PETRONA

Welcome to The Digitalist

A relatively new blog at the company where I work is called The Digitalist. This blog was an internal forum for Pan Macmillan to think about a range of digital-publishing issues, that is, how technology meets books, reading, publishing, and how they are all changing each other. It still has that function, but now it's open for everyone to "join the debate about books, publishing, the web, and the future".

Amid quite technical posts about e-publishing and how to build Facebook applications, I enjoy reading articles such as this one, by James Long, about his thoughts on reading the printed version of Jeff Gomez's "book of the blog", Print is Dead. ( ;-) ) James discusses memory, forgetting and reading:

"Sometimes, to help ourselves remember what we liked most in a book, or what was most relevant in it, we make notes in the margin or write short references in the back cover or underline words and lines. This makes the book searchable, enabling you to return to it when your memory of its content has faded a bit and still find what was important to you. If you no longer had the book, you’d lose that memory.So the perception is: print persists; digital disappears. At least, digital remains less tangible - both during reading and after. Therefore, for some, books in print on shelves are paramount; books in digital formats and online are not totemic enough to support our labouring organic memory systems.The truth, though, is that digital books are (potentially) more efficient repositories of our memory of the book than the print version: the metadata that you can create, store and report on as to what books you read, when you read them, etc. is a more reliable form of recall; also, books that are indexed (in the search engine sense) are more immediately and effectively searchable than ones that have been annotated in print. The irony is that, once you are outside of the reading experience, the more you have annotated a book the less readable it becomes...."

A thought-provoking post, and I think this is a blog worth following.

Periodic table printmaking project

Via The Great Beyond:

This lovely montage is part of the 2007 periodic table of the elements printmaking project -- where science meets art. "Ninety-six printmakers of all experience levels, have joined together to produce 118 prints in any medium; woodcut, linocut, monotype, etching, lithograph, silkscreen, or any combination. The end result is a periodic table of elements intended to promote both science and the arts." I strongly  recommend a visit to see the display in all its glory: it really is gorgeous. Every element is displayed as a print, and you can click on any of the images on the site to read the artists’ statements. See here for the rules and guidelines given to the artists. The project also has a Flickr group.

The Coffin Trail, The Return and more

This week's reviews on Euro Crime were delayed a bit , and then even more, by the fact that I went offline early last night. So, a day late, my latest efforts are my takes on The Coffin Trail by Martin Edwards, the first in a police-procedural series set in the wonderful Lake District, and very well worth reading (the author's blog has the lovely title Do You Write Under Your Own Name?); and the readable but slightly disappointing The Return by Hakan Nesser, the follow-up to Borkmann's Point (Karen of Euro Crime's review of The Return is here, if you want another perspective).

Some serious temptations in the rest of the week's reviews. Karen, again, thoroughly enjoys What Was Lost, by Catherine O'Flynn, the winner of the 2007 Costa first novel award. Karen writes: "It's a long while since I've read a book so well regarded by the literary critics, as, after all, I mostly read crime fiction, a genre unloved by the mainstream award givers. WHAT WAS LOST has perhaps sneaked under the judges' radar as the mystery is pushed to the background for the major section of the novel and is mostly the catalyst for the other elements: the social commentary and the romance. It is a compelling novel and extremely readable." The book is definitely on my list: even though I am always well disposed towards books by people called Catherine, I'd read this one in any case.

Euro Crime and everyone's Italian expert, Norman Price, has done it again -- his review of Death's Dark Abyss by Massimo Carlotto has provided me with yet another author I simply must read. From the review: "This story of two men linked by a terrible crime is a disturbing read and it is meant to be as it faces up to the problems of victim support, and the lack of rehabilitation facilities in the prison system. Carlotto himself served years in jail for a crime he did not commit and must be an expert on the failures and idiosyncrasies of the Italian judicial system."

The final review in the Euro Crime week is Geoff Jones's take on "simple and clean-cut" Peter Conway's Deserving Death.

Sunday Salon: end of January

I've very much enjoyed the books I've read in my week of reading, 21-27 January.

First, I finished The Butterfly Effect by Pernille Rygg, a lean, mean and excellent example of Norwegian noir, with the added bonus (for me) of a female detective/main character. The book is so good that I immediately ordered the second (and so far as I know, only other title) in the series. Review to come.

