Friday, June 29, 2007

Review: A Year of Spicy Sex by Gabrielle Morrissey

Today, in January Magazine’s cookbook section, contributing editor Cherie Thiessen gets us ready for some holiday fireworks with A Year of Spicy Sex by Gabrielle Morrissey. Says Thiessen:
My apologies for the length of time it has taken to review this book. But you have to realize there are 52 recipes tucked between these licentious covers and they all have to be tried in order to give an honest evaluation of their worth. My hunk and I are not 30 anymore; we sacrificed quantity for quality some years back.
The full review is here.

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Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Review: Whitewash by Alex Kava

Today, in January Magazine’s crime fiction section, contributing editor Anthony Rainone reviews Whitewash by Alex Kava. Says Rainone:
With rising gasoline prices in the United States and the volatile political situation in the Middle East, attention to developing and using alternative fuels is increasing significantly. It’s hard not to see an ethanol plant if you drive through America’s Midwest, for example, and Nebraska author Alex Kava has tapped into this topical theme in her newest standalone thriller, Whitewash.
The full review is here.

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Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Review: The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies

Today, in January Magazine’s fiction section, contributing editor Cherie Thiessen reviews The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies. Says Thiessen:
Davies, who was raised in England but has since chosen the United States as his home, has two short-story collections to his credit: The Ugliest House in the World and Equal Love. Many will enjoy this first novel. Me, I longed for a less victimized heroine who would make different, less clichéd choices.
The full review is here.

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Monday, June 25, 2007

Literature that Smokes

It is a mere few days before England bans smoking in public places -- falling into line with Ireland, Scotland and Wales. I gave up the weed last month and was overjoyed to see that publishers are joining in the smoking ban. Phil Hogan at The Observer reports:
Is it too early to start getting nostalgic about smoking? After all, we’ve got another week before anyone gets their nostrils forcibly sewn up for doing it in the launderette. But ubercool creative consultancy Tank is already celebrating the not quite bygone age of low-tar chic with the publication of selected literary classics artfully designed to look like packs of cigarettes.

And they do look rather authentic, spoofily constructed with fliptop box, cellophane wrap, gold ribbony bit and that traditional insert of matt foil that thumbs away to reveal ... well, not 20 Marlboro, or whatever, but a dinky book you might read in a crowded lift. Yes, just when people might think you were about to light up, and are already calling the police, you start reading aloud from “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”! Ha-ha.

There are six authors to choose from -- short fiction by Hemingway, Kipling, Kafka and Tolstoy, and novellas from Conrad (Heart of Darkness) and RL Stevenson (Dr Jeykyll and Mr Hyde) -- and a short blurb on the back about, for example, Kafka’s bleakness or Tolstoy’s “unforgettable portraits of human failure and regret”, and the author’s name and title just where you might expect to be told how smoking can kill your neighbour’s unborn foetus or make you a less attractive prospective employee.
I think this is a tremendous idea, as an ex-smoker I’d rather indulge in a little Kafka than introduce cigarettes back into my life.
Obviously, at £6.99 a throw, you might wonder: why not buy a real book? But if they can spark an interest in fiction for young people, perhaps it's worth it. Maybe parents will soon be leaving packs out around the house in the hope that their slovenly teenagers might get addicted to literature.

Excerpt: The Last Summer (of You & Me) by Ann Brashares

Beach read alert: Ann Brashares, the author of all those books featuring traveling pants, pens her first novel intended for adults. From the press bumph:
Ann Brashares has won millions of fans with her blockbuster series The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, in which she so powerfully captured the emotional complexities of female friendship and young love. With The Last Summer (of You and Me), she moves on to introduce a new set of characters and adult relationships just as true, endearing and unforgettable.
January has the excerpt.

