It’s Massive Weekend Update Time

Before I get to the wide-ranging, free-swinging update, I might as well point you all to my latest review, which marks my return to the pages of the Washington Post Book World. I had a great time reading this book, but when a lead character manages to outdo the antics of Ignatius J. Reilly, well, it’s a work I’ll probably like…

Now on to the show:

NYTBR: OK, I admit it, I really dug Marilyn Stasio’s column this week, even if she kinda sorta played mind reader in how she described Peter Robinson’s STRANGE AFFAIR (you’ll all see what I mean when the column shows up next weekend.) She also gives excellent reviews to Wallace Stroby and Rebecca Pawel and a pretty decent review to Michael Robotham.

Otherwise in the Paper of Record, Tom Perrotta isn’t the typical reader for Judy Budnitz’s work but he mostly approves nonetheless; Judith Shulevitz looks at yet another installment in the motherhood/postfeminism continuum; and poor Liesl Schillinger gets stuck with reading another semi-trashy work — cut the woman some slack, will ya?

WaPo Book World: Jonathan Yardley gets plague-like about the Black Death; A woman was sued by Holocaust denier David Irving and turned her win into a book about the process; and Nuclear Wintour is eviscerated in print, but Alexandra Jacobs finds the biography somewhat scattershot.

G&M: Margaret Cannon returns with her look at the latest and greatest in crime, including new books by Fred Vargas, M.C. Beaton, Peter Moore Smith, Daniel Kalla, Alex Brett, Thomas Kelly  and Alison Preston. Otherwise, Canada Reads, CBC’s pugilistic-style program that whittles down book by book till a winner is announced, is starting its fourth controversial year; Andre Alexis examines a short novel that’s really not anything of the sort; Michael Helm is the latest to jump on the Ian McEwan/SATURDAY bandwagon; and Jessica Warner wonders why people lie, cheat, steal and otherwise.

Guardian Review: On the crime fiction front,  Duncan Campbell gives good notice to Walter Mosley for his latest Easy Rawlins novel, while  Matthew Lewin rounds up thrillers by Ed McBain, Peter Moore Smith, Stephen Leather and Patterson, Inc. Otherwise, Lionel Shriver gets candid on why motherhood ain’t what it’s cracked up to be; Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche explains why few people read in Nigeria; and Justin Cartwright equates writing and kebab shops.

Observer: The Big Interview this weekend is with Kazuo Ishiguro, which is not terribly surprising considering he has a new novel out; DH Lawrence, it seems, was far more prudish than sexual dynamo, according to a new biography; and Robert McCrum examines the controversy surrounding a biography of William Shakespeare.

The Times: Kazuo Ishiguro’s NEVER LET ME GO is praised rapturously to the heavens; Walter Mosley’s LITTLE SCARLET gets similar treatment; and Brian Appleyard covers the history of aliens.

The Scotsman: Danny Leigh opens up about how obsessed he became with the characters pitted against each other in his latest novel THE MONSTERS OF GRAMERCY PARK; Philip Kerr talks about achieving success the second time around — as a children’s author; Ian Rankin sets up a scholarship for budding writers; and Allan Guthrie is officially dubbed one of crime fiction’s hottest new writers.” Very cool, that!

The rest:

Blah blah blah International Booker Prize Longlist blah blah blah. So sue me, I’m not very excited about it, since it’s basically a Lifetime Achievement Award (not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

Oline Cogdill serves up a two-fer with her rave reviews of Ian Rankin’s FLESHMARKET ALLEY and Peter Robinson’s STRANGE AFFAIR. Earlier this week she was similarly enthusiastic about the latest by Barbara Parker.

Dick Adler’s crime column for the Chicago Tribune is proving a bit more difficult to find these days, but his latest looks at new releases by Richard Rayner, Brad Geagley, Louise Welsh, Greg Iles, Leonce Gaiter, Wallace Stroby, Cecelia Tishy, and Miyuki Miyabe.

Greg Iles is also reviewed by Dorman T. Shindler, a frequent freelancer doing duty this time for the Denver Post.

Rita Mae Brown has lived quite the interesting life, though now that she’s well into writing her cat mysteries, she’s up before dawn and in bed by 9 PM, as she tells the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

Rob Roberge, the author of MORE THAN THEY CAN CHEW (which, interestingly, I am reading right this very moment) is profiled in the Long Beach U-Press Telegram.

In further proof that the NY Post Books section is entirely made up of bloggers, Lindsay Robertson is less than keen for Elizabeth MacKenzie’s debut and Megan McArdle looks at a new book examining technology and government.

Frank Wilson, the Philly Inquirer’s Books Editor, gives a thumbs-up to Robert Crais’s THE FORGOTTEN MAN. I expect we’ll be seeing lots more good reviews in the weeks to come, which is quite fine by me. In related matters, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s Jeff Ayres speaks to Robert Crais about the latest Elvis Cole novel, why he walked away from TV writing and what’s next — a standalone (somehow, this does not surprise me in the least.)

Kevin Lewis’s THE KID was a smash hit when it was released in Britain two years ago. But the 34 year old didn’t expect to write a sequel to his memoir of a horrific childhood. So of course, he’s gone and done so.

Another day, another piece about Dashiell Hammett’s influence on greater culture, this time from Nicholas Taylor at Popmatters.

Let’s give a hand to the folks at the Sydney Morning Herald for coining a new phrase about books and prostitution — Trick Lit. Although that isn’t terribly fair to Leigh Redhead, whose debut novel PEEPSHOW features a PI who moonlights as a stripper.

Sarah Crompton wonders if anyone will say anything bad about Ian McEwan’s new novel SATURDAY. I won’t, per se (espec since it’s linked in the sidebar still) but I did wonder where the story was much of the time. Then when it showed up, it was riveting. And, as it happens, Philip Marchand gave a decidedly mixed review of the book in the Toronto Star last week.

Maureen Ellis at the Glasgow Evening Times profiles four area writers — Zoe Strachan, Louise Welsh, Laura Marney and Anne Donovan — on the eve of the city’s Aye, Write! Festival. The paper has also been serializing Denise Mina’s story “Ida Tamson.” Read the installments here, here, here, here, and here.

And finally, two things: once and for all — the man will never, ever die. And I can’t stop staring at this picture.