Necessary links

And first up, the Orange Prize Shortlist. Wow, what an interesting list this is as a lot of surprises move past the prelim stage along with several expected names. The shortlistees are Joolz Denby, Marina Lewycka, Maile Meloy, Lionel Shriver, Sheri Holman and Jane Gardam.

Janet Maslin finds lots of reasons to like Jess Walter’s new (and inexplicably delayed) novel, CITIZEN VINCE, although to my mind, a better comparison could be made between Walter’s writing here and the work of Ross Thomas, which combined political shenanigans and wry humor like almost nobody else.

Patrick Anderson revisits Charles McCarry’s classic spy novel THE TEARS OF AUTUMN, and while he still loves it, he wishes Paul Christopher wasn’t so damn perfect all the time.

So in one corner, Michael Chabon is accused of passing off fiction as fact. In another corner, e.e. cummings’ biographer is accused of plagiarism. Yikes!

Rosemary Goring wonders what to name that budding subgenre of books about women in middle age getting into chicklit-esque scrapes. Transita? Boudicca? Hen Lit? It’s so hard to choose…

Blah blah blah bloggers book deals blah blah blah.

I managed to miss linking to this piece in Saturday’s Guardian Review about the newfound interest and popularity in old pulp fiction, though I’m puzzled as to why new efforts, like Hard Case Crime, were not mentioned here.

Barbara Vine’s latest novel, THE MINOTAUR, is the Guardian’s digested read this week.

And finally, something that slipped my mind to link to when I was visiting Toronto because it was plastered all over the downtown core. The contest’s over now, but the poster will live on…well, maybe not.