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Picks of the Week

  • Adam Thirlwell: Politics: A Novel (P.S.)

    Adam Thirlwell: Politics: A Novel (P.S.)
    One would think this book is about sex, And while it is, since the characters have so much about it, some of it is kinky, and threesomes play a big role in the narrative. mostly POLITICS is about everything else: the mechanics, the logistics, the emotional minefields, the awkward questions, the moral dilemmas, and, well, the politics of what it is to be with someone you love or someone you don't, and how an act that should be simple is anything but. Thirlwell was disgustingly young when he wrote this but he absolutely understands that to make this book work, there must be an underlying sweetness and sincerity to the entire story. Now I want to see what he's up to more recently. Amazon | Indiebound | B & N | Borders | Powell’s

  • Jennifer Mascia: Never Tell Our Business to Strangers: A Memoir

    Jennifer Mascia: Never Tell Our Business to Strangers: A Memoir
    Years ago I was blown away by Mascia's Modern Love piece describing her parents' secret past: her father was a mobbed-up convicted murderer, and her mother not only knew all about it, but aided and abetted her husband when life required being a fugitive, selling drugs, and living at great highs and crushing lows. Mascia's book tells a more whole story about her peripatetic life, and even with every new shocking revelation what remained consistent was how much she loved her parents, no matter how deep those lows went, and how much she misses them now that they are gone. Unconditional love never goes away, no matter if those who receive it deserve it. Indiebound | Amazon | Borders | B & N | Powell’s

  • Juli Zeh: In Free Fall

    Juli Zeh: In Free Fall
    Give me a novel of ideas and if the story is good and the characters are believable and entertain me, I am there. Give me a crime novel of ideas, where two physics professors, friends and rivals, opposites but startlingly similar, do emotional battle on an intellectual canvas, raise the stakes through betrayal, the possible kidnapping of a child, and embroil a romantic-leaning police detective in the complicated machinations of quantum theory, and holy hell, I think I have myself one of my favorite books of the year. Powell’s | Indiebound | Amazon | Borders | B & N

  • Simon Lelic: A Thousand Cuts

    Simon Lelic: A Thousand Cuts
    It appears to be a crime with an easy solution: a disgruntled schoolteacher shoots up his place of employment and kills several students in the process. But really, Lelic's novel is about the catastrophic consequences of bullying, and how this act is hardly limited to kids turning on other kids, but burrows deeply into adult relationships as well. He evokes empathy for the killer and sympathy for Lucia, the investigating officer who has to fight for every scrap of dignity as she pieces together the far more complex truth of what really happened at the school. Powell’s | Amazon | Borders | Indiebound | B & N

  • William Lindsay Gresham: Nightmare Alley

    William Lindsay Gresham: Nightmare Alley
    I cannot stop raving about this book to people. The circular narrative structure, the demented feel of a traveling carny troupe, and the extraordinary rise and precipitous fall of Stan Carlisle give off the persistent, raging feeling that hell is always with us, and success is basically a sucker's game. No matter what the biographical evidence on Gresham's state of mind leading up to and after the book's bestseller (and movie basis) status in 1946, I don't think we can really know what demons plagued him to produce this marvelous noir gem. B & N | Indiebound | Amazon | Borders | Powell’s

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March 14, 2005

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Comments

Mary

Gotta work on my drinking skills. I only got an "of" while Laura got the cool "drinking" link. I need to hang out with her a bit more ;-)

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow night. I had tried to get Wednesday off to recover, but my boss just called an 11am meeting. Guess I should be grateful that its not 9am.

Aldo

I can't wait for him to arrive on West Coast leg of the tour. I have a surprise for him next week!

JDRhoades

I'll be joining the tour for one night on the 24th in Houston. I'm in training till then.

Jason Starr

I can report from the Bruen Front Line that the Pope of Galway has arrived in America in top form. There was a small gathering at his hotel last night including me, Ken, SJ Rozan, Reed Coleman, Jim Winter, Todd Robinson... Jim Winter's blog may have more details...Then Todd (a NYC bouncer) took Ken and me barhopping to some of the places where he works....I last saw Ken late last night at a bar on Houston Street and there was chatter about "after hours places"...so, for all I know, he's still out there somewhere....

John Schramm

I will catch up with Ken when he'll be signing in San Mateo, CA this Sunday, March 20. "M" is for Mystery is three or four doors away from an Irish Pub and across the street from a sports bar.

Aldo, how far South are you again?

Aldo

John, about 3 to 4 hours in Ventura.

Jim Winter

The last thing I remember from Monday night is Starr, Bruen, and the Todd dumping me into a cab. The next thing I remember was finding myself draped over a mailbox in downtown Trenton with a note pinned to my forehead (in Starr's handwriting) that said, "Thanks for the memories and the Moulin Rouge."

I'm never drinking Jaeger again.

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