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Friday, June 22, 2007

Review: I, Nigel Dorking by Mary-Anne Fahey

Today, in January Magazine’s children’s book section, contributing editor Sue Bursztynski looks at I, Nigel Dorking by Mary-Anne Fahey. Says Bursztynski:
I am in two minds about this. There are so many novels, these days, seen from the viewpoint of a loser. While everyone has had problems and times when they feel unpopular and unloved, you really have to be able to suggest that the hero has something admirable about him to make it work. Another book written in the last year, Michael Bauer’s Don’t Call Me Ishmael! has a bully who is actually defeated by wit when one of the characters stands up to him verbally. It may not be realistic, but the reader wishes it was. Readers can identify with the characters in the Bauer book, however nerdy, while it’s difficult to identify with Nigel. When he meets a bunch of bullies early in the novel, he hopes to get them on-side by telling them all sorts of fascinating facts and it only leads to a beating. You cringe and wish he would shut up, because the reader, unlike Nigel, can see where it will end.
The full review is here.

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Thursday, June 21, 2007

Review: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Today, in January Magazine’s biography section, Diane Leach reviews Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver. Says Leach:
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle chronicles the Kingsolver-Hopp family's resolution to step off the petroleum grid for one year, eating only local, sustainably produced meats, fruits, and vegetables either from or near their Kentucky farm.

The journey begins literally, with the family -- biologist Steven L. Hopp, Barbara, 19-year-old Camille, and nine-year old Lily -- packing up their Tucson home and reverse migrating to Hopp's land. There the family cultivates vegetables and fruits, culls morels from a back field, and tends the asparagus patch. Lily raises chickens, displaying astonishing business acumen and a sure hand at her egg-selling enterprise. Bread and cheese making follow; amazingly, Kingsolver manages to breed turkeys.
The full review is here.

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Wednesday, June 20, 2007

MAD Wars on Bush

The fact that MAD magazine is planning to take a running poke at the White House is not, in itself, a big newsflash. After all, MAD has been publishing since 1952. In that time it has taken shots at every U.S. president since Dwight Eisenhower.

In the meantime, there have been a few classics. The “Starr Warrs” movie poster, for instance -- shown at left -- that depicted then-President Bill Clinton as a light saber-wielding Luke Skywalker. Or Watergated Nixon and Agnew not inappropriately sent up as Newman and Redford in The Sting. Through the years, MAD has been serving up its own peculiar brand of political humor.

On July 4th (no irony in that publication date) MAD presents something a little more (ahem) in-depth with a whole book devoted to the current administration: The MAD War on Bush. From a press release:
Now, the Usual Gang of Idiots focus their satirical eye on a new target: President George W. Bush in THE MAD WAR ON BUSH (Publication Date: July 4th), a hard-hitting collection of articles spoofing the sad state of U.S. affairs, both in the White House and all over the nation’s capital. From the stolen Presidential election of 2000 to presidential failures throughout history, THE MAD WAR ON BUSH presents our government’s many magnificent triumphs -- of stubbornness, stupidity and incompetence.
The MAD War on Bush includes an introduction by Jimmy Kimmel as well as “The Bush Family Circus” and an Iraqi was chess set. I’m looking forward to seeing the book. Let’s face it: sometimes laughter is the only thing that can keep us from crying.

READ MORE:This 4th of July, MAD TPs the White House,” by Ron Hogan (GalleyCat).

Meier to take Helm at KR Blog

The Kenyon Review announced yesterday that Liz Lopatto will be stepping down as editor of the publication’s very active and interesting blog in order to “focus on her new real job” in journalism.

KR editor David Lynn asked Tyler Meier to take the job. Said Lynn, “Tyler also has a long Kenyon and KR pedigree, but he’s been out in the world for a number of years now, among other things having earned an M.F.A. in creative writing.”
Meier is no stranger to the literary world. His poems have appeared in Agni, The Seattle Review, and Cranky. His chapbook manuscript, “Lovesong from a Lifeboat,” was a finalist for the 2006 GreenTower Press Chapbook Series Award. He also teaches in KR's Young Writers program each summer.
Meier is already kicking things up in his own thoughtful and witty style. I loved, for instance, his June 13th post on how Yeats can make you a better kisser. (Because we’ve all wondered about that, right?)
Here’s why Yeats is great: He can make you a better kisser.

This is what I told some creative writing students who were writing poems with me last summer, and I’m holding my ground. Try these lines out:
Who will go drive with Fergus now,
and pierce the deep wood’s woven shade
The active ingredient isn’t Fergus, it is that bottleneck run of vowels in the second line, and the reason I love reading and re-reading Yeats. If you look at yourself in the mirror when reading those lines, it looks like you are trying to swallow a cloud.
There’s more. Just as engagingly crafted and all of it -- alone -- worth the cyber trip to the KR blog.