After that, I read the second Simon Serrailler book by Susan Hill, The Risk Of Darkness, about a child abduction. I was slightly put off reading this by the awful event at the end of book one. But the sequel was so exciting, tense and chilling that I immediately had to read the next Serrailler book, The Pure in Heart (already on my shelf), which was even better -- and if there was another one I would have started that, too.

Unfortunately there isn't another Serrailler book quite yet, so this morning I've begun Beneath the Bleeding by Val McDermid, which is (as expected) good so far. This title is one of her Tony Hill (psychological profiler) stories, so I recommend the earlier ones in that series before starting on this one, based on what I have read so far, as Beneath the Bleeding will work better if you know the main characters.

The total number of books I've bought or had delivered this week remains classified information, but if anyone is looking for an exciting adventure series to recommend to an almost-teenage or teenage reader, I am observing reading obsession currently being applied to the CHERUB series by Robert Muchamore. There are ten of these exciting books out so far, with more on the way.

Biggest movies of 2008

Link: The 50 Biggest Movies of 2008 | 2008 Movies Guide - Times Online.

This link has been sitting in my draft posts for ages, as I've been too busy to check out the actual article to see which movies the Times thinks will be biggest (in the UK) in 2008. For 2009, one assumes there won't be many or any US movies because of the writers' strike, so we will have to make the most of these. My favourite was the idea of Will Smith as Tony Hancock but a second glance made me realise I'd got the wrong end of the stick. Here are a few highlights (not many of which I'll be actually going to see, but they look possible DVD rental material). If you go to the Times link above, you can click through to trailers and other info about each movie [descriptions below are from the Times site, not mine!]:

29: The Time Traveller’s Wife

After having been derailed by the Pitt/Aniston divorce Audrey Niffenegger’s ‘sci-fi for women’ finally reaches the big screen with Eric Bana as the man who can’t control his progress through time and Rachel McAdams as the girl who grows to love him anyway.

23: Burn After Reading

Clooney turns up again as part of an incredible cast assembled by the Coen Brothers for this tale of two losers who find a disk containing CIA secrets. As if that could ever happen.

22: Be Kind, Rewind

Michel Gondry’s next movie has the most original plot of the year, guaranteed. Jack Black’s magnetised brain erases every tape in his local video shop which leads to him re-making the classic films he has inadvertently destroyed.

15: Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

The second most popular instalment in CS Lewis’ Lion, Witch and Wardrobe series of fantasy novels, Prince Caspian will be the children’s movie most likely to please accompanying adults in 2008.

7: Hancock

Superhero comedies can be as knowingly funny as Mystery Men or as plain silly as Condorman. Hancocks’s secret weapon will be the perennially likeable Will Smith in the title role as a super-powered crime fighter who creates almost as many problems as he solves. 

6: Sweeney Todd

Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Helena Bohnham Carter conspire in a dark plot of pies and hairdressing. Spectacular somgs from Steven Sondheim are the icing on a wonderful, sinister, cake. [Already open in the UK, rave reviews (on the whole) and seems to be doing well.]

5: Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Transformers star Shia LaBeouf pops up as the son of the world’s hardest-working archeologist in what must surely be the final Indy adventure.

3: Bond 22: Quantum of Solace

After a shooting schedule more secretive than the ageless super-spy, Bond 22's title has finally been revealed.That doesn't offer too many clues as to the storyline, but it looks as if the adversary from Casino Royale, Mr. White, is going to be replaced by a no less sinister Mr.Greene. The suggestion that it continues almost immediately from the end of Casino Royale, and in much the same vein, is all the advertising most movie fans will need.

2: Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince

The vast regiment of Potter fans will already know what they’re getting. Despite Guillermo del Toro’s pleas this instalment of the boy wizard franchise will be directed by David Yates, who everyone except Guillermo seems to agree made a decent fist of Order of the Phoenix. 

1: The Dark Knight

The hype machine is almost up to full speed now for The Caped Crusader’s next outing. Great notices for director Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins and an irresistible trailer make The Bat the boy to beat in 2008. [Written before the sad news about Heath Ledger, another reason why the film will be a success. This is the first of the 30-plus online reader comments to the Times piece [also written before the event]: "The Dark Knight is without doubt gonna blow a lot of us away, not only will we have a darker and angrier Bale as Batman but Heath Ledger looks absolutely phenomenal as The Joker......". Even so, I doubt I'll be seeing this one.]

