Smatterings

The reaction to Nicholson Baker’s HUMAN SMOKE is nothing short of fascinating and pretty much fits in with my description of it as a “500-odd page Rohrshach test” in the roundtable happening all this week at Filthy Habits. Case in point: William Grimes, reviewing the book for the NYT (I guess Michiko decided enough was enough after panning so many of Baker’s books?) and sounding more like a petulant child who doesn’t want any of his assumptions challenged, or the commenters on last week’s Studio 360 broadcast going back and forth on a book they haven’t read but of course, have plenty of opinions on, or Adam Kirsch’s hilariously shrill review in the NY Sun.

Clea Simon has her say on Benjamin Black’s new crime novel in the Boston Globe.

USA TODAY gives Linda Fairstein a big writeup on the occasion of her new thriller KILLER HEAT.

The Frederick News Post covers Laura Lippman’s first signing for ANOTHER THING TO FALL – held at the ungodly hour of 5 AM yesterday.

There are about six zillion interviews with David Simon this week now that THE WIRE is done, so I’m randomly picking this one from the Baltimore City Paper.

Patrick Anderson is generally favorable about Dan Fesperman’s excellent thriller THE AMATEUR SPY.

It’s official: the #1 LADIES DETECTIVE AGENCY will be serialized on BBC and HBO.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune gets to know Laura Joh Rowland.

Hey Sarah McNally: if you’re serious about opening an outpost of McNally Robinson Jackson on the Upper West Side, Murder Ink & Ivy’s old space is still available for the low, low price of 18 grand a month. Or maybe it’s higher now because of “inflation.”

And finally….WTF? Judge for yourself, I suppose.