The Kenyon Review is one of the most respected literary magazines in the United States. The blog is, quite rightfully, zooming in to take its place as KR’s equally known and respected electronic companion.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Review: Fresh by Mark McNay

Today, in January Magazine’s fiction section, contributing editor David Abrams reviews Fresh by Mark McNay. Says Abrams:
We all know how noir-hued plots like this turn out. It's not a pretty sight. But McNay manages to pull off several surprises along the way to the point where brother collides with brother. More than just a white-knuckled ride, however, Fresh is a detailed portrait of Glasgow's modern urban jungle; the book will cling to you like cold, clammy fog. The thugs, the unrelenting Scottish slang, the pitiless violence, and the ugly side of chicken processing make this hard to swallow at times, but I can't think of a more rewarding book I've read this year. Fresh goes down bitter but has a pleasant aftertaste.
The full review is here.

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Monday, June 18, 2007

Interview: Declan Hughes author of The Color of Blood

The author of a brace of highly regarded novels of Irish suspense chats with January Magazine contributing editor Kevin Burton Smith about his influences -- both literary and musical -- his letter from Pete Townshend and how we’re all walking in Snoopy’s shadow. Says Hughes:
I think it’s Ross Macdonald I’m most influenced by. If Hammett took murder out of the rose garden and put it back in the alley where it belongs, Macdonald told you about the kid who’d been dumped in the alley, found out that he was from a family with more than a little loot, and then took you into their house to leaf through the family album and trace the deep history that led to that kid’s death. That “family gothic” spoke to me, because Irish society is still pretty tribal, and because, despite the impression Irish people give that we’re open and friendly and candid, there’s a lot we don’t want to tell you. A lot of skeletons in our closets. As it says in The Wrong Kind of Blood, “Whatever you say, say nothing.”
The interview is substantial and it’s here.

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Sunday, June 17, 2007

A Relentless Summer

I was intrigued to see that Britain’s answer to Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club -- the Richard and Judy Book Club -- have just released their summer reading selection and it features one of my favourite thriller writers, Simon Kernick.

Ben Hoyle reports from The London Times:
A longstanding American bestseller, a whimsical tale of fishing in the Middle East and the debut novel from the producer of This Life and Teachers are among the latest books anointed for success by Richard and Judy.

The eight titles that make up the summer strand of the couple’s influential book club were unveiled yesterday.

They include The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, by Kim Edwards, which has been on the New York Times bestseller list for 50 weeks but was published only recently in Britain; Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, by Paul Torday; and Getting Rid of Matthew, a “chic noir” novel by Jane Fallon, the television producer and girlfriend of the comedian Ricky Gervais. Their publishers can now sit back and wait for the money to roll in.

Richard Madeley and his wife, Judy Finnigan, started their reading group three years ago and selection for it has become the surest guarantee of bestseller status in British publishing.
I was especially pleased to see Kernick’s thriller, Relentless, make the list, as I had met up with the author recently and asked him to let The Rap Sheet know a little about how he came to pen this disturbing novel. It appears that the premise of Relentless came from a nightmare. Says Kernick:
[The dream] was so vivid that I’ll never forget it until the day I die. It was a sunny Saturday afternoon. I was at home, playing with my two young kids in the garden when the phone rang from inside the house. Leaving them there, I went back inside and picked it up. It was an old friend of mine, but a guy I hadn’t heard from in years, and straight away I could tell something was wrong. He was gasping, and it sounded like he was running. “You’ve got to help me,” he was saying, desperation in his voice. “Please.” I kept asking him what was wrong, but all he did was repeat that I had to help him. Then he screamed, and I heard a violent commotion at the other end of the line. There was a pause. It seemed to last a long time. And when he finally spoke, his voice little more than a gasp, it was clear he was addressing someone else. And what he was saying filled me with dread, because it was the first two lines of my address.
Read the rest of Kernick’s nightmare here.

