The Weekend Update Unplugged

NYTBR: Liz Phair (?!?!) reviews a rock ‘n roll romance and talks about “Exile in Guyville”;  Liesl Schillinger succumbs to the prose stylings of Jhumpa Lahiri; and just when you think Joe Queenan leaves the NYTBR, his now-unfunny brand of “humor” returns anew.

WaPo Book World: Jonathan Yardley surveys baseball’s pioneer era; Ron Charles thinks he’s in love with Siri Hustvedt’s brainy po-mo-ish new novel; and Kevin Allman reviews new mysteries by Cara Black, Bill Floyd, Christian von Dithfurth, Linda Fairstein and Christopher Rice.

LA Times: Scott Timberg explores the unfilmable qualities of James Ellroy’s novels; Nick Owchar answers the Siren’s Call; Choire Sicha meets steelworker-turned short story writer Donald Ray Pollock; and Ed Champion reminds readers of Richard Matheson’s relevance.

G&M: Elizabeth Nickson reviews the much-anticipated novel by Padma Viswanathan; Andrew Pyper was happy to spend a few hours in the company of a heist novel in translation; and George Elliot Clarke pays tribute to Martin Luther King.

Guardian Review: Edgar Allan Poe’s stories are reworked by Britain’s top artists; Alexander McCall Smith rereads Barbara Pym with much delight; Mark Lawson explores Gordon Burn’s news-as-novel; and Kathryn Hughes is charmed by Budge Wilson’s Green Gables prequel, as she should be.

Observer: Peter Guttridge rounds up new crime novels by Nicola Upson, Lee Child, Allan Guthrie, Frances Fyfield and Jane Hill; Rachel Cooke examines Virago Modern Classics on their 30th anniversary; and Olivia Laing remains detached from the trajectory of Rebecca Miller’s debut novel.

The Times: Kate Muir chats with Salman Rushdie about his new novel THE ENCHANTRESS OF FLORENCE; Max Hastings has his say on a new book about global organized crime; and Jeanette Winterson goes hunting in the self-help section of the bookstore.

The Scotsman: Jackie McGlone talks forensic pathology and thriller writing with Jonathan Hayes;Chitra Ramaswamy rediscovers one of Scotland’s “most unfairly neglected” authors; and Sara Paretsky gets the Q&A treatment.

The Rest:

The SF Chronicle profiles the pioneers of fiction podcasts, Scott Sigler and Seth Harwood.

The Chron also has Eddie Muller’s latest crime fiction column, which spends time dissecting new and old releases by Ace Atkins, Domenic Stansberry and Mercedes Lambert.

Dick Adler is back in the Chicago Tribune singing the praises of Libby Hellmann’s EASY INNOCENCE.

Susanna Yager enjoys the criminal writing efforts of Martin Walker and Brian McGilloway.

The NYDN’s Sheryl Connelly raves about Colin Harrison’s new thriller THE FINDER.

Cheesecake and Crime may be the most brilliant, if fattening, concept ever. Although if I were to (hahaha!) open a food-themed mystery bookshop, it would be all about dark chocolate. 70% and up.

The pseudonymous David Stone talks up his new spy novel, THE ORPHEUS DECEPTION, to Regis Behe.

Nicolette Jones at the Independent chats with Susan Hill about her newest project: a children’s book.

Wow, I have never seen such snobbery drip from the pages of a book review section. Or at least not in a long while.

Charlton Heston has died at the age of 84.

And finally, ladies and gentleman, your Rube Goldberg contest winner.