Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind

Smatter This

Janet Maslin extols the virtues of Charlie Huston while Patrick Anderson is not so impressed with Ira Berkowitz.

Michiko Kakutani is wowed by Jayne Anne Phillips' long-awaited new novel LARK AND TERMITE.

More on Murder One's impending close from the Times Online, Martin Edwards, and Angolo Nero.

And Stacey's Bookstore in San Francisco will close its doors in March. More details at the SF Chronicle.

But in better news, Drenka Willen has been re-hired at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Oline Cogdill interviews Olen Steinhauer about his standout new novel THE TOURIST.

Rick Mofina talks to Reuters about his new standalone thriller SIX SECONDS.

Daniel Suarez chats with USA Today about the unusual publication path for his debut novel DAEMON.

The good folks at Murder by the Book talk to the Houston Chronicle about the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris.

The Oregonian's Steve Duin pens a mash note to Hannah Berry for her graphic novel BRITTEN AND BRULIGHTLY, about which I'll say more later except that it's phenomenal.

Richard Yates' biographer Blake Bailey discusses the author's depiction of women in Slate.

10 questions for Richard North Patterson at CBS News for his new novel ECLIPSE, reviewed by Art Taylor at the Washington Post.

Happy birthday, Sherlock Holmes!

Nick Mamatas on why teaching Edgar Allan Poe in schools sucks the joy out of reading the master's work.

Premiering on Australian TV: CARLA CAMETTI, PD.

Literary critic Tom LeClair has moved to Brooklyn to review books....and play table tennis. (via)

This makes me tremendously sad.

And finally, pictures from the abandoned soundstage of THE WIRE's final season.

Sunday Smatterings

My newest column at the Baltimore Sun has a neophyte feel to it because all three of the books I review, by Leonard Downie, Malla Nunn and George Matras, are debut novels.

Regis Behe chats with Hallie Ephron, whose first solo novel NEVER TELL A LIE is out and is very much the page turner, as Heller McAlpin discovers.

BONE BY BONE also leads off David Montgomery's mystery/thriller roundup in the Chicago Sun-Times, where he also looks at recent releases by Patricia Cornwell, Dean Koontz, Nick Stone and Charles Cumming.

Matthew Lewin's thriller column in the Guardian evaluates new books by Carol O'Connell, Jeffery Deaver, Tom Bale and Anna Blundy.

Marcel Berlins has what I think is the first proper print review of THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE, which exceeds the amazing standard set in THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO. Ali Karim also bestows hosannas on Stieg Larsson's second novel at The Rap Sheet, but there are spoilers aplenty in his review so beware. Maxine Clarke's review at Euro Crime strikes a better balance.

Carol O'Connell's acerbic wit is on display in this phone interview with John Orr at the San Mateo Daily News Her new standalone, BONE BY BONE, is favorably reviewed by Oline Cogdill.

Lin Anderson sits down with the Scotsman to discuss her bestselling Rhona MacLeod thrillers.

Richard Belzer talks about all things acting and comedy with the New York Post, not to mention his first (ghostwritten) novel I AM NOT A COP!

Jane Dickinson likes what she reads in CJ Box's new standalone, THREE WEEKS TO SAY GOODBYE.

In the Guardian, Per Petterson discusses his life of writing.

I can see what Julian Gough was trying to do with his so-called "Modest Proposal for the Publshing Industry", but as satire, it just doesn't work for me.

Anita Elberse thinks the blockbuster mentality is here to stay, but calling DEWEY a high-risk venture is overstating things. Grand Central knew the book was going to do amazingly well, shelled out the advance and marketing dough and made it happen. So duh.

Also in the WSJ, Jeffrey Trachtenberg looks at the big potential releases of 2009. I remain excited than between August and October, we'll have new novels from Thomas Pynchon, Nicholson Baker and Richard Powers. Fiction, so not dead.

So Adam Sternbergh tried to quash the surprisingly cogent arguments in David Denby's new long essay SNARK, but Ed Champion explains why Sternbergh misses the point.

io9 editrix Annalee Newitz ponders what the future holds in the Washington Post.

David Ulin pays tribute to Glenn Goldman, the beloved owner of Los Angeles independent bookstore Book Soup. Goldman died of pancreatic cancer on Saturday, and the store is up for sale.

As is widely reported, Librarie de France, located in the heart of Rockefeller Center, will close because of skyrocketing rents.

