The last day of May

And god, where does the time go? It’s practically summer, and some part of me thinks it’s still, I dunno, February or something. I don’t get it. Anyway:

Oh my gawd, Patrick Anderson truly has the Line of the Week with the opening phrases of his review of Michael Fredrikson’s new book A DEFENSE FOR THE DEAD: “The serial-killer thriller is the cicada of popular fiction. The damn things are everywhere.” Accordingly, the review is an extended rant about the subgenre and only at the very end does Anderson review–sort of–the book.

Although Janet Maslin seems to take umbrage with the whole concept of “literary re-animation,” she does like Colm Toibin’s novel of Henry James, THE MASTER.

What’s up with the historical novel, and why is it such a popular fictional genre these days? TheGlobe and Mail isn’t exactly sure but they turn to two popular authors, Bernard Cornwell and Sarah Dunant, for some answers.

Even though I get all the titles mixed up, plenty of other folks don’t and devour John Sandford’s thrillers with ease. He’s interviewed by Linda Wertheimer at NPR’s All Things Considered.

Boris Akunin, who’s threatening to conquer the English-speaking world in the same manner that he’s taken over most every European country with his Erast Fandorin novels, talks to the Philly Inquirer about why he, an academic trained in philology, gravitated towards crime fiction.

Ooops–Jane Jakeman, who is both a crime writer and a historian, nitpicks about the overall premise of THE RULE OF FOUR–it seems somebody has published a layman’s version of the Hypnerotomachia which figures so strongly in the year’s “runaway” success.

And I must wonder–did Ron Bernas and I read the same book? His review of Mark Billingham’s LAZYBONES seems so…cursory, somehow.

The Oregonian’s review of the ENEMY is fairly standard but for this–no, no, The Rock cannot be Reacher. And why must people imagine their favorite characters in a movie version anyway? Another rant for another time….

And finally, J.K. Rowling gives her blessing to the exponentially growing subculture of Harry Potter fan fiction. Well, the G-rated no-sex kind, I think all the slash stuff might not exactly curry favor with the lady (but then again…)