All about the weekend update
NYTBR: This actually ran in the daily on Friday, but it would be a massive oversight not to link to Margo Jefferson’s piece on “the New Noir” which, well, struck me as a kind of “gee whiz! I had no idea this newfangled noir thing was actually written by people who aren’t white males wearing fedoras! Like, OMG!” piece. But then, any piece on current trends in crime fiction of the noir variety that fails to mention Ken Bruen, Hard Case Crime, PointBlank Press, the reissues of Dorothy B. Hughes novels and what’s going on at Stark House Press — just to start — strikes me as being somewhat lazy…
Turning back to the Book Review, Marilyn Stasio’s back with her column, and somebody must have issued some harsh words because sadly, she’s pared it down to merely three books again, looking at the latest by Ian Rankin (a thumbs down for being overlong) Charles Todd and Miyuki Miyabe (more positive on both.) Otherwise in the TBR, Laura Miller talks up Haruki Murakami, Rachel Donadio looks at college-level reactions to Tom Wolfe’s latest opus, and Noah Feldman rounds up books about Islam and its uneasy place in the world landscape.
WaPo Book World: Jonathan Yardley makes a plausible case for Gerald Seymour’s latest thriller as being akin to literature; Donald Westlake wishes Brad Smith’s BUSTED FLUSH was a little more than cartoon-like; Jonathan Lethem insists his characters aren’t based on real people, but are mosaics of many of them; and Dan Chaon is very taken with the protagonist of Dave King’s already-much-praised debut novel.
G&M: Alexander McCall Smith talks to Marion Botsford Fraser about Precious Ramotswe, the Really Terrible Orchestra, and why he’s excited to be in Canada for the winter — to ice fish; Michael Redhill commends Brad Smith’s new novel for being the kind of well-written novel that’s fun to read; David Young rounds up some seriously chilling tales for these winter months; and Margaret Cannon’s crime column features the latest by James W. Hall, Linda Fairstein, Lilian Jackson Braun, Michael Pearce, Jose Carlos Somoza, Rick Dewhurst and Lisa Gardner.
Guardian Review: Are they on serious crack or something, because there’s so much good stuff this week it ain’t even funny. Marcus du Sautoy digs Guillermo Martinez’s THE OXFORD MURDERS (although the folks at Abacus really need to come up with jazzier titles — Jose Carlos Somoza, anyone?) while Colin Greenland is seduced by IMAGO, Eva-Marie Liffner’s second novel to be translated into English (and which I really need to get a copy of ASAP as I very much adored her first work, CAMERA.) Otherwise, Jim Crace gives some rather creative writing advice, Craig Raine gets wordy about literary theory, Michael Hoffman is very much unimpressed by Michael-Andre Bernstein’s epic debut novel, and Bookslut keeps a diary, as well as heading up the paper’s top ten litblogs (with cool nods to TEV and the Rake)
Observer: Alice Munro talks herself up, as well as her latest collection, to Louise France; a new biography of Marie Curie portrays her as the obsessive depressive genius she always was; and Robert McCrum praises the whole TV Book Club phenomenon.
The Times: A 13 year old Scottish girl has a bestselling fantasy novel, so no wonder the paper’s taking notice; Niall Williams is especially keen on Kent Haruf’s EVENTIDE; and Anita Brookner returns with yet another “doomed chick lit” novel.
The Scotsman: Ian McEwan’s new novel gets a mixed reception from literary editor Andrew Crumey; and David Mitchell wants to go hunting through secondhand shops with Ian Rankin’s Rebus.
The Rest:
Oline Cogdill gives some pretty good reasons for reading Michele Martinez’s debut suspense thriller MOST WANTED, though she doesn’t shy away from pointing out the book’s weaknesses (essentially agreeing with my own take from a few weeks ago.) She also gives a great review to Steve Brewer for his newest standalone BOOST.
