On the good ship Massive Weekend Update

NYTBR: Marilyn Stasio, in her latest column,  is a bit less than charitable towards Robert B. Parker’s latest Spenser novel (while the next, interestingly enough, will be out this fall, as Putnam is switching around their schedules) She’s a little nicer towards new releases by Lawrence Block, John Dunning and Bruce Alexander.

Otherwise in the Book Review, Lauren Henderson gets the equivalent of a bitch-slap by Pamela Paul (did she read the same book I did? hah?) Pam Houston is more than impressed with Elizabeth McKenzie’s maiden effort, Dawn Drazal wonders if Alexander McCall Smith is destined to be the 21st century’s P.G. Wodehouse, and Jonathan Ames takes on the Anglophile-esque book by Julian Fellowes, SNOBS.

WaPo Book World: Blake Eskin finds Francine Prose’s latest novel to be little more than comic posturing; Michael Dirda examines a new book of criticism by German literary star W.G. Sebald; and John Pomfret rounds up books about the rising superpower that is China.

G&M: Rebecca Caldwell chats with Emma Richler, whose latest novel revisits the crazy Weiss family (likely modelled on Richler’s own); Martin Levin has a rock ‘n roll kind of roundup; and Peter Robinson reviews a brand new biography of Jimi Hendrix, which makes me think that more crime writers should review books about their favorite kinds of music…

Guardian Review: Zoe Heller celebrates the work of a teenage Jane Austen; Jon Courtenay Grimwood does his approximation of turning Japanese; Orlando French throws out logic and revels in the rollicking nature of C.C. Humphreys’ latest historical adventure; and this profile of Thomas Maschler explains how a boy who fled war-torn Vienna ended up founding the Booker Prize.

Observer:  Greg Iles has a good long chat about his work, past and present;  Stephanie Merritt approves of the opening chapters comprising the Tsunami-relief charity book; and Robert McCrum is left slightly depressed by the memoirs of Tom Maschler.

The Times: It’s been ages, but Marcel Berlins returns with his crime column, reviewing the latest by Peter Robinson, Guillermo Martinez, Donna Leon and Walter Mosley; Amanda Craig chats with children’s lit doyenne Diana Wynne Jones; and a second helping of the Donna Leon comes from Lucy Atkins’ positive review in the Sunday paper.
 

The Scotsman: Allan Massie evaluates whether 44 Scotland Street works well in bound form; J. Robert Lennon’s collection of 100 miniatures is met with approval; and Marian Keyes expounds on what would happen if she ruled the world.

The Rest:

With the London Book Fair underway today, I’ll have lots more related stuff on it tomorrow and Tuesday, but first — Lit Idol. The competition will judge its winner tomorrow, but Otis Twelve is trying to rally his hometown troops, as he tells the Daily Nonpareil.

And who has been picked to write the next installment in the Adventures of Peter Pan? Why, it’s Geraldine McCaughrean, chosen in a small ceremony at an earlier session at LBF.

Katy Munger seems to be appearing in the Sun-Sentinel more and more — and I sure couldn’t be happier. She looks at Jonathon King’s latest PI novel, A KILLING NIGHT.

Adam Woog at the Seattle Times returns with his monthly column, looking at new releases by Anne Perry, Kenzo Kitakata, Peter Robinson, Ken Bruen and Boris Akunin.

Lauren Willig went to grad school for an unusual reason — to pen a historically accurate romacne novel. The result is her debut THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE PINK CARNATION, and in this profile by the Associated Press, she reveals her career goal is to be…a litigator. After finishing her doctorate. And writing novels. And you thought I was a busy girl?

Sara Paretsky’s next VI Warshawski novel won’t be out for a couple of months yet, but she’s profiled in the Cleveland Plain Dealer nonetheless, as a preview of a talk she’ll give later today.

The Melbourne Age meets Tom Reiss, whose new book THE ORIENTALIST is not only racking up great reviews around the world but has a pretty damn fascinating subject — a Jew who masqueraded as a Muslim and wrote a classic Azerbaijani novel.

Lots of writers make the jump from romance to mystery, and two just interviewed are Nancy Martin (in the Charlotte Observer) and Carola Dunn (in the Oregonian.)

Many folks are kind of pissed off at how well Ian McEwan’s new novel is doing, but as Sarah Sands argues in the Telegraph, perhaps it’s because the novelist dares to show a happy marriage in evidence– one mirrored after his own.

And speaking of SATURDAY, it gets what I believe is its first American review over at the Chicago Sun-Times — and it’s a good one.

The SF Chronicle’s Timothy Peters is “deeply satisfied” by the latest Wallander novel — starring Linda, that is — by Henning Mankell.

The Chicago Tribune’s Art Winslow is deeply affected by Kevin Guilfoile’s debut CAST OF SHADOWS, which does have a very cool concept, but alas, suffers from a very boggy middle that it never quite recovers from.

Chalk up another in the rave column for Lawrence Block’s new Matthew Scudder novel, courtesy of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

I’m hearing lots of good things about Kevin Young’s noir poetry collection, BLACK MARIA. Not only does it get a nice review from Freelance King John Freeman in the Denver Post, but the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Rege Behe chats with the writer about the poem’s film-ish influences.

And finally, it looks like being a JAP — Jewish American Princess, that is — is suddenly cool again, if you believe Alana Newhouse of the Boston Globe. All I have to say is, oy gevalt.