Books

I've been reading through Maj Sjöwall's and Per Wahlöö's Martin Beck series from the 1960s-70s. Since books in (there are 10 in the series), the stories vary from incredibly dull (The Man Who Went Up in Smoke) to excellent (The Laughing Policeman). Unfortunately I'm right in the middle of one of the incredibly dull ones, 'Murder at the Savoy.' I don't care who killed the victim in this book. I don't care about anybody in this book. And the political ideology expounded in this book feels a bit like a politcal sledgehammer. John Sandford's latest installment in the Lucas Davenport series, 'Silken Prey,' is great fun for Sandford's fans. The author has finally brought his protagonist from the Kidd books fully into Davenport's orbit. Also, Lucas seems to have encountered another villain who may merit an appearance in another book. Sandford consistently provides interesting villains to challenge Davenport's team, just one of the reasons I admire this series so much.

... Congratulations to the 2012 Nebula Award Winners | Tor.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Title: Criminal Hardcover, 288 pages Author: Terra Elan McVoy Publisher: Simon Pulse Publication Date: May 7, 2013 Source: Publisher Goodreads | Amazon | IndieBound Book Summary: Nikki’s life is far from perfect, but at least she has Dee. Her friends tell her that Dee is no good, but Nikki can’t imagine herself without him. He’s hot, he’s dangerous, he has her initials tattooed over his heart, and she loves him more than anything. There’s nothing Nikki wouldn’t do for Dee. Absolutely nothing. So when Dee pulls Nikki into a crime—a crime that ends in murder—Nikki tells herself that it’s all for true love. Nothing can break them apart. Not the police. Not the arrest that lands Nikki in jail. Not even the investigators who want her to testify against him. But what if Dee had motives that Nikki knew nothing about? Nikki’s love for Dee is supposed to be unconditional…but even true love has a limit. And Nikki just might have reached hers. Review: Against her friend’s advice, Nikki has been going out with Dee for a long time. When Dee involves Nikki in a crime, she ends up taking the rap and lands herself in jail. CRIMINAL is a very different book than any of Terra Elan McVoy’s others. They all, of course, are different books with different characters and plots, but CRIMINAL is truly DIFFERENT, at least to me. The first big difference, which is the main reason I enjoyed the book and knew it was well written, is that the main character, the narrator, is not that likeable for most of the book. She makes some really stupid decisions, but you could tell they are truly emotionally based, and her character is written flawlessly from the standpoint of being true to what she feels she should do. This realism was remarkable, especially because it was downright hard to read this one for many chapters. I think almost every reader will want to shake Nikki and tell her how her life really could be or should be without the undying devotion she has for a boy who could care less about her. Nikki is forced to grow in the jail situation, but it’s not something that happens instantly, so readers get to follow along with her progress. CRIMINAL is an extremely interesting character study, and is done very well. Goodreads | Amazon | IndieBound Related Posts: Guest Post: Terra Elan McVoy Waiting on Wednesday: Being Friends With Boys by Terra Elan McVoy #justcontemporary Fun Five: Terra Elan McVoy Review: Pure by Terra Elan McVoy Review: The Summer of Firsts and Lasts by Terra Elan McVoy Write a quick commentThe post Review: Criminal by Terra Elan McVoy appeared first on Chick Loves Lit.

You know when you have a book problem when you go away for two nights - knowing that you will be busy all day and in the evenings - yet you take four books with you. Just in case there's some weird re-arrangement of time and space that will free up a couple of dozen hours. I was thirty pages into Death of a Nationalist when I left for Galway. I am presently at page fifty. My posts this week:Review of The Third Pig Detective Agency by Bob BurkeNew Irish crime fiction releases Review of Black Irish by Stephan TaltyReview of The Dance of the Seagull by Andrea CamilleriThe morning after