Sara Lippincott takes MOBY DICK with her on a cruise around the South Pacific.

Eoin Colfer explains why he's taking on the herculean task of penning a sequel to THE HITCHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY.

The retro covers on Penguin Australia paperbacks are a big hit down under.

And finally, I calculated how many books I read in 2008.

Smatterings

The Observer serves up a preview of books published in 2009, marveling at the number of big names coming out with new novels in the UK like Amis, Pynchon, Waters, and some guy named Bolano.

One of them is Philip Roth and his new book, THE HUMBLING, evidently has "his ageing hero embark on a fantastically kinky relationship with - wait for it - a ravishing young lesbian." And I bet the meet cute happens at a comic book convention and Jay and Silent Bob show up with appropriate words of wisdom. Oh wait...

Marilyn Stasio looks at recent crime fiction by Charles Todd, Patricia Cornwell and Malcolm Shuman, and is also charmed by the recent rediscovery of John Babbington Williams' detective stories first published in the 1860s.

Janet Maslin picks up on the hyperstylized Gothic elements of Carol O'Connell's new standalone BONE BY BONE. 

Hallie Ephron also reviews the O'Connell in the Boston Globe, along with new novels by Johan Theorin and Maggie Barbieri.

Patrick Anderson saves his last column of 2008 for one of his favorite thrillers of the year, BAD TRAFFIC by Simon Lewis.

Also in the WaPo, Bob Thompson visits the expansive warehouse of a used bookstore and Marie Arana says goodbye to her tenure as Book World's editor.

David Montgomery rounds up various mystery and thriller luminaries selecting their 3 favorite books of the year.

January Magazine's best-of list for crime fiction was so massive it had to be broken up into two parts.

Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark discuss their books written separately and together on NPR's Morning Edition.

David Mehegan looks at authors who cling to the belief their book might get made into a movie someday. To be disabused of this notion, please read the later work of Don Carpenter, especially the linked novellas "Hollywood Heart" and "Hollywood Whore."

Why there is controversy over ANNE OF GREEN GABLES being selected for the Modern Library, I am not sure.

Carolyn Kellogg hosted a lively roundtable about "The Curious Incident of Benjamin Button", now in theaters everywhere, over at Jacket Copy.

Ed Park plumbs the depths of invisible libraries.

Karl Rove says GWB is a book lover. Please pass the bucket of salt, please. 

I totally want to see this new Icelandic whodunit.

But we may not get to see the WATCHMEN movie after all, though to be honest, the court battle between Warner and Fox may be a lot better viewing.

Oh, Ben Lyons. When you make your father look like Roger Ebert, you know something is amiss.

And finally, boy, did we ever lose a lot of people in the mystery world in 2008. Going through the list is a staggering exercise.

Weekend Smatterings, with Different Skin

With the new year approaching I felt like going with a different color scheme for Confessions, so voila. And so full Weekend Updates will not resume until '09, but content yourself with this list 'o links:

Susanna Yager, the Sunday Telegraph's crime fiction critic, has passed away. Ali Karim reprints Natasha Cooper's fine obituary of one of the UK's more discerning and intelligent critics in the genre.

Julius Fast, who was the very first debut novel winner of the Edgar Awards back in 1946, has also passed on. He was 89.

Oline Cogdill presents her top mysteries of the year, headed up by Colin Harrison's THE FINDER. She explains how she made her choices at the Off the Page blog.

The Tribune's Paul Goat Allen looks at recent releases by Evan Kilgore, Max Allan Collins, Zoe Sharp and Tony Spinosa.

Tom & Enid Schantz review new crime fiction by Donna Andrews, David Stuart Davies and Chris Ewan for the Denver Post.

John's Grill, best known for being mentioned in THE MALTESE FALCON, celebrates an important anniversary.

Charles Taylor delves into Derek Raymond's Factory novels at the Nation.

Michael Dirda highlights the small presses making an impact on contemporary horror fiction and ghost stories.

This is your life, David Wroblewski.

Stuart Neville may be on his way to a Wroblewski-like life, too.

Kate Summerscale looks at a new edition of the 1940s board game Cluedo.

Kate Figes presents the UK books published that didn't live up to expectations and got away from desired publishers.

Ex-Harcourt chief Andre Bernard comments on the publishing year that was 2008.

Some entertaining "alternate prizes" for the UK publishing industry. (via)

Chris Goldberg thinks "dudes don't read" but I think he's looking in the wrong places.

