Soldier on, O Weekend Update

NYTBR: Marilyn Stasio reviews new crime fiction offerings from Philip Kerr, Tess Gerritsen, Morag Joss and Ellen Crosby; Will Self talks about Celine; and it’s a nice touch to get Allegra Goodman to review Jennifer Gilmore’s debut GOLDEN COUNTRY.

WaPo Book World: It’s all about education, as Jerome Karabel looks at a new book on the price of admission and Alexandra Robbins’ tale of overachievers gets analyzed; John McNally finds much to admire about Jess Walter’s THE ZERO; and Michael Dirda wonders if he completely misread Rachel Kadish’s new novel as “trying to transcend chick-lit.”

G&M: Michael Posner talks to Margaret Atwood about her new collection and why it’s not autobiographical, no really it isn’t; Wendy Jean’s debut looks at how a missing child affects the rest of the family, to smart effect; and Ian Buruma’s account of the death of filmmaker Theo van Gogh inspires a lengthy essay from Claire Berlinski.

Guardian Review: Jeremy Treglown pays tribute to Roald Dahl as the 90th anniversary of his birth approaches; Andrew Motion revisits his childhood in his new memoir and explains why he did so; and as part of a book club discussion on FLESHMARKET CLOSE, Ian Rankin comments on unintended parallels between fiction and reality.

Observer: Martin Amis writes about ⁹⁄₁₁ on the eve of its fifth anniversary; Anthony Quinn wishes Wayne Rooney’s biographer hadn’t quite been so forthcoming in his memoir; and even though Robert Harris finely skewers Roman politics, Andrew Rawnsley would have liked to see something more contemporary.

The Times: Tom Deveson wishes he could admire or even enjoy Roddy Doyle’s revisiting of Paula Spencer; Michael Cox explains the narrative technique of his debut’s opening chapter; Peter Millar reviews new thrillers by R.S. Downie & Scott Smith; and Philip Oltermann previews the World Cup for Writers.

The Scotsman: Barry Unsworth explains why explorating all facets of morality is a key part of his fiction; Vanessa Curtis deems Diane Setterfield’s much-hyped debut “remarkably compelling”; William Sutton’s “High Victorian” crime novel sounds like a joy to read, as does Karin Alvtegen’s psychological thriller SHAME; while Gerald Kaufman reviews the latest in genre by Katy Gardner, Robin Cook & Jacqueline Winspear.

The Rest:

It’s never too late, but Oline Cogdill gives her glowing view of George Pelecanos’s THE NIGHT GARDENER a few weeks after most others have done so.

Dick Adler reviews the latest in mystery by Joe Meno, Francine Mathews, Beverle Graves Myers, Brad Meltzer, Robert Goldsborough, as well as the MWA’s “Till Death Do Us Part” anthology and EQMM’s Hurricane Katrina issue.

Adam Woog reviews new crime fiction by Jacqueline Winspear, Ayelet Waldman, Michael Dibdin, Maggie Estep & Michael Donnelly.

Regis Behe talks with Edward Jones about how his work pretty much comes entirely from imagination, not from observation.

James Ellroy continues to make the interview circuit to talk about the movie made on his 1988 novel THE BLACK DAHLIA – this time talking with the Seattle Times’ Jeff Shannon.

Speaking of noir, David Ulin has a whole lot to say about its ethos in a great essay for the Los Angeles Times. In the same paper, film critic Kenneth Turan reviews Philip Kerr’s latest Bernie Gunther offering.

For two differing takes on Haruki Murakami’s BLIND WILLOW, SLEEPING WOMAN, see John Freeman’s rave in the Denver Post and Edward Champion’s mixed assessment in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Naomi Alderman’s brilliant debut DISOBEDIENCE is finally available in the US, and the SF Chronicle’s Sara Peyton finds elements to be wonderful with others a bit more clunky. The Chronicle also reviews Jed Rubenfeld’s THE INTERPRETATION OF MURDER and John Le Carre’s new thriller, MISSION SONG.

The Chicago Sun-Times’ Debra Pickett wonders when chick-lit will tackle ⁹⁄₁₁ – if ever.

Lee Goldberg’s new MONK novel gets a lengthy writeup in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

And finally, I’m not computing the statistics of this. That’s just very cool though.