Kindle kindles

Amazon’s Kindle Recalled Due to ‘Small Risk of Fire’.

I don't know if the story at the link above is a send-up or if it is true. If it is true, then Jeff Bezos of Amazon has announced that the company is recalling its e-book reader:

“The Kindle has so far been a blazing success,” said Bezos at a hastily-arranged press conference, “which has sparked people’s imaginations and re-ignited interest in reading books. Unfortunately, we have learned that for a very small number of users, the Kindle itself may actually burst into flames.”

How they must be regretting giving it that name.

Blog Doctor, Guido and Peter Hain

From NHS Blog Doctor (aka Dr Crippen), yesterday (24 Jan):

"Most serious British bloggers are tonight acknowledging eighteen months of investigative journalism carried out by Guido Fawkes. You may think that it was the Electoral Commission that brought down Peter Hain. That was but the final straw. The background work was done by Guido...........what Guido Fawkes has done is of national importance. He is the first British blogger to expose and bring down a Cabinet minister. You thought Peter Hain was merely absent minded? Read Guido and you may change your mind. (Full story here)

At 10.30 pm tonight, Guido is appearing on Newsnight. Last time he did that he was savaged by the MSM [mainstream media] journalists. Tonight, Dr Crippen predicts, it will be different."

If you would like to know what happened, please see NHS blog doctor post for update and further links. And you can find out about Dr Crippen's role in exposing fatal flaws in the medical training application system, while you are about it.

Some thoughtful posts

"Proper people in interesting situations", writes Jenny Geras, in a post about the books she likes, and why she likes them. From the post: "The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown: Cardboard cut-out people in undoubtedly interesting, but utterly ridiculous, situation. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: Proper person in really quite boring situation."

Uriah Robinson writes about hate crimes and the case against care in the community. "Disability Now, the magazine covering disability issues, has put together a dossier of what it believes are disability hate crimes."

In "Crime writing series for celebrities" Karen writes about a new TV reality show in which celebrities are taught to become crime writers. "Best-selling author Minette Walters has signed up to be a mentor on the show and will have the power to oust a celebrity at the end of each day."

"Does the news matter to anyone any more?" asks David Montgomery. "It's strange to imagine a world in which the daily newspaper is an anachronism, but we're fast heading in that direction." Well, "WSJ.com opens access to previously restricted articles" "In addition to every editorial, the site features daily columnists and video clips from the weekly WSJ TV show on Fox News Channel, plus original video. An editorial in Thursday’s Journal, said the Web site is “as close as we’ll get to conceding there is such a thing as a free lunch.” "

Here is my favourite post of recent days: "Real Life", a beautiful little essay by Susan Hill. "So much of my own real life is spent alone. Is this bad for me ? How bad ? I like my own company better than anyone else`s apart from members of my family and that is that. I can`t help it. I neither like nor dislike the people in my head. They are just there, telling me about themselves until I write it all down and then they go away."

Guess what? Some reviews

Tom Cain's The Accident Man is reviewed with a twist on Crime Always Pays: the twist is that you can win a copy of the book, if you can answer one of Declan Burke's fiendishly difficult questions. You have been warned. (For my review of this book, see Euro Crime.)

Kimbofo of Reading Matters reviews Silent in the Grave, Deanna Raybourn's new, well-received historical crime caper. Or, as Kim puts it: "The effortless writing style, which has a touch of the Jane Austens about it, is littered with cracking one-liners, too, so that I found myself tittering all the way through the book."

Magnificent Octopus has an unusual take on Oliver Twist. Shorten a book, and the reader will only ask for "more".

The Adversary by Michael Walters is just about out in paperback. I highly recommend this excellent book set "at the edge of the world" (aka Mongolia): read The Shadow Walker first, then you will be compelled to go straight to the even better sequel (The Adversary). You'll thank me for it.

There's a lovely review of Girls of Tender Age by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith, at Material Witness. "As a slice of family life in the '50s this is incredibly evocative and warm and frames well the attitudes and ethics that dominated the day. But there is a dark heart at the centre of the book..."

Glenn Harper of the superb International Noir Fiction gets to grips with Maxim Jakubowski's Paris Noir. Should a book entitled Paris Noir contain stories by Parisians or by people who aren't French but who write about Paris?