Chris Petit‘s The Museum of Loneliness. * A brief history of appropriative writing. * If streets are sentences. * Celebrating the A303. * An interview with Glenn Branca. * The Japanese have a name for it: tsundoku. * What next for Joshua Cohen?: “It’s the book Nabokov would’ve written had he liked Joyce”. * Robert Walser: scribe of the small. * An introduction to Josef Winkler. * Ben Marcus on “The Dark Arts“. * On Anne Carson‘s Red Doc>. * He is perhaps the closest Ireland has come to producing a Susan Sontag“: Brian Dillon interviewed by Kevin Breathnach: “My patience for fiction that isn’t very sophisticated is kind of limited. This sounds stupid, but I like really, really, really good fiction. I get bored very easily with what you might call ‘middling’ fiction”. * Ben Greenman and Darin Strauss in conversation. * An interview with Maggie Dubris. * WG Sebald‘s legacy. * Sebald‘s A Place in the Country reviewed. * Tracking Sebald. * A conceptual literature bibliography. * Stop the South Bank developers! * Femen. * Mike Covey‘s “The Offbeats” (featuring Ben Myers, Joseph Ridgwell, Matthew Coleman and a brief cameo by Lee Rourke). * A forthcoming documentary about JD Salinger. * Generation X to reform? * An interview with David Shields. * Faction of the Fox (thanks guys!) * Prozac and artistic creativity. * Garbage girls. * Iain Sinclair and Jonathan Meades in conversation (video). * A museum devoted to East Germany. * Nina Hagen interviewed. (See her infamous live masturbation lesson here.). * Kafka‘s Metamorphosis — read backwards. * “Did you hear about the Oulipian stripper? She delivered a lipogram before vanishing, with an invisible wink.” * Ten Lessons in Theory. * Stanislaw Lem‘s Summa Technologiae. * Punk as fashion, music, and theory. * Paul Auster and J.M. Coetzee‘s correspondence. * Bill Drummond. * As I Lay Dying trailer. * Adrian Tahourdin on the one and only Iggy Pop. * John Berger‘s G. * Laurie Penny‘s “Saudade“. * Quiet Paris. * Dan Holloway on the Albion Beatnik bookshop‘s viral success. * Empty hotel corridors. * Retyping The Great Gatsby on a 1936 Remington. Twitter: andrewgallix

Did Baz Lurhmann’s Great Gatsby adaptation leave you feeling a little disappointed? Then consider Kate Kelsall’s short list of “utterly compelling cinematic adaptations” to be just what the doctor ordered. Related posts: Gatsby As He Was; Gatsby As He Will Be The hype keeps building for Baz Luhrmann’s oft-delayed Great Gatsby... The Sound of Privilege On Friday, May 10th, Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of The Great Gatsby... G to the Gatsby Baz Luhrmann’s much-delayed Great Gatsby film adaptation may justify its...

New Releases In Paperback

May 19, 2013 Good morning and welcome to this week’s edition of The Sunday Salon. Visit the Facebook Page for links to other bloggers’ posts. I hope you all had a great week of reading. I had a fall at work last week (on Wednesday) when my ankle rolled and a took a header off a curb. Luckily I did not break any bones, although I abraded my knee, tore the costo-cartilage of one of my ribs and wrenched my arm so that I was pretty bruised and sore and unable to work either Thursday or Friday. With several days of rest, I’m feeling better (although not 100%) and because I can’t do much else, I’ve been reading a lot the last couple of days. I’ve posted my review of In The Garden of Stone by Susan Tekulve which is a quiet novel about several generations of immigrant Italians living in Virginia and West Virginia. I’m giving away a copy of this book to one US reader and that contest ends on Tuesday at 5:00 pm so you still have time to enter. I enjoyed the lovely descriptions of place in this book and it reminded me of a collection of linked short stories. If you like character-driven stories, you might want to give this one a try. I also finished Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple which I absolutely loved (read my review)! This is such an original novel and Semple is great at writing satire. I found the characters memorable and the format witty and fun. This book made the short list for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and I am a little surprised only because it seems less literary than their usual picks. But it is smart, women’s fiction and it is great to see this kind of book getting recognized by one of the big names in awards. Later this month, I’m meeting with my newly formed face-to-face book club to discuss Semple’s novel and I think it will be a fun book for our book club. I am less than 50 pages from finishing The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout. This novel is set in Maine and centers around the Burgess family which includes brothers Jim and Bob, and their sister, Susan…along with their nephew, Zach. Strout does an amazing job with characterization – but I have to say, my feelings about this book are luke warm. Perhaps it is my mood and not the book – but it feels so bleak to me. No one seems happy. I’ll have to think about this one a bit more before writing any kind of review. My next read will be one that has been getting some positive buzz in blogland. The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell is a debut novel published by the very popular Amy Einhorn Books. Set in 1923 the novel is about a New York City Police Department typist. Have you heard about this one? Have you read it? If so, what did you think? Today is a beautiful, cool, sunshiney day in the Northern California mountains. I wish I could go for a bike ride. But, my poor body needs a bit more healing before climbing aboard a bicycle…so instead, I think I’ll find a comfy chair on the porch and finish my book. How about you? What are you doing this fine Sunday in May? Whatever it is, I hope at some point you find some time to turn some pages in a fantastic book!

