Head Cold-Induced Smatterings

New York’s first snowfall has come and gone, but the nasty cold lodged in my head remains. So it’s nothing but more links today unless I get some bizarre burst of energy later this afternoon:

Patrick Anderson enjoys Eliot Pattison’s PRAYER FOR THE DRAGON and picks his 10 best thrillers of the year.

Motoko Rich eats at Red Lobster with Stewart O’Nan, who deserves a mass audience but because he never writes the same book twice, has difficulty getting one.

AP’s Hillel Italie chats with Ha Jin.

The Millions has begun posting their “year in reading” series for 2007, and my thoughts are here.

The Toronto Star’s Vit Wagner looks at the international success of Henning Mankell.

At PW, Dzanc Books gets a great writeup and Christa Faust talks about her awesome Hard Case Crime novel THE MONEY SHOT.

Lisa Scottoline tells the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about her involvement with Court TV’s MURDER BY THE BOOK.    

Ian Rankin makes news for saying that terror threats are used to manipulate the public.

Wow, the cover art for Sebastian Faulks’ Bond novel is quite retro.

The LAT’s Scott Timberg talks with the Powell clan about the venerable independent bookstore and how it can survive in volatile bookstore climes.

And inadvertently, GalleyCat breaks the news that Icelandic translator Bernard Scudder died suddenly earlier this year. I’m trying to find out more information but this is such a blow because his translations of work by Yrsa Sigudardottir and Arnaldur Indridason were amazing – and not easily replaced.