Pulp fiction

The A.V. Club staff is discussing Charles Willeford's The Woman Chaser as the Wrapped Up In Books selection this month. It's the first Willeford I've ever read apart from an excerpt I assigned my film class (alongside Elmore Leonard) when we watched Reservoir Dogs. He's more famous around these parts than he might be elsewhere, given that he was born in Little Rock. I was glad to have an excuse to read one of his novels.

And what a knockout it was. Bold, disturbing, complex, and a total page-turner. I catalog my reactions here, but in short: Wow. Give me more.

The book didn't sit that way with a lot of our readers, though, judging from the comments on earlier posts in this week's series. It makes me wonder whether my attraction to this kind of material is something more personal and less aesthetically defensible.

If you want to join our discussion tomorrow, tune in at 5 pm Eastern, 4 Central. The book is short and snappy enough that you could get a good sense of the flavor if you start tonight -- and it's available for free at Munseys.