David Ulin revisits REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, the classic novel, as the wretched movie hits screens in a few days.

Lionel Shriver considers the career path not taken.

Canongate and Jamie Byng get the star treatment from the Scotsman.

And finally, the mystery author of "The Empty Chair" is revealed to be....Graham Greene!

Supersized Smatterings

Deadlines are beat. The plate is clear for now. And to tell you the truth, I am rethinking the whole "link journalism" thing that blogs, especially litblogs, were built on the back of. For one thing, the brevity of Twitter allows links to be posted and news to be broken quickly with discussion - often at a very high idea-based level - to follow. Take yesterday's news about the layoffs at Macmillan, which spread virus-like among a certain Twittering cohort searching out, posting and linking to the latest developments. (The upshot: FSG is taking a beating, and the children's side will be consolidated, but most other imprints, such as Minotaur and Picador, came through okay.) I'm also finding that I recycle a number of links here that I've already posted there first. But on the other hand, most of those links are more to do with publishing as a whole. And I also know that the people who read this site use it as a primary destination and really, really like the link roundups.

So the conclusion I've reached for now is that Confessions has to evolve, but also stay within the same framework. It has to feature more long-form posts, essays and journalism. But when there are smatterings - usually out of vague panic that I should have something, anything, up here after too long an absence - they are going to stick close to crime fiction. Onward:

My newest Baltimore Sun column looks at new releases by Pablo de Santis, Ira Berkowitz and Karen Olson.

Marilyn Stasio's latest NYT roundup features recent work by Mari Jungstedt, James Church, P.D. James and Elizabeth Ironside.

Oline Cogdill explains why Michael Koryta's ENVY THE NIGHT is one of her best crime novels of the year.

At the Globe and Mail, Margaret Cannon has her say on mysteries and thrillers by Jeffery Deaver, Jo Walton, Sean Chercover, Anne Perry, Christine Barber, James Church, Mark Billingham and Donna Andrews.

Patrick Anderson examines Jonathan Kellerman's place in the thriller world - not quite John Sanford, but somewhere in that ballpark.

Joan Smith's Sunday Times crime column has an exotic flavor, while John Dugdale takes a broader viewpoint for his thriller roundup.

Laura Wilson's Guardian roundup includes crime fiction by M.R. Hall, Patricia Cornwell, Neil Cross and Charlie Owen.

Toby Clements looks at historical thrillers by Robyn Young, Michael Cox, Bernard Cornwell and Valerio Massimo Manfredi for the Telegraph.

Dennis Lehane and Edwidge Danticat will edit BOSTON NOIR and HAITI NOIR, respectively, for Akashic.

Russell Atwood's sequel to EAST OF A finally has a pub date - September 2009 - and a publisher, Hard Case Crime. And check out that sideways cover, it's a beaut.

I've been remiss in reporting on the recent death of Australian poet Dorothy Porter, who lost her battle with breast cancer at the age of 54. Perry Middlemiss rounds up the pertinent links and tributes and now I have to track down copies of her crime novels-in-verse THE MONKEY'S MASK (1994) and EL DORADO (2007).

Listen to vintage pulp fiction at BBC 7. (via)

Dan Judson's crime novels are the focus of a piece at the East Hampton Express.

P.D. James gets on the phone with Regis Behe to talk about THE PRIVATE PATIENT.

Much linked to already, but Mark Tavani's thoughts on the current state of publishing are worth a read.

And finally, read about the White House Boys.

In Which I Cross Some Strange Cultural Divide

Apologies from this corner for the paucity of posts: it's been a deadline-packed week and the pace won't ease up until early next week. Which is why I'm late on directing you to yesterday's Guardian Books Blog post - my first in many months - on what seemed to be a strange pile-on of barely suppressed envy and jealousy towards Jonathan Safran Foer not just on, say, Gawker, but within Off-Broadway circles and the pages of the New Yorker and PEN. The commenters there (including, allegedly, Malcolm Gladwell?!) are quite nonplussed, but Flavorwire's Caroline Stanley picks up on the underlying subtext of indicting the Stateside obsession with celebrity and scandal: 'If there’s anything more entertaining than a literary culture war, it’s British people judging us for being entertained by a literary culture war."

Smatterings

The crime writing team of Michael Gregorio conduct a fascinating interview with Giancarlo de Cataldo, known here as the editor of CRIMINI.

It's official: Reed can't find a buyer for its magazine division, so it's hanging onto it.

