Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind: Great Guest Blog Month, Week Three

Picks of the Week

Benjamin Black: The Lemur: A Novel
Anyone who thinks John Banville lacks a sense of humor clearly did not read his serial for the New York Times magazine, available in novella-ish format in July. The story has all the basic crime ingredients - blackmail, adultery, murder, betrayal, that sort of thing - but it is so, so clear how much fun Banville had writing this pseudonymous exercise, loading up sentences filled with bizarre but well-placed metaphors and gently (or not so gently!) lampooning his characters as he moves them around his narrative chess board.
Cassandra Clare: City of Bones
I read this on the flight home from the LA Times Festival of Books and it really is about the perfect airport read: fantastic storytelling, characters whose adventures and melodramas wrap you in their spells and really ass-kicking action scenes involving demons and all manner of underworld types. Sure, Clare clearly owes a huge debt to Buffy and Harry Potter, but dammit, I want to find out what will happen next to Clary, Jace, Simon & co. - and that's exactly the button that's supposed to be pushed.
Ibi Kaslik: ANGEL RIOTS
Reading this novel was like being transported back to the mid-1990s Montreal I knew during my college years. But it also affords an inside look at the ups and downs, the politics and the dramas, the hookups and breakups endemic to a rising rock band. It's clear, whether told from the vantage point of the young violin prodigy with a boy's name or her bandmate looking to redefine himself outside the orbit of his best friend (and leader) that Kaslik knows this world cold, and we're privileged to share in this knowledge.
Irene Nemirovsky: David Golder, The Ball, Snow in Autumn, The Courilof Affair (Everyman's Library (Cloth))
I'd recommend this simply based off of the utter gobsmacking brilliance that is LE BAL, one of the most crystalline and shocking novellas I've ever read, but the other three works simply confirm Nemirovsky's literary brilliance. THE COURILOF AFFAIR is a wonderful surprise for mystery readers because it's her version of a spy novel, tackling the moral quandaries of terrorism for a so-called greater good by personalizing the narrator's deeds and misdeeds. In other words, Nemirovsky's entire backlist can't be translated fast enough for me.
Sarah Hall: Daughters of the North
Goddamn, Hall can write, and her chosen dystopian subject matter gives her the chance not only to show off her sentence-by-sentence chops but to demonstrate how few steps removed our current culture is from the apocalyptic fervor of her world, where the reproductive rights of women are trampled on so definitively it takes an army of women to try, however futile the exercise might be, to take some independence back. I can't think of enough good things to say about this except that it should be read, now and years to come.

Great Guest Blog Month, Week Three

Our first guest has already introduced himself, but that doesn't mean I can't do a more formal intro, too. So Tuesday's guest blogger is, indeed, George Pelecanos, and his newest novel, THE NIGHT GARDENER, is nothing short of amazing. As for links, there are a few I could point everyone to but my favorite is still the one he did with Victor Gischler for the late, lamented World's Worst Interview...

On Wednesday, Mike Lawson takes the helm. His two books to date, THE INSIDE RING and THE SECOND PERIMETER, count as two of my favorite new thrillers of late. Because they center around the political world without being political thrillers. Because Joe DeMarco, the "fixer" who stars in both books, is the kind of smartass I'd want to hang out with. And because Lawson knows his turf and delivers the goods with a wry, enthusiastic voice. I had the pleasure of meeting him in Phoenix during ThrillerFest and can't wait to see what he does next.

Then on Friday, door number three reveals Denise Mina. Aside from writing damn good crime novels, like the GARNETHILL trilogy, THE FIELD OF BLOOD, and THE DEAD HOUR (the latter featuring the wonderfully flawed fledgling Glaswegian journalist Paddy Meehan) she's aceing the graphic novel world and writing a play or two. And she promises to have "shit loads to say" so I'm holding her to it...

I may pop back here and there on Thursday, but then again, I may not. So enjoy this trio of fantastic writers, whose posts appear below this one, and see you on the weekend.

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August 17, 2006

Great Guest Blog Month, Week Three

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