I haven't got around to The Cell yet, but at Crime Fiction Dossier, David Montogmery points to his review of a new Stephen King, Duma Key, which makes me think this is another King "back on form" title.

Stephen Lang reviews Richard Matheson's I Am Legend. Great review. I re-read this short but mesmerising book the summer before last, and am glad I did. Not so sure about the Will Smith remake, though.

If these reviews aren't enough and you'd like some lists, the loveliest I have seen recently is this one, by Equiano. Or if you prefer crime, you would do well to check out a new (to me) blog, Mack Pitches Up, and check out this list of recent reading.

Frank and Books, Inq. in the news

Sir Galahad of the Blogosphere, aka Frank Wilson, book review editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer, has just received not one but two well-deserved accolades. Peter Stothard is Editor of the TLS (and was Editor of The Times). He wrote this on his blog on 20 Jan:

"Numerous calls and emails have accused me of being old-fashioned in resisting the fashion for 'best this and best that' lists in newspapers and websites.

So, just to show how courant I really am.

One. The Sunday Times this morning highlights my favourite blog - Books, Inq - as Number Three in its list of 'websites that will feed your mind rather than your credit-card bill'.

Two. Frank Wilson, main author of Books, Inq at the Philadelphia Inquirer, draws attention to a rather different list - Top Ten Drunk American Writers - on the website 'Alternative Reel - Quietly Redefining the Internet'."

I heartily concur with the assessment of Peter and Louis Wise of the Sunday Times (and also see Bryan Appleyard's Thought Experiments blog). Books, Inq. and Light Reading were the first two "blogs about books" that I discovered, before I started Petrona in 2005. They remain among my very favourites, both for their content and for the "impossible to define in one word" character of their delightful authors. As well as my enjoyment of their blogs, both these people have a special place in Petrona's heart: Jenny Davidson of Light Reading was the first person to comment on Petrona, which was the start of my own personal experience of the interactive, social web (and I have since even met her in person! Of course, at the British Library); and Frank Wilson has encouraged my own writing and built my confidence in that direction, not least by commissioning me to write book reviews for his paper. Wonderful, what can happen with that old Internet.

A few new UK March hardbacks

After my recent cornucopia of April reading (here, and some more here), I was a bit nervous yesterday when three Booksellers and a Publishers' Weekly appeared in the in-tray. One of the Booksellers was an old one, from 7 December (my April posts were based on later December issues). This one contained a list of some March new titles, but only three of them seem worth noting:

Ritual by Mo Hayder (Bantam, £14.99), welcome return for D I Jack Caffery, who featured in the first two books by this author. There is a new character, "female police diver Sergeant Flea Marley."

Blood From Stone by Frances Fyfield (Sphere, £19.99). Seems from the brief blurb to be a stand-alone, in which a successful female barrister kills herself and a colleague tries to find the reason. This author spoke eloquently at the recent Crimini launch, which made me want to revisit her books -- I used to read them all a few years ago, but for some reason stopped.

Until It's Over by Nicci French (Michael Joseph, £16.99). "Two people connected with a female courier cyclist are murdered". I don't care what it is about, I am confident that this latest "psychological suspense" book by husband and wife Sean French and Nicci Gerard will be brilliant, as they all are.

Luckily, there were no titles in the other Booksellers that appealed to me, and I had already read online the couple of interesting articles in PW (as it calls itself nowadays).

Bring out your dead

At last! Via Annie Mole of London Underground blog, the pest level of London's free "newspapers" is finally being realised. Nine and a half tons of the pesky things are left behind every day on the tube trains alone; add the amount that must be abandoned on the much more extensive suburban train lines and you begin to get the picture. Ever since the IRA bombs of 20 or so years ago, litter bins on stations or trains (tube or overground variety) are hard to come by, so passengers just leave these horrid parasitic publications wherever they finish with them, rather than taking them away and disposing of them in a responsible fashion. I find the sociology interesting in a repellent kind of way, because you hardly ever see paid-for papers left on the train or tube, only these awful travesties. Will the bins make a difference to behaviour patterns, I wonder?

To return to the news: according to Annie's post, the publishers, under threat of council fines, are underwriting the installation of 35 recycling bins outside central London stations at a cost of £500 each. These papers even plague us in Kingston, at the outer reaches of zone 6 beyond even the reach of Oyster cards, but we've had a recycling bin outside our station for a while now - so although we are in the styx, we are ahead of our metropolitan neighbours in at least this sense.

