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  • 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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« The High Flying Weekend Update | Main | New Series, New Publisher for Mosley »

December 10, 2007

Monday Morning Smatterings

Janet Maslin has found another female crime writer to praise in Theresa Schwegel.

Patrick Anderson generally likes Jo Nesbo's THE REDBREAST, except for naming issues.

Clea Simon makes the case for Richard Marinick's IN FOR A POUND.

David Baldacci gets a lengthy writeup in USA TODAY.

NY Mag's Sam Anderson rounds up his 2007 in books.

20 years later, THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES holds up rather differently.

Clayton Moore's Bookslut column has a decidedly dangerous edge to it.

Ed Champion puts Ian Rankin's early novel WATCHMAN in perspective for the LA Times.

Scott Timberg does the same, in a manner of speaking, with regards to Robert Heinlein.

At Bloomberg News, Charles Taylor has his say on crime novels by Henry Chang and Gabriel Cohen.

The Walrus asks Canadian writers to write noir stories in their home cities, like Halifax and St. John's.

The NBCC publishes its Ethics in Reviewing survey, about which I'll probably have more to say later.

Posted at 09:30 AM in Literary minded |

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Comments

Clea Simon

Thanks for the posting, Sarah. Am curious to read others' takes on the Marinick. It wasn't "Boyos," and I wonder how it will do outside of our shared hometown.

Posted by: Clea Simon | December 10, 2007 at 01:06 PM

Dean James

When I saw the bit about the Nesbo review, and Anderson's naming problem, I thought it must have something to do with a hero named Harry Hole. It's rather an unfortunate name for an English-speaking reader ... or at least to me, it is....

Posted by: Dean James | December 10, 2007 at 02:15 PM

Steve Allan

Ha! Halifax Noir. What a riot.

Posted by: Steve Allan | December 11, 2007 at 10:39 AM

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