEDDING CRASHERS was, by far, the funniest film I've seen this year. Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson and Christopher Walken all are on their comedy mark (with a surprise visit from someone who will make you laugh the second he pops on screen). Take the time and spend the money -- it's worth it. And coming soon on DVD, a must -- SIN CITY.

JUNE
This month's DVD recommendation is Million Dollar Baby

MAY
On the DVD front, Martin Scorsese's THE AVIATOR, is a must-see. As always, beautifully shot, wonderfully told, with some terrific performances (especially Alan Alda).

Also, for those of you interested in behind-the-scenes stories, the second season of PROJECT GREENLIGHT is fantastic viewing. The 13 episodes take you from the winners of a contest to write and direct a first feature straight through to the premiere. In between lies all the turmoil, anxiety, humor and horror in getting a film from page to screen. Great stuff.

APRIL
DVD - MURDER ONE, with Daniel Benzali and Stanley Tucci. It's a lot easier getting hooked on a show watching two or three episodes at a clip free of commercials and this one has been a lot of fun. Jason Gedrick and the wonderful Patricia Clarkson are also in it.

MARCH
I can easily recommend the DVDs for CLOSER (as I can anything that has Julia Roberts in it), SIDEWAYS (for Thomas Haden Church and Sandra Oh alone) and LADDER 49 (Travolta, as always, delivers).

JANUARY
RAY is worth it just for the music of Ray Charles and the performance of Jamie Foxx. The movie as a whole is a straight-forward bio-pic with few surprises, but the music and the acting carry it to a higher level.

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER
WALKING TALL and CHRISTMAS WITH THE KRANKS.

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER MOVIES:
It was a busy several weeks for Lorenzo, so no picks for these months!

JULY / AUGUST MOVIES:
There are two DVDs. MY VOYAGE TO ITALY, a two-part documentary directed and narrated by Martin Scorsese that details how the Italian movies of his youth shaped the filmmaker he became. If it's a slammer of a movie you're in the mood for, hard to find any better than KILL BILL, PART TWO. If you want to hit the theaters, THE BOURNE SUPREMACY is the one to see. Best thriller of the year, by far.

JUNE MOVIES:
Movie picks on DVD are THE LAST SAMURAI and THE BOURNE IDENTITY (to get yourself ready for THE BOURNE SUPREMACY).

MAY MOVIES:
Along Came Polly is pure fun -- especially when Ben Stiller and Phillip Seymour Hoffman are together on screen.
Mona Lisa Smile and, while for sure a chick flick, I will watch ANY movie with Julia Roberts.

APRIL MOVIES:
Miracle with Kurt Russell was a fun ride and brought back fond memories of a simpler time, when our battles were fought on ice and for medals.
The Cooler is worth watching for some first-rate performances--Alec Baldwin, William H. Macy and Maria Bello.

MARCH MOVIE:
Runaway Jury

FEBRUARY MOVIES:
Lost In Translation
Pirates of the Caribbean
Seabiscuit

JANUARY MOVIE:
Open Range

DECEMBER MOVIES:
Elf (bring someone with a sense of humor)
Master and Commander (bring your sabre)

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NOVEMBER
Give anything by the Four Seasons a listen.

2005 CD PICKS

JULY
In addition to my regular turns of The Rat Pack and Tony Bennett, I've added a little Tupac and brought back Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons

JUNE
My CD recommendation for this month is the music of Laura Pausini

MAY
I'm listening to Tony Bennett and Laura Pausini, an Italian singer I have long admired. Throw in some Neapolitan love songs and I'm nothing if not a happy man.

APRIL
I'm mixing in some Johnny Cash (I could play WANTED MAN all day long) with the Rolling Stones and Dean Martin as I work on my CHASERS pages each day.

MARCH
Nothing new to offer on the music front, since I'm in full book mode and writing to the sounds of the Rolling Stones, Tony Bennett and the soundtrack to THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. An odd mix, I know, but it works for me.

february cd
For music, I'm still on my Rolling Stones kick but have been tossing in some Tony Bennett and Ray Charles as I wind down the day.

JANUARY CD
For music (and what I listen to while writing CHASERS), get a hold of the remastered FORTY LICKS by the Rolling Stones -- if that doesn't get you pumped and hitting the keyboard, nothing will.

november / december cd
CHRISTMAS WITH SINATRA, and anything with Dean Martin!

OCTOBER CD
Anything and everything by Ray Charles, as well as comedy CDs of Rodney Dangerfield.

JULY CD
THE RAT PACK LIVE AT THE SANDS. I've been listening to this while I'm writing. What can I say? Sometimes, it just helps to have Dino, Frank and Sammy in the room.

JUNE CD
Diana Krall's THE LOOK OF LOVE

MAY CD:
Anything by the great Ray Charles. We owe him that much.

APRIL CD:
Rosanne Cash's Rules of Travel. Track 5 alone is worth the price of the CD. It's a heart-wrenching duet Roseanne sings with her dad, the late, great Johnny Cash, called September When It Comes.
Brilliant.

MARCH CD:
Me and Mr. Johnson, by Eric Clapton

FEBRUARY CD:
Faith by Faith Hill

JANUARY CD:
Andrea Bocelli's Toscana

DECEMBER CD:
Anything by Blind Boys of Alabama

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