I hope phase 2 of the paper clean-up project is to ban the distributors of the rag sheets jumping up and waving them in your face, times three, at every station entrance and exit on your journey to and from work. Otherwise, innovative uses of the recycling bins might begin to come to mind.

Shaken, stirred or on the rocks

Linda L. Richards at January Magazine reports on the Bookseller talking-up a publishing war this Autumn, as it turns out that both Sean Connery and Roger Moore are publishing their memoirs simultaneously. Already, the billing is "battle of the Bonds".

Can it really be a "battle", though? Not that I'm going anywhere near either book, but if I were the sort of person who liked celebrity memoirs, there is absolutely no difficulty in making a decision between whether I'd prefer to read the words of the darkly fascinating, ruggedly handsome, dangerous Sean Connery or those of the, er, suavely eyebrowed Roger Moore.

Describe yourself in one word

So writes Scott Adams (Dilbert). "Suppose you had to pick one word to describe yourself. Your first reaction, I assume, is that it is impossible. You are so many different things, in so many different contexts. No one word can capture more than a tiny slice. Now suppose I ask you to think of people you know, and see how many of them you can describe in one word. Suddenly it gets a lot easier. He’s a jerk, she’s hot, he’s a loser, she’s a nerd, etc."

Scott's readers, and there are a lot of them, most commonly described themselves as: complicated, curious, eccentric, flexible, misunderstood, determined, inscrutable, fabulous, eclectic, oblivious, moist, provocateur, skeptical [sic], awesome, enigmatic or clever. Scott finds it "fascinating" that few if any of these adjectives are on a list of "positive personality attributes" that he found on the Internet. ("Fascinating" was another word his readers did not use to describe themselves.) He does not, however, reveal the word that was most commonly used by his readers to describe him: maybe that is for a future post, or maybe you have to dig around in his comments and find out for yourself. Me, I think I can resist the temptation to describe myself in one word, but don't let me stop you.

New reviews at Euro Crime

The new book reviews are up at Euro Crime. I am billed as not enjoying my two very much, though in retrospect they both had plenty of strong points, even if the whole was a tad disappointing in each case. One is Die With Me by Elena Forbes, a south-west London police-procedural with a creepy but cardboard villain (a more positive review is here); and the other is The Dark Eye by Ingrid Black -- Irish noir that would have been better if a bit leaner and shorter.

Other Euro Crime reviews this week are much more positive, I am glad to report: Terry Halligan loved What Came before he Shot Her by Elizabeth George (I hated it, I'm afraid); Karen Meek enjoyed The Damned Season by Carlo Lucarelli; and Frank Tallis's Fatal Lies got the thumbs up from Laura Root.

Also on Euro Crime, all the latest book reviews in the media are here; the authors' pages (links to home pages of many European crime writers) now have 608 entries; the future releases pages have been updated (see what books are due for publication); and win a copy of Bad Traffic by Simon Lewis (UK and rest of Europe only).

Sunday Salon: discovering Denmark

This past week I have read two excellent Danish books, The Serbian Dane by Lief Davidsen and The Exception by Christian Jungersen. I read these because they featured on Karen Meek of Euro Crime's list of best reads of 2007, and as I have enjoyed various Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish fiction, I thought I'd give Denmark a whirl.

Both books are intelligently well-written, and both have sympathetic translations. The Serbian Dane is a very tense thriller about a visit to Denmark by an Iranian author under threat of a fatwa. The story concerns the local journalist who is covering the story, the policeman in charge of the security arrangements, and the putative assassin. Chapters switch between the viewpoints of these three characters: we learn about their domestic lives, pasts, and emotions, all of which cause sympathies to alternate and lead to an almost-unbearable level of excitement. It is really very good indeed: a book that threatens to make you to miss your stop if reading it on the bus or train.

