Weekend Update at Standard Time
A few things from me to kick off this Weekend Update after we turned the clocks back. My new column at the Baltimore Sun looks at new mysteries and thrillers by P.D. James, Christopher Fowler and Jon Fasman; in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers, I interviewed Jayne Anne Phillips about starting a new MFA program at Rutgers-Newark and opined at length about book trailers; and as an experiment, I’ll be syndicating some of my Picks of the Week over at Flavorwire, the new culture blog from Flavorpill, as “The Weekly Reader,” which will appear there every Friday.
Now to the links:
NYTBR: Jon Fasman explores Saul Bellow’s Chicago; Tom de Haven travels cross-country with THE FLYING TROUTMANS; Jon Meacham on reading like a president; and Marilyn Stasio reviews crime fiction by Karen Maitland, Ken Bruen, Christine Barber, Ruth Brandon and Aimee & David Thurlo.
WaPo Book World: David Thomson’s herculean movie-related task goes over well with Charles Matthews; Ron Charles digs Miriam Toews’ new novel; and Meryle Secrest is impressed with the breadth and scope of the new Chagall bio.
LA Times: Ed Park on the glory of the science fiction short story; Ericka Schickel chats with Sarah Vowell about THE WORDY SHIPMATES; and David Ulin revisits the non-fiction work of George Orwell.
G&M: Andrew Taylor looks at the new Inspector Banks novel by Peter Robinson; Claire Berlinski makes the case for Anton Chekhov’s stories; Jeffrey Miller examines THE BRASS VERDICT; and Margaret Cannon rounds up new crime novels by Fred Vargas, Louise Penny, Jonathan Kellerman, Sharon Kaye and M.C. Beaton.
Guardian Review: the broadsheet publishes a new short story by Lorrie Moore; Josh Gleen and Mark Kingwell’s delightful THE IDLER’S GLOSSARY gets some well-deserved ink; and Matthew Lewin rounds up new thrillers by R.J. Ellory, Peter Leonard, Michael Connelly and Michael Dobbs.
Observer: Leading American novelists ponder the legacy of George W. Bush; James Purdon likes “the low growl of violence” in the just-published Kerouac/Burroughs collaboration; and Stephen Bayley watches QUANTUM OF SOLACE and is perturbed by product placement.
The Times: Amanda Craig profiles Neil Gaiman; Matt Rudd is not impressed with Jonathan Ross’s book of leftovers; John Burnside extols the virtues of a writer’s retreat; Alan Sillitoe, the original Angry Young Man, explains his continued need to write; and Lisa Tuttle engages in Halloween reading.
The Scotsman: Michel Faber tries his hand at the Gospel; Stuart Kelly hears Neil Gaiman read; and Jim Gilchrist pores through old dusty Scottish tomes with G. Ross Roy.
The Rest:
Oline Cogdill’s already in a holiday mood, reviewing new themed mysteries by Donna Andrews and Elaine Viets.
Tom Nolan has his say about Arnaldur Indridason’s THE DRAINING LAKE in the Wall Street Journal.
The Boston Globe’s Anna Mundow talks with John Barth about his new work THE DEVELOPMENT.
Is this to be Lucifer Box’s final case? His creator Mark Gatiss tips his hand to the Independent on Sunday’s Suzi Feay.
The SF Chronicle asks authors to analyze the presidential candidates’ choices of reading material.
At the Independent, John Freeman polls various writers on the current American election.
Nicholas Davidoff wonders about the current direction of memoir in the WSJ. Also, Richard Woodward reads the translated works of current Nobel laureate Jean Marie-Gustave Le Clezio.
City Pages has a lengthy profile of Graywolf Press, the indie publisher riding high with sales and critical acclaim.
The Age talks with Richard Flanagan about his new novel, WAITING.
26 years after it was commissioned, Jill Roe’s biography of Miles Franklin has finally arrived.
Neal Stephenson is on the Bat Segundo Show.
And finally, if you spent any time in Montreal, especially if you spent way too much time laughing when the Mix 96 DJs would call up and say “Hello, Depanneur” over and over again, this should not surprise you.