The BEA Hangover Weekend Update

NYTBR: So it goes without saying that the most talked about review of the weekend was Curtis Sittenfeld’s snobbish takedown of Melissa Bank’s new novel THE WONDER SPOT.  So let’s see, writing chick lit is like being a slut. Well, damn. I wonder what crime novelists are then? I should go retrieve my illegal red dress and knee high stiletto black boots right now to find out…

It’s doubly ironic considering Bank’s interview in the current

edition of Entertainment Weekly, where she reveals that she just read

PREP and thought “Curtis Sittenfeld is really great.”

Otherwise, Randy Kennedy probes how all those front-of-the-store book tables are bought by publishers, Charles Taylor has a mixed take on John Burdett’s latest Bangkok tale, and Deborah Friedell ponders what Amazon’s quirky new features actually mean for selling books.

WaPo Book World: Paul Skenazy’s mystery column focuses on new stuff by Donna Leon,Yasmina Khadra, David Housewright and Harry Hunsicker;  Michael Dirda luuuuuuurves the “new” (well, it has been out for ages in the UK) biography of B.S. Johnson; and Book World editors pick the best novels of the season so far.

G&M: Lisa Gabriele is rather frustrated with Sean Wilsey’s uberMcSweeney memoir; Martin Levin goes Down Under for some quality fiction at the Writer’s Festival; and Kenneth Howe looks at how science has uniquely transformed the crime fighting game.

Observer: Laila Aboulela cares more about religion than nationality, as she explains in an interview with Anita Sethi; Nicholas Stagardt writes a chilling account of the role of children in Nazi Germany; and Stephanie Merritt is pleased with the International Man Booker Prize’s choice for its inaugural winner.

The Scotsman: John Freeman finds out what’s happening in Salman Rushdie’s crazy conflicted life; Carol Anne Davis reveals what’s on her bookshelf and what she got rid of from it; and Aline Templeton is trying to stake claim as the female equivalent of Ian Rankin.

The Rest:

Tom & Enid Schantz return with their mystery column for the Denver Post, looking at the latest by Mo Hayder, John Daniel and John Shannon.

David Montgomery’s column at the Chicago Sun Times focuses on new releases by Laura Lippman, Julie Hyzy, Dylan Schaffer, Julia Spencer-Fleming and Lee Child, as well as the novella anthology TRANSGRESSIONS.

Lisa Scottoline talks to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review about cruel rejections, sweet success and her latest book.

A two-fer at the SF Chronicle: David Lazarus rounds up new mysteries by Michael Connelly, Elmore Leonard and Jilliane Hoffman, while Debra Spark has great things to say about Lee Martin’s insanely good THE BRIGHT FOREVER.

Laura Demanski is not impressed at all with Nick Hornby’s A LONG WAY DOWN. Seems to be the consensus, really…

Who are Australia’s best young novelists? Find out here in this piece by the Sydney Morning Herald. A crime writer makes the cut, and I must say, I’ve wanted to read Leigh Redhead’s book for ages — surely some US publishers would want a stripper PI book?

And finally, need more proof that Crazy Frog is the worst thing to happen to, well, anything? Then read this.