The Daily Helping strongly suggests you pick up a copy of Richard Price’s powerful novel, Lush Life.  It’s now in paperback and one the best reads of this past year.

Price is writing at the top of his game. His legendary ear and skill in capturing a moment; a personality; a neighborhood you know exists but would never dare visiting. It’s all on display here.

Those readers of the Daily Helping who live in NYC, are more than likely familiar with the book.  Lush Life takes the reader through the lives touched and forever changed by a  seemingly random shooting in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. This isn’t a detective story.  It’s so much more and will resonate with you for months after reading it.

That tragic shooting that happened late in your city that you heard about and quickly forgot is right here and the reader experiences some of the nightmare.

Price is a proven commodity. His novels sell and tend to be made into movies, concentrating the jungle that he knows. The urban jungles of New York , Jersey and Baltimore.  His screenplays provide an impressive roster of films worth checking out if you haven’t already seen them.

His first novel was published at age, 24.  The Wanderers was set in the Bronx during 1962. This ain’t Grease. The film by Philip Kaufman was a modest hit and a critical success. If you haven’t seen it, put it on your list.

Clockers (Harvey Keitel, John Turturro and the  great Delroy Lindo) is another one worth checking out. It’s one of Spike Lee’s best.  The book is better than the movie and the movie is fantastic. Maybe a little dated, but it’s clearly the work of a man who knows the streets and the people who live and work there.  Much in the same vein,  Price was recently recognized with an Emmey nomination for his work as the primary writer for the 5th season of The Wire, formerly on HBO.

Other screenplays include The Color of Money, Sea of Love, (Ellen Barkin made this worth a look, but Pacino is really bad), Mad Dog and Glory (casting against type here with Bill Murry as a mobster and DeNiro as crime scene photographer), Ransom and the latest incarnation of,  Shaft

Give Lush Life a look and let us know what you think…