Back with the links

And honestly and truly, I was going to go cold turkey on this Clinton business (best summed up by Booksquare: “Bill Clinton wrote a book, and it’s selling. A lot.”) but Larry McMurtry’s review in today’s New York Times is just so wonderfully written that it really merited linking. Certainly a nice counterpoint to Michiko’s evisceration (however necessary it was…)

Tim McLoughlin spearheaded a new anthology of crime writing that centers around all the neighborhoods of Brooklyn. Dinitia Smith takes a look at the anthology, BROOKLYN NOIR, and the attractions of Brooklyn. All I know is, I want my copy of the anthology very soon.

Speaking of books I really want to read, here’s a point in favor of Jeff Pearlman’s expose of the 1986 New York Mets, THE BAD GUYS WON.

Crime writer (and blog favorite) Dan Fesperman puts on his reporter hat to profile Arturo Perez-Reverte for the Baltimore Sun, just as the Spaniard’s newest book, THE QUEEN OF THE SOUTH, is racking up rave reviews in the US.

One of the side benefactors of the astounding success of Alexander McCall Smith’s books are his original publisher, Polygon. They have announced expansion plans and will now publish 12-15 titles per year.

It just occurred to me: Hip-hop fiction is to the US what Martina Cole’s novels are to the UK. So I’d guess we won’t be seeing much cross-culture publication anytime soon…

Ed reports on the goings-on at the California Book Awards, where an author (probably this one) stormed out of the ceremony “in an alleged huff” after someone got up to the podium and started sniping about Stephen King’s now-infamous speech at last year’s National Book Awards.

Elizabeth Chadwick picks her top 10 historical novels. Interesting choices; some expected others a little more surprising (LORD JOHN AND THE PRIVATE MATTER? Really?)

Everything you ever wanted to know about Star Wars spinoff novels but were afraid to ask. Or simply unaware. Or too frightened.

And finally, even more J.K. Rowling arcana–did you know she’s on her way to becoming one of the top 100 Minesweeper players on the Internet? The things people do to quit smoking….