Publisher: Spencer Hill PressRelease Date: 18 September 2012Format: PaperbackSeries: UnknownSource: BEA 2012Dying sucks...and high school senior Ember McWilliams knows firsthand. After a fatal car accident, her gifted little sister brought her back. Now anything Ember touches dies. And that, well, really blows.Ember operates on a no-touch policy with all living things--including boys. When Hayden Cromwell shows up, quoting Oscar Wilde and claiming her curse is a gift, she thinks he's a crazed cutie. But when he tells her he can help control it, she's more than interested. There's just one catch: Ember has to trust Hayden's adopted father, a man she's sure has sinister reasons for collecting children whose abilities even weird her out. However, she's willing to do anything to hold her sister's hand again. And hell, she'd also like to be able to kiss Hayden. Who wouldn't?But when Ember learns the accident that turned her into a freak may not've been an accident at all, she's not sure who to trust. Someone wanted her dead, and the closer she gets to the truth, the closer she is to losing not only her heart, but her life.For real this time.I absolutely love Jennifer L. Armentrout's writing! Obsidian was the first book I read by her, and I have been an Armentrout Addict ever since. I am able to read through the pages effortlessly, and I am always intrigued by the story and the characters. Cursed wasn't any different. I felt like I knew Ember inside and out. I knew what she was feeling, thinking, seeing, and it transferred over to me. I felt, thought, and saw what she did. It was like I was living through her, instead of reading about her. That is a good book.I love Ember's personality. She is fiercely protective of her family and Adam. She sacrifices all of her wants and needs to make sure they are taken care of. She also isn't one of those characters that gets thrown into a skeevy situation and just accepts it. She remains cautious and untrusting, and that's how normal people would respond to a crazy situation. Armentrout doesn't let the fact that her characters can do abnormal things take away from the reality of their lives. They are still human, they still need the basics from life, and they live in a normal world. I love that she can combine paranormal and contemporary so easily.Hayden is a delicious treat that Armentrout has so graciously given to us on a platter. He's gorgeous, and has an unflinching loyalty to Ember. He's there for her when her world is turned upside down, and she has no idea which people she can trust. He cares about her in every way possible, and he's always willing to do what he can to help. He doesn't even seemed phased by her touch of death. That is a good friend.The other characters have strong traits of their own, but I am more interested in their histories. We know a little about Hayden's past, but what about the twins? Gabe? I want to know why Cromwell chose to take them in instead of sending them to the Facility. I want to know what makes them so special in his eyes, and how they got to where they are. Armentrout said this book was going to be a standalone with the possibility of becoming a series. I really hope she decides to make it a series! I would love to know more about the world she has created.

CONGRATULATIONS! We have been having some web hosting issues in the past couple weeks, which have made accessing the site impossible at times and all around frustrating. After a recent migration to a new server, the site has been working very slowly or not at all. We are planning to make a move soon to a new server and new provider. Hopefully, we’ll be back to usual in the next few days. Thanks for your patience! And happy reading!