Macmillan will freeze salaries for those making over $50,000.

Seth Harwood is teaching an online crime fiction course at Stanford beginning next month.

How Sonny Mehta and Knopf benefit from the Random House reorganization.

Granta has a new American editor: John Freeman, who nominally replaces Matt Weiland. 

Steven Greenhouse attended the Studs Terkel memorial last Sunday.

Judith Regan got a cool $10.75 million from NewsCorp as a settlement for being fired. 

AP's Hillel Italie on the sleeper hits of the year. 

WBUR's On The Point hosts a best books of 2008 discussion with Liesl Schillinger, Kris Kleindienst and Mark Sarvas.

Bailing out the writers is the meme du jour.

This renders me speechless.

And finally, the complaint against Rod Blagojevich, in full. Just read it. This is the most entertaining document in AGES. (PDF alert)

Of Literary Smackdowns

From a narrative standpoint, Sunday's literary smackdown developed in the best possible way. PEN shot out to an early lead, held on as tough question after tough question stumped both teams, and then a judge's timely lifeline got team litblogger - Ed, Levi, Eric and moi -  on a roll before mixed signals resulted in PEN taking it, 16-13. Yes, Arthur Miller wants bloggers to join PEN, and there was free bottled water.

WNYC was there to cover the proceedings and also present a slideshow of the Small Press Book Fair.

Something of a Weekend Update

Because honestly, this week it's all about Best of Lists and you can find them all in one place at Largehearted Boy. But there are other links to be had, like:

Marilyn Stasio's crime fiction picks for the NYTBR, starting out with Jesse Kellerman's THE GENIUS (a near miss on my own list, too)

Oline Cogdill enjoys the presidential derring-do in James Grippando's BORN TO RUN.

David Montgomery reviews new thrillers and mysteries by F. Paul Wilson, M.J. Rose, Henry Chang and Sam Reaves, as well as the BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES 2008 anthology.

The Telegraph's Jake Kerridge looks at recent thrillers by Matt Rees, T.J. Middleton, Benjamin Black and Catriona MacPherson.

Also in the Telegraph, Gillian Reynolds examines Simon Brett's notable radio detective, Charles Paris.

With the TV version of Inspector Wallander now on British television, Boyd Tonkin looks at other Scandinavian detectives infiltrating the publishing world.

Tom Nolan rounds up holiday-themed mystery novels for the WSJ.

Clayton Moore dissects the pros and cons of Patricia Cornwell's SCARPETTA, while the Observer's James Kidd is surprised that Cornwell deviates from her persona (which maybe makes the persona thing a bit suspect?) 

Paul Collins writes of George Herter, the All American crank.

Roy Blount Jr. talks of his writing life with Marie Arana.

Michael Dirda on the Ten Commandments of book giving.

Carolyn Kellogg pays tribute to Forrest Ackerman.

Margaret Drabble reacquaints herself with the short fiction of Doris Lessing.

No Virginia, Roberto Bolano was not a drug addict, but the Literary Saloon finds the explanation only muddies the waters.

Anya Ulinich vs. Jonathan Safran Foer. Except, not really.

Newsweek profiles "The Most Dangerous Man in Publishing", Barney Rosset.

N+1: Biting the hand that feeds them. (via) Related, did Jonathan Yardley smoke a big bowl that made him think Gessen's novel was actually good?

Here's the longlist for Three Percent's inaugural Best Translated Book of 2008. The winner will be announced on February 19th at Melville House's quarters in DUMBO.

NPR's Lynn Neary on the bloodbath that was last week in publishing.

Sunny von Bulow has finally died. Meanwhile, Damian Thompson argues in favor of Claus's innocence.

And finally, H.M. is dead, and with it an important chapter in neuropsychology turns a page.

Literary Smackdown at the NYCIP

If you happen to be in midtown this weekend, you're well advised to check out the goings-on at the 21st Annual Indie & Small Press Book Fair, taking place at the General Society Building on 20 West 44th Street. And on Sunday at 4 PM, a team of bloggers including Ed Champion, Levi Asher, Eric Rosenfield and yours truly will be taking on the fine folks at PEN America for a Literary Smackdown (PEN is subbing in for last year's champs New York Review of Books, who had to pull out at the last minute.) There's been some mild trash talk and good cheer and I'm looking forward to demonstrating what I know - and more likely, what I don't - about trivia relating to American literature. As well as to Tim Brown's tux-clad theatrics. See you then!