The Exception is a strikingly original work about four women who work at the Danish Centre for Genocide Information, and their smarmy (male) boss. One of the women has previously been held hostage herself while visiting Kenya. As with The Serbian Dane, the story is told from the viewpoints of the women in turn, interspersed with articles about genocide that two of the women write -- very powerful pieces that make one despair about the world we live in. The book itself is a clever parallel, between first the very broad one of the Centre's mission of understanding what drives these regimes -- what makes a person obey orders to kill and torture? -- and second, in microcosm, an intensely claustrophobic story of the four women, one of whom is nastily oppressed by the others. But is she, or is it all in her mind? By switching viewpoints, the author has us wrong-footed right to the end as we learn perhaps more than we want to know about human cruelty on a global and a personal level, and about the intersection of the two, where political persuasions affect individuals' lives.

Although these books have quite different plots, they share in common the elements of modern crime fiction that I find so fascinating: the struggle of a society to come to terms with its diversity, not only in terms of individual variation, but on a large and rapid scale, via immigration after the end of the Cold War and, more recently, via the expansion of the European Union. (Although both these books were published in English last year, they were written 10 years ago.) In particular, Scandinavian countries, with their relatively small populations, are traditionally seen as epitomising the success of the welfare state. The books from these regions that I've been reading for the past year or two are by authors looking at their cultures with an unflinching lens, making for compulsive reading.

See these links for reviews of The Exception and The Serbian Dane. I strongly recommend these books, both of which far transcend the "crime fiction" pigeonhole.

Nights on the town with Euro Crime

We have a rule where I work that if you attend a conference or visit a lab, you have to write up a report afterwards. Earlier this week I went to not just one, but two social events with a crime-fiction theme, yet I am spared the ordeal of "writing up" by Karen of Euro Crime (my delightful companion to both events), who has encapsulated the evenings beautifully in this post.

Briefly, the first event was the launch party for MacLehose press, the new imprint of Quercus. The first book to be published is Stieg Larsson's haunting The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which I reviewed here. Today, the Times ran a review of the book, and enthusiastic accounts have appeared in several other publications, not least Ali Karim's rave at The Rap Sheet. Ali was very much in evidence at the MacLehose launch, which he has written about in characteristically lively fashion, taking lots of photographs -- including the one above, of Karen (Euro Crime, on the left) and me (on the right). It's quite a nice picture but omits two unusual sightings, one of my lovely green silk skirt by Phase Eight, and the other of my "proper" black shoes with a heel (only an inch, but a heel nonetheless). I put them on just before going into the building, and took them off again on the way out, but for the party, they were definitely on my feet.

The second event, again as described at Euro Crime by Karen, was to celebrate the launch of Crimini, a book of short stories signifying the modern coming-of-age of Italian crime, collected by author Giancarlo De Cataldo (a short paragraph about the book is at the Times link above). De Cataldo had asked all his friends to contribute a chapter, he said, but none of them is a woman and none of them is the masterly Gianrico Carofiglio. Never mind, the book sounds good. I was there as the representative of Crime Scraps, as Norman (Italophile supremo) could not attend and so very kindly passed on to me his invitation. It was a most interesting and instructive evening, as Karen so well describes. As well as writing the short stories, Crimini's authors also worked with Italian TV to present a series based on the book, which looked great from the clip we were shown -- unfortunately it does not seem that there is much chance of seeing the whole thing in the UK.

A sad theme of both evenings concerned the publishing economics leading to very little translation of European crime fiction into English. Both Christopher MacLehose and Giancarlo De Cataldo spoke eloquently on this topic at the two events. The arts councils of some European countries do fund translations into English, but I understand that the just-announced cutbacks to the UK Arts Council will particularly affect translations. This is such a pity, as the books I am currently reading that are translated from their original Italian, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Spanish and so on are just superb. Many of these books have not been translated for about 10 years since original publication, while they have gained a reputation, and perhaps prizes or awards, in their native countries. One example of a book for which there is no sign of a translation deal because of its 600-page length, is De Cataldo's own novel Romanzo Criminali - a best seller in Italy and made into a film there, but unknown outside unless you can read the language. We were treated to clip of this film as well, which (although without subtitles) looks fantastic.

Isn't she just so sweet?

Congratulations to Sue Grafton: SHOTSMAG CONFIDENTIAL: CWA Announces 2008 Cartier Diamond Dagger Winner. Often overlooked, or under-rated, this award is well-deserved for an A to T of consistently entertaining and good reads.