David Montgomery’s column for the Sun-Times leads off with a glowing rave for Kent Harrington’s RED JUNGLE (wholeheartedly deserved) as well as opinions on new releases by John Donohue, Neil McMahon, Michael Robotham and Duane Swierczynski.
Paula Woods gives a few good reasons to read Harley Jane Kozak’s quirky mystery DATING IS MURDER for the LA Times (which, for the record, I couldn’t finish because I figured out a plot twist at page 30 and didn’t want to continue.)
Les Roberts at the Cleveland Plain Dealer is cheered by the newest McBain, and also looks at new books by Linda Fairstein and Andrea Kane.
The SF Chronicle’s David Lazarus looks at two somewhat more exotic mysteries by Jon Fasman and David Hewson.
Robin Vidimos, over at the Denver Post, looks at the noirish new novel by Richard Rayner which may be a throwback, but sure isn’t dated.
Brad Smith’s BUSTED FLUSH is getting lots of attention this week, and the Toronto Philip Marchand adds his two cents on the book.
Dan DeLuca at the Philly Inquirer is more than happy to bestow praise on the latest Rebus novel, FLESHMARKET ALLEY. No sense of bloating for him! Meanwhile, Marietta Dunn reviews Natsuo Kirino’s OUT, now available in paperback, and is well unnerved by the book.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Regis Behe interviews Stella Rimington, whose debut novel AT RISK is getting a ton of attention because of her background as MI5 Chief.
Peter Pavia (whose first novel from Hard Case Crime will be out later this year) talks to Adam Fawer for the New York Post and learns about the writing pact with the late Stephanie Williams that got Fawer to complete his debut IMPROBABLE.
The lovely Maud Newton looks at Darcy Steinke’s new novel MILK for Newsday, and wishes the 3rd person narrator were a little less detached.
So Kinky Friedman is officially in the race for Texas Governor, and the Dallas Fort-Worth Star-Telegram explores this news, concluding that while the Kinkster’s campaign may not be serious, the guy’s a “marketing genius.” No duh. Espec since he’s about to kill his alter-ego off in his next book, so he might as well do something else now…
A few days ago, author Jessica Adams was accused of plagiarizing Agatha Christie in a short story recently published. She hits back in an opinion piece at the Weekend Australian, denying any and all claims. This story ain’t over yet… (link from Matilda)
The David Mitchell bandwagon gets even bigger as he makes his way down to Australia to promote CLOUD ATLAS. The Sydney Morning Herald meets the Booker-shortlisted (and dead clever) author.
Did you know that Gypsy Rose Lee once shared a house in Brooklyn with Carson McCullers and other literary heavyweights? Neither did I, but Sheryl Connelly of the Daily News learns of this in a new book about this special house.
The Michael Cox bandwagon shows no signs of subsiding anytime soon, as the Telegraph interviews him about his lucrative deal and his successful battle with cancer.
Annie Giardini is the oldest daughter of the late Canadian great Carol Shields. Now she’s striking out with her own writing career, and talks to the Canadian Press’s Anne-Marie Tobin about writing her debut, THE SAD TRUTH ABOUT HAPPINESS. A similar interview with Alexandra Gill appeared in the Globe & Mail as well.
Graham Blundell, writing for the Australian, explains why Barry Maitland’s crime novels (his latest is NO TRACE) deserve their acclaimed following and a wider audience.
Bestselling children’s writer (and newbie crime writer for adult audiences) Anthony Horowitz speaks to the Hendon & Finchley Times about his work, including his new project: a treatise on who reads crime fiction in Britain and why.
McPhillips Nwachukwu, writing for the Vanguard, wonders what actually qualifies as Nigerian literature and what are the best examples of such.
Similarly, the Syracuse Post-Standard’s Laura Ryan looks at the burgeoning sub-industry of African-American literature in the US.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal is thrilled that Tim Dorsey is back with a new novel and further hijinks of its murderous protagonist.
And finally, I don’t care if it’s not true, this still made me laugh my ass off.