The eight books on the Richard and Judy summer reading list are:

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards
How a man’s decision to send away his daughter, born with Down’s syndrome, affects his family’s life (out July 4)

Relentless by Simon Kernick
A thriller that does what it says on the tin (July 11)

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
An old-fashioned upstairs-downstairs saga (July 18)

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
by Paul Torday
A scientist attempts to realise the dream of a Yemeni sheikh to bring salmon fishing to Yemen (July 25)

Getting Rid of Matthew by Jane Fallon
Helen finally gets what she wants when her boyfriend, Matthew, leaves his wife, only to find she no longer wants him (August 1)

The Savage Garden by Mark Mills
A whodunnit that uncovers the murderous secrets of an Italian garden (August 8)

How to Talk to a Widower by Jonathan Tropper
Doug Parker reclaims his life after the death of his wife (August 15)

The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson
A story set in rural Canada, dealing with war, families, love and dark secrets (August 22)

And here’s a little something from Publishing News, pontificating on the commercial importance of gaining a spot on the Richard and Judy list.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Review: Poster Child by Emily Rapp

Today, in January Magazine’s biography section, contributing editor Andi Shechter looks at Poster Child by Emily Rapp. Says Shechter:
It is difficult to develop empathy or sympathy for Rapp, even when she tells you that she was often the only female at the prosthetics office, talking only with far older men, often war veterans. No one there was her peer, no one had an understanding of her situation. She doesn't seem to want any sympathy though. Maybe she wants to tell her story at the same time she wants distance from it, but that left me unable to understand her. She prefers stoicism to warmth, observation to understanding.
The full review is here.

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Potter 7 Closes In

I have to choose my words carefully. Despite several attempts, I am not a follower of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels. The final one is almost upon us -- due to be released at midnight on July 21st.

Writing for The Independent, Danuta Kean reports that, from a commercial perspective, Potter 7 -- as it is referred to in the “trade” -- is causing problems for booksellers:
Millions of readers around the world may be shivering with excitement at the thought of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows being released at midnight on 21 July, but to those who sell the book, it is more likely to be remembered as Harry Potter and the Nightmare on High Street.

For, to them, Harry Potter is a loser. And that, ironically, may well include Bloomsbury, the publisher who found a diamond in the rockface when it discovered the author J K Rowling.

The problem is that the seventh and last book in the Potter series is expected to be the fastest-selling book of all time.

So the supermarkets, never ones to miss a “pile ‘em high, sell ‘em cheap” trick, will sell it way below cover price. And that means trouble for every other retailer, even the book chains.

Small bookshops, especially, will suffer as they struggle to keep up with the discounts offered by the industry's big players.

Shop owners like Marilyn Brocklehurst of Norfolk Children’s Book Centre in Alby, near Cromer, said she will have to stock the book, once again, against her will for the 21 July launch.

“We will make a loss on it, but we can’t afford not to sell it,” she said. “We have to pay Bloomsbury £10.74 a copy, so I can’t afford to sell it for the price it is in Asda.” Thousands of bookshops around the country will face the same situation.

At £8.87, almost half the £17.99 cover price, Asda is treating the book as a loss leader to tempt customers through its doors rather than those of one of its rivals. Even the UK’s biggest book chain, Waterstone’s, is feeling the squeeze.
Consider also the problems it will cause J. K. Rowling’s UK publisher, Bloomsbury, who will have to learn to cope in a Post-Potter world.
The flipside is that when Potter hangs up his wand he will also leave a big hole at the publisher. Already Bloomsbury is facing a financial crisis with shareholders suffering from post-Potter jitters.

The value of the company has fallen by half, from £285m to £134m, because of fears about what will happen when Harry is no more.

The first clues of what this will mean financially came in April, when Bloomsbury revealed its profits had collapsed by three-quarters to £5.2m. The shortfall was due to last year’s lack of a Potter title and a string of flops.

The marketing director of one rival publisher said: “I think Potter has put Bloomsbury under unrealistic pressure. Most publishers operate on a 5 per cent profit margin. So effectively in non-Harry Potter years, Bloomsbury is being asked to make four times that -- 20 per cent. That is an unrealistic amount of money in publishing.”
But let’s not dwell on the negative, even as someone who dislikes the Potter books, I marvel at what they have done for children’s literacy:
The one positive legacy Potter-mania will leave behind, however, is a healthy market for children’s books. J.K. Rowling proved, contrary to popular opinion, that boys read. As a result Harry Potter has led to a tide of writers following in her wake -- Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket) and current favourites Anthony Horowitz (Stormbreaker) and Charlie Higson (Young James Bond).
You can read Kean’s full article here.

