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Picks of the Week

  • Diana Spechler: Who by Fire: A Novel (P.S.)

    Diana Spechler: Who by Fire: A Novel (P.S.)
    Spechler's unfliching, beautifully written debut strikes at the heart of how one catastrophic event creates a fissure so deep it breaks a small family into fragmented pieces. A little girl is kidnapped, presumed dead, and over a decade later her mother is still searching for answers, her older sister seeks solace in meaningless sex and her brother - who blames himself for the crime's commission - finds his life's solution among ultra-Orthodox Judaism. Spechler uses the inciting event to show the ways in which family members cling to and turn away from each other, do terrible things with the best intentions and show the comforts and prejudices of religiosity with a compassionate eye and voice.

  • Iain Levison: Dog Eats Dog

    Iain Levison: Dog Eats Dog
    First published in France a few years ago, Bitter Lemon press finally makes this darkly comic gem available in English. When a bank robber, bleeding profusely from his last and very botched job, lands in a sleepy New Hampshire college town, disaster is pretty much inevitable. Never is that more true than for Elias White, roped into being the robber's accomplice as a result of an ill-fated dalliance glimpsed through an open window, and for FBI agent Denise Lupo, whose ability is less dogged and more fragmented. Levison nails the academic atmosphere and its jarring juxtaposition with the criminal underworld, but most of all he's clearly having fun with his given premise.

  • Matthew Hall: The Art of Breaking Glass

    Matthew Hall: The Art of Breaking Glass
    If this debut were published in 2008 instead of 1997, I suspect it would have been greeted with the same acclaim and the same sense that this is a major talent with a great deal in store for his career. Because holy hell, this has tremendous pacing, wonderful characters and an offbeat and very unique voice. But since its original publication, the book is all but out of print and there's no new novel from Hall in sight, as he's concentrated on TV and screenwriting duties. So read this book and hope that a) some publisher decides to reissue it b) Hall follows it up someday.

  • Victor Gischler: Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse: A Novel

    Victor Gischler: Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse: A Novel
    After four crime novels, Gischler turns to something a little different - and a lot more unclassifiable - with this incredibly funny, violent, panoramic and pulpy apocalyptic novel. The world Mortimer Tate left behind was about to go into ruins but what he returns to nine years later is littered with machine guns, strip clubs and people looking out for their best interests (both literally and carnivorously.) With the help of an eclectic crew of sidekicks and gun-toting babes, Mortimer prepares to save the world at the lost city of Atlanta - whether he likes it or not.

  • Zoe Sharp: Third Strike: A Thriller

    Zoe Sharp: Third Strike: A Thriller
    Once again, Zoe Sharp finds a way to make the thriller genre her own by focusing on the psychological toll that violence takes upon a person. By the end of THIRD STRIKE, Charlie Fox is at a very dark place, fully cognizant of the consequences her actions have taken upon those she's been asked to guard and those she loves, and I was profoundly disturbed in a way I haven't been after reading a thriller in quite some time. This is a long, long way from mindless fluff, and if you're prepared to travel some very dark and thoughtful corners, this is the book (and series) to read.

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April 12, 2006

midweek smatterings

Christopher Moore, who's about to embark on a 30-city tour for his newest novel A DIRTY JOB, talks to the SF Chronicle about his books, why he's into fantastically-tinged stories, and his impending move back to San Francisco.

Colleen McCullough is best known for the massively successful THE THORN BIRDS, but as she tells the California Literary Review, her newest work is a crime novel -- and she explains the reasons for this new direction.

The Christian Science Monitor explores a new book that explains the science of Sherlock Holmes -- and whether it holds up to real scrutiny.

Michael Collins took part in the North Pole Marathon last weekend -- and as it happens, he ended up winning the whole event, a half-hour ahead of the second-place finisher.

Maxine Clarke debuts as a book reviewer in the Philadelphia Inquirer today, giving her reasons for why Martyn Waites' THE MERCY SEAT is an excellent, excellent thriller.

Mary Higgins Clark talks to the Detroit News about the upcoming Metro Book & Author lunch, her newest books and her newest venture -- co-owner of the New Jersey Nets.

Whither the sex column? Now that Amy Sohn's dropped out to focus on motherhood, the Observer Sheelah Kolhatkar goes around asking and finds the new trend is..."mommy/baby porn."

Germano Facetti, who died last weekend at the age of 77, was instrumental in creating those iconic covers for Penguin's classics. The Guardian pays tribute to him.

George MacDonald Fraser, the creator of Flashman, talks to the Telegraph of why he's ashamed about the Iraq war and what's next for his iconic raffish hero. Also in the same paper is Susanna Yager's newest crime column, looking at the latest by Donna Leon, Jason Starr, Joanna Hines and Leonardo Padura Fuentes.

And finally, Payola Six fascinates me to no end, mostly because the two principles -- Jared Paul Stern and Ron Burkle -- both seem to be somewhat insane folk.

Posted at 09:30 AM in Literary minded |

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Comments

Thanks so much for the mention and link, Sarah, I am flattered.
Enjoy your holiday, we are about to take our girls away for the long weekend so I will have to do without blogging for a few days too--- this being the UK and wifi a bit of a new concept in most places over here, sadly!

Posted by:Maxine Clarke | April 13, 2006 at 03:56 AM

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