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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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October 25, 2005

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Comments

Keith

I wonder if the only thing that transcends the genre is talent.

Yes.

I'd say more, but there is nothing more to say.

robert ferrigno

I think Olen's entry is an honorable and unflinching examination of where he is as a writer, and where he wants to go. He is to applauded for having the courage to return to his early self and ask if he measures up. All good writers --- and I would suggest all good humans --- should do this regularly.

My own perspective is that the ghetto exists, but it's rather a fine place. Good books, dynamic characters in high risk situations, a focus on duplicity, sex, ambition and betrayal. Hey, Olen, this IS what Shakespeare was writing about. You made it. Now relax and get back to work.

Ingrid (I.J.Parker)

Apart from some minor restrictions, the genre of the crime novel is as capable of achieving greatness as the literary novel. It is true that less is expected of the author, and in the beginning I found that rather reassuring because writing is learning experience. But there is nothing that restricts any of us to writing drivel. And there is everything that challenges us to reach for new heights within the genre.

Karen Olson

Robert's comment about Shakespeare really resonates. Who knows where the crime genre will be in 100 years...

Shelly

Shakespeare's works are pitch black, woven with murder, crime and sorcery. He was a genre writer of sorts, and we appreciate his genius in retrospect. An insightful artist can take any clay and fashion it into arresting sculpture. Please, enough platitudes about what is "over." I heard vampire novels were over. I heard coming-of-age doesn't sell. I hear lots of things. As anyone who has pitched to executives knows, nobody knows anything. It's all about the willingness of the radical individual to tell their story.

Elaine

Bravo, Olen. To thine own self be true. Isn't that how it goes?

Elaine

I think my post got lost-so I'll do it again.

Bravo Olen! To thine own self be true. Isn't that how it goes?

Olen Steinhauer

Just so I'm not misunderstood, I don't want to dis crime fiction a'tall with this stuff. Genre is utterly beside the point when it comes to good literature. The ghetto is a transient thing, because in the long run the great stuff floats. I do think, though, that the push for new heights should be raised more often than it is within the community. But living where I do I'm not really "in" the community as a lot of you are, and perhaps I'm not seeing what's already there.

shana

i sent this to two clients so far, and both loved it! go on storytelling.

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