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that the publisher who first signed J.K. Rowling is making a pre-emptive strike against the possibly Potterless years looming head.
In an industry that revels in hype and is always on the lookout for the next blockbuster, two unknown authors have amassed advances of over 500,000 pounds and pre-publication rights in 15 languages.

Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams were signed by Chicken House publisher Barry Cunningham after he tracked down an early version of their book Tunnels that was self-published.
Tunnels has it all,” Cunningham reports, “a boy archaeologist, merciless villains, a lost world and an extraordinary journey to the centre of the earth.”

The Reuters piece is here.

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Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Review: Lost Son by M. Allen Cunningham

Today, in January Magazine’s fiction section, contributing editor Cherie Thiessen has mixed feelings about Lost Son by M. Allen Cunningham. Thiessen wants to know if a work can be both tedious and tantalizing.
The frequent jumps in time, from Rilke’s bizarre childhood, to his marriage, his affair with Lou, his sojourns in Paris, his infrequent homecomings, and his frequent retreats, are very difficult to follow. Stylistically I believe Cunningham wants to convey the idea of the rootlessness and unpredictability of Rilke’s life. However, showing the confusion of a confused life inevitably leads to confusion.
The full review is here.

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Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Review: Soul Patch by Reed Farrel Coleman and Dead Madonna by Victoria Houston

Today, in January Magazine’s crime fiction section, contributing editor Stephen Miller reviews Soul Patch by Reed Farrel Coleman and Dead Madonna by Victoria Houston. Says Miller:
The mantra of real estate is location, location, location and the same often holds true for modern crime fiction. With only so many plot lines to use, and with many authors content to repeat what has worked before, what often separates good mysteries from the pack is their setting. If an author is really at the top of his or her game, the setting becomes another character, enriching not only the work as a whole, but brightening the component parts as well. Independent press Bleak House Books has released a pair of books in which the setting is not only interesting, but vitally important.
The full review is here.

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Monday, June 11, 2007

Dean Koontz (Virtually) Back in the UK

After my adventures at the London Book Fair a few months back, where I was fortunate to meet Dean Koontz thanks to Margaret Atwood’s LongPen device, it now seems that HarperCollins have lured Koontz back for a formal appearance in London for his fans.

On the 23rd of June from 2pm, Dean Koontz will be signing copies of The Good Guy from his home in Newport Beach, California, for customers at Europe’s largest bookstore Waterstone’s in Piccadilly, London, using LongPen technology. The signing will start at 2pm GMT.

The LongPen is the world’s first long distance, pen-and-ink signing device and is the invention of Margaret Atwood. Carbon neutral and one of the most exciting developments in the literary world, it enables booklovers from around the world to have contact with authors they would never otherwise meet. LongPen operates over the Internet, incorporating video conferencing to facilitate trans-Atlantic conversations between writers and their fans.

Not only is this the commercial launch of LongPen to the UK public, but the first time that this hugely prolific writer has undertaken a signing event for UK fans due to his fear of flying.

I’d get there early -- LongQueues for the LongPen are predicted.

Friday, June 08, 2007

Review: The Strange Case of Hellish Nell by Nina Shandler

Today, in January Magazine’s non-fiction section, contributing editor Cherie Thiessen looks at The Strange Case of Hellish Nell by Nina Shandler. Says Thiessen:
The last person in Britain to be tried as a witch was a Scottish medium. The year, surprisingly, was 1944. Nell ran afoul of authorities when she started to channel spirits who knew way too much about Britain's military secrets during World War II. When Nina Shandler heard this story on the radio in America in 1998, she was intrigued. The following year she found herself in London, accompanying her husband on a temporary assignment, and she began to research Nell's incredible story. Without a work visa or children, she suddenly had lots of that rare commodity -- time. This was the perfect opportunity for the psychologist to turn writer/researcher and uncover details about the bizarre story that had so intrigued her.
The full review is here.

