thedailychannel.com — recommended books

Walter Mosley is one of the best writers I ever came across. I liked his Easy Rawlins detective novels, starting with "Devil in a Blue Dress," and I avidly read them all until I got to one I that to stop reading because it was too frightening to continue.

But I resumed reading with the collection of stories "Always Outnumbered Always Outgunned," about Socrates Fortlow, aged murderer on parole, having done his time but still not in control of his emotions.

He kills again of course, in one of the stories in a new collection, entitled "Walkin' the Dog." His dog, Killer, survives on despite a double amputation after a car accident, leaving him with only the 2 front legs.

Socrates is a thinker as you might expect and he's moral, too; he illuminates the way the world works as he himself finds out how it works. An he has a lot to find out after surviving most of his life behind bars.

In a nation with 2 million men behind bars, these are 2 books worth reading. You don't have to, but while you still can, walk your dog on down to www.amazon.com, and order Walter Mosley's latest.