Moving Forward with the Weekend Update

NYTBR: Before we get to what appears to be the Book Review’s theme this week — politically savvy journo chicks — let’s first turn to Marilyn Stasio’s first mystery column of ’06, which is populated with her take on new books by David Hewson, Jesse Kellerman, David Fulmer & Sarah Graves.

Now, that other stuff? So, Christopher Buckley adores DOG DAYS; Jill Abramson devours a compendium of the best of 100 years of women in journalism; and John Simon’s collected theater reviews almost exhaust Leisl Schillinger, who has to sift through three volumes of it.

WaPo Book World: So of course the WaPo’s lead review is P.J. O’Rourke on Wonkette’s debut; Michael Dirda reflects on Lytton Strachey’s collected letters;  Jonathan Yardley gets gobsmacked by Olga Grushin’s “extraordinary” first novel; and Maureen Corrigan looks at new mysteries by Elizabeth Ironside, Catriona McPherson, Hazel Holt and Rita Lakin.

G&M: John Lawrence Reynolds probes the enduring power of secrets; Lee Henderson puzzles over “DFW”s new collection of essays; and Margaret Cannon rounds up the latest in crime fiction by Stephen Frey, Sue Walker, Iris Johansen, James Hawkins, and the Ladies Killing Circle.

Guardian Review: Pankaj Mishra extols the virtues of cocktails and room service to aid the writing life; Michel Faber is completely impressed with Yiyun Li’s debut short story collection;  and what happened to Richard Wright’s final novel? James Campbell attempts to find out.

Observer: Do prizes mean anything without a whiff of scandal? James English doesn’t seem to think so; the first installment of Ronan Bennett’s serial novel begins here; Philip Hensher admires Sarah Waters for going towards a more subtle approach in her newest book; Edward St. Aubyn overcame a devastating history to write devastatingly good novels; and Kate Mosse takes just a minute to answer some pressing questions.

The Times: Nicci French writes a wartime-themed short story; Erica Wagner uncovers the truth about a strange tale in Ted Allbeury’s life; Douglas Kennedy implores people to re-evaluate the merits of SATURDAY;

The Scotsman: Augusten Burroughs reveals just how much writing saved him from a life of destruction; Allan Massie examines a not-so-brief history of chemical design; and does Trainspotting still have the same cultural resonance it did when it was first published over a decade ago? Anna Millar tries to find out.

The Rest:

Dana Stabenow and Diana Gabaldon may not write similar books, but their friendship is longlasting enough to get them a dual Q&A with the Arizona Republic.

Oline Cogdill gives both thumbs up to James Grippando and Charles Todd on their respective new entries in long-running series.

Dick Adler’s latest crime fiction column looks at the latest by Howard Engel, Joanne Harris, W.E.B. Griffin, Massimo Carlotto, and the ADVENTURE OF THE MISSING DETECTIVE Anthology.

The Seattle Times’ Adam Woog looks at new stuff by Sue Grafton, Paula Woods, Howard Engel and the Otto Penzler-edited MURDER AT THE FOUL LINE.

Mary-Ann Tirone Smith’s memoir has been getting a lot of welcome attention, and the Hartford Courant’s Carole Goldberg interviews the writer (also known for her mystery novels) about why she chose to write this book now.

The Forward — the English-language edition of everyone’s favorite Yiddish newspaper — has a brief interview with Jesse Kellerman on his debut thriller SUNSTROKE.

June Sawyers gives David Fulmer’s RAMPART STREET quite the nice writeup for the SF Chronicle; the paper also profiles Eddie Muller, who’s about to kick off another edition of Noir City, the fabulous movie festival that I might actually someday get to go to.

James Sallis praises the writing of a recently deceased Estonian writer, Mati Unt, to the skies in his newest Boston Globe column.

Louise Doughty debuts a column in the Telegraph that will presumably get people to write a novel in a year, though the reality is a bit more complex than that.

David Milofsky follows up on the curious case of Brad Vice, the writer and professor who may have plagiarized a 1930s book.

If Paul Auster isn’t happy with the world, why is his new book, THE BROOKLYN FOLLIES, bordering on comedy? John Freeman tries to find out for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

And finally, congratulations, Alafair! Very felicitous news indeed.