Return of the Weekend Update

Just to clarify for those that wondered: this was the “major announcement” I spoke of, and now it’s getting some serious press, with more to come. Of course, if others want to invent some additional reasons for my prior caginess, I’m all for that as well…but let’s get to the Update, shall we?

NYTBR: First, give Marilyn Stasio some props — in a week where she reviews major releases by Elizabeth Peters, Anne Perry and Mary Higgins Clark, who gets the lengthy commentary? Why, Bill Fitzhugh, for the second installment in his new series starring radio DJ Rick Shannon. And she likes the book, too. Extra cool!

Otherwise in the Book Review, Ridley Pearson is deemed “comfort food for the mind” for Michael Aggen; Joseph Finder gives his take on Joseph Kanon’s new WWII novel, ALIBI; and hypomania, it seems, is so prevalent that it gets written up by two separate books.

WaPo Book World: The paper gets positively spring-like in its roundup of forthcoming books;  Maureen Corrigan is utterly wowed by Jess Walter’s CITIZEN VINCE; Catherine Timber attempts to determine what makes Sarah Vowell tick; and Jen Chaney rounds up some new popular fiction releases by Jane Green, Jenny Colgan, Pearl Cleage, Philip Beard and Gabrielle Zevin.

G&M: Brad Smith likens Warren Dunford’s latest Hollywood novel to “Sidney Sheldon with sass;” Antanas Sileika goes gaga for a new short story collection by a Hungarian writer; Martin Levin can’t believe what Jon Ronson’s writing about is true, but conspiracy theorists are a strange bunch; and if you happened to catch the newest Royal Wedding on TV today, here’s some reading material for you.

Guardian Review: Lawrence Norfolk examines the sounds of writing; James Wood dishes on the man and writer that was Saul Bellow; and was G.K. Chesterton really a xenophobe underneath all his political rhetoric?

Observer: Peter Guttridge rounds up quality crime fiction by Martin Cruz Smith, Peter Moore Smith, Daniel Chavarria and Peter Spiegelman; Nicci Gerrard explains how a doctor’s diagnosis spurred her to run a marathon next week; Stephane Merritt wishes the new Bill Hicks bio was a little less detail-oriented; and what’s all this about literary journals being edgy, anyway?

The Times: Christina Koning is satisfied with Diana Evans’ debut effort; Barbara Vine (aka Ruth Rendell’s spookier alter) returns in fine form, according to Penelope Lively; and you need another reason to read GILEAD if the awards didn’t convince you? Well, here’s another rave review to chew on.   

The Scotsman: Julia Blackburn is interrogated about her bedside reading; Lytton Strachey’s letters don’t have quite the same zing as does those of his contemporaries like Virginia Woolf;

The Rest:

Since I didn’t do a weekend update last time, here’s a double dose of Oline Cogdill’s mystery review column: this week, she gets happy for Rupert Holmes’ new novel, while earlier, she’s enthusiastic for DRAMA CITY.

David Ellis’s new book, IN THE COMPANY OF LIARS, is different because it tells the story in reverse chronological order. He tells the Chicago Sun-Times why he decided to try this technique and what excites him about the genre in general.

Meanwhile, David Montgomery’s column ran last week in the paper, featuring reviews of the latest by David J. Walker, Harley Jane Kozak, Reed Farrel Coleman, Charlie Stella, Sarah Strohmeyer and Jodi Compton.

The Seattle Times’ Adam Woog returns with his crime column, looking at the latest by Donald Westlake, Yasmina Khadra, Kris Nelscott and Joseph Kanon.

Wesley Stace has written a historical novel. Pretty standard news, but not so when ou realize he plays music under the stage name of John Wesley Harding. Newsday finds out how he balances both careers.

Remember the brouhaha about Penguin UK’s gross mismanagement of royalty statements for their authors? Well, it looks like said authors are backing off from some of their claims, but still hope they see some of the money they are owed.

The Boston Globe asks several authors, including Ha Jin and Tracy Kidder, which books changed their lives.  In the same paper, Dana Gioia writes a thoughtful essay on why literature does still matter in our contemporary world.

So one thing that was overlooked when Hunter Thompson died was his journalistic craft and its influence on scores of wannabe (and working) reporters, but that’s getting its due in a new book speaking to many other journalistics on their working habits and style.

Want to know how to commit the perfect crime? Who better to ask than a couple of luminaries with the Australian chapter of SinC?

The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Karen Long was mesmerized by Gregory Galloway’s debut AS SIMPLE AS SNOW. No kidding — I thought about this book for days and days after I finished reading it, that’s how good it is.

Jess Walter’s hometown paper, the Spokane Spokesman-Review, is mightily impressed with his third novel, CITIZEN VINCE. As they should be, but then, Walter’s one of my favorite crime writers.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Regis Behe chats with Kazuo Ishiguro by phone about his latest novel, NEVER LET ME GO, and what he’s working on next.

The Age wonders why Cathy Cole needs to get so apologetic about loving crime fiction. Believe me, I wonder exactly the same thing…

And finally, uh, wasn’t Smell-O-vision a 1950s concept? What the hell is it still doing here?