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Thursday, June 07, 2007

Review: Heat by Bill Buford

Today, in January Magazine’s cookbook section (though it could have just as easily slotted into biography), Diane Leach looks at Heat by Bill Buford. Says Leach:
I learned many things from Bill Buford’s Heat. The first is that I could never cook professionally. The second is how to prepare polenta correctly. But let us begin with the first. Bill Buford arguably already led a life many would find enviable. Having started Granta magazine in the UK, he came to the United States and began working at The New Yorker, where he held the powerful post of fiction editor. But like many of us approaching middle age, he found himself longing to do something else. In his case, this something else was cooking for Mario Batali, he of Iron Chef, Molto Mario and a few dozen famous restaurants.
You can read Leach’s review here.

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Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Review: Up in Honey’s Room by Elmore Leonard

Today, in January Magazine’s crime fiction section, contributing editor David Abrams reviews Up in Honey’s Room by Elmore Leonard. Says Abrams:
It’s usually futile to try and describe an Elmore Leonard plot. It’s like listing the ingredients of sausage -- there are so many different things packed in there, but all you really care about is how it tastes. Up in Honey’s Room is set in 1944 Detroit, where Carl has tracked down two German POWs who have escaped from a camp in Oklahoma. The pair are hiding out at a meat-processing farm run by Walter Schoen, who is a dead ringer for German SS commander Heinrich Himmler. Walter’s ex-wife is Honey Deal (as in “a honey of a deal”), who likes to walk around her apartment topless when Carl shows up to question her about Walter’s German friends. She’s got “bedroom eyes and that lower lip waiting there for him to bite.” Leonard also throws in a spy ring, a plot to assassinate Franklin Delano Roosevelt, ribald jokes and over-consumption of booze and cigarettes.
The full review is here.

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Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Review: Radiance by Shaena Lambert

Today, in January Magazine’s fiction section, contributing editor Cherie Thiessen reviews Radiance by Shaena Lambert, the long-awaited debut novel by the author of the international bestselling short story collection, The Falling Woman.

In Radiance we follow a young woman, scarred by Hiroshima, to New York where she will be a poster child for the tragedy. “Brilliant,” says Thiessen, not once, but several times.

The full review is here.

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On a Picnic with NPR

National Public Radio’s Alan Cheuse offers up an eclectic selection of reading for summer (and no: they did not use the b-e-a-c-h word in there, settling instead on “picnic”).
How to describe a selection of the season’s best books, along with some literary classics? My list is not as broad in its offerings as a smorgasbord, but it might be a summer picnic with a number of good things to taste and savor... or perhaps a mix of old wine and new?
You’ll find Cheuse’s special seasonal blend here.

What’s Pierce Picking?

When the indefatigable Marshal Zeringue asked January senior editor and Rap Sheet editor what he was reading, it was predictable that the brilliant and erudite Pierce’s choices would be sharp, timely and interesting. “Fortunately,” Pierce says at one point, “I am one of those people who can consume half a dozen or more books at a time, without losing track of individual plot lines.” That’s a skill I’d like to sign up for!

See Pierce’s selections here.

Monday, June 04, 2007

Review: Queenpin by Megan Abbott

Today, in January Magazine’s crime fiction section, contributing editor James R. Winter reviews Queenpin by Megan Abbott. Winter says:
We never learn our protagonist’s name in Megan Abbott’s latest novel, Queenpin, but we certainly get to know her and the mysterious Gloria Denton. Gloria rocks our heroine’s world in the waning days of the American mob’s golden era. She is a legend, admired and feared perhaps more than any gun-toting thug. She even has the scars from the one time she crossed one of her bosses.
Read the full review here.

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Friday, June 01, 2007

Review: Living Hell by Catherine Jinks

Today, in January Magazine’s children’s book section, contributing editor Sue Bursztynski looks at Living Hell by Catherine Jinks. Says Bursztynski:
Living Hell is young adult science fiction. The author describes it as Alien for teenagers. Well, not quite. Nothing is laying its eggs in unsuspecting humans who then burst open when the young alien hatches. More like Fantastic Voyage for teens. It is scary, though.
The full review is here.

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