From Shotsmag: "On hearing of the award, Ms Grafton said: "News of my being named the 2008 recipient of the CWA's Cartier Diamond Dagger so astonished me that I thought at first it was a practical joke. The note from my British publisher, Macmillan, was typically understated: 'I have some good news from the Crime Writers' Association. They would very much like to award you the 2008 Cartier Diamond Dagger at a ceremony in London on 7th May in Kensington.' Good news !?! I read the message three times and then checked the e-mail address just to verify that it had been intended for me. The publicity director was gently inquiring if I might attend the ceremony. I am absolutely delighted to respond that I'll be there with bells on, as they say over here. I'm thrilled with the news and honored at the prospect. I confess I'm still slightly worried there's an error in the works, but I'll be there nonetheless." "

See also this post on Lying for a Living, the amusing blog of author Meg Gardiner.

Simultaneous games of pairs

   

Reading Karen's post about the importance of being consistent brought to mind an experience of earlier today. While on a necessary but unpleasant journey, I popped into a bookstore to kill ten minutes, and browsed the "new in paperback" table. On it: "Die for me" by Karen Rose and "Die with me" by Elena Forbes. Also, "The Ressurectionist" by James McGee near to "The Reincarnationist" by M. J. Rose. Finally, "Silent at the Grave" by Deanna Raybourn, which reminded me of a fairly recent (very good, by the way) book not on this display, "Silence of the Grave" by Arnaldur Indridason.

I understand that publishers cannot coordinate their titles in advance, but perhaps a little more originality is called for, somewhere along the line. I am glad that the table top wasn't any bigger, as I was confused enough already.

Did Borges invent the Web?

Via Dave Lull, a link to a strange article in the New York Times Dot Com: Borges and the Foreseeable Future, in which it is suggested, in all apparent seriousness, that Jorge Luis Borges "uniquely, bizarrely, prefigured the World Wide Web". The "evidence" provided in the article consists of three excerpts from Borges' writings, one of which suggests an infinite encyclopaedia (aka Wikipedia):

It is conjectured that this ‘brave new world’ is the work of a secret society of astronomers, biologists, engineers, metaphysicians, poets, chemists, algebrists, moralists, painters, geometers, ... guided and directed by some shadowy man of genius. There are many men adept in those diverse disciplines, but few capable of imagination — fewer still capable of subordinating imagination to a rigorous and systematic plan. The plan is so vast that the contribution of each writer is infinitesimal.” “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” (1940).

A second is supposed to predict blogs: “Two or three times he had reconstructed an entire day; he had never once erred or faltered, but each reconstruction had itself taken an entire day. ‘I, myself, alone, have more memories than all mankind since the world began,’ he said to me. ... And again, toward dawn: My memory, sir, is like a garbage heap.” “Funes” (1942)"

And a third, digitisation of libraries: “From those incontrovertible premises, the librarian deduced that the Library is ‘total’ ... that is, all that is able to be expressed, in every language. ... When it was announced that the Library contained all books, the first reaction was unbounded joy. All men felt themselves the possessors of an intact and secret treasure. There was no personal problem, no world problem, whose eloquent solution did not exist.” “The Library of Babel” (1941)

And this final extract is supposed to prefigure the online horror that nothing can be forgotten once you've sent it out there: “I was struck by the thought that every word I spoke, every expression of my face or motion of my hand would endure in his implacable memory; I was rendered clumsy by the fear of making pointless gestures.” “Funes” (1942)"

This unique honour is conveyed upon Borges by various scholars who are referenced in the NYT piece, the best-known of whom is a gentleman called Umberto Eco. I think next week we will be reading that it wasn't Borges after all, but a combination of J. G. Ballard and Salvador Dali.

Norway, Australia and London crime

There are lots of good reviews of books "out there" just now. A few:

Max at Revish is the latest to review The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo. Somehow this book has been sitting unread in my house for some months -- I am not sure why as all the reviews I've seen indicate it is a must-read. (See here and here for a couple more.)

Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise is working her way through a series by Gabrielle Lord, which sounds pretty cool. Kerrie writes: "13 titles in 10 years is no mean feat, and in that time she has collected 2 awards: The Ned Kelly Award for best novel in 2002 for DEATH DELIGHTS, and a Davitt Award in 2003 for the best Australian crime novel by an Australian woman in the previous year for BABY DID A BAD, BAD THING. Another interesting thing about Gabrielle is that she has written not only stand-alones, but also with a male protagonist, Jack McCain, and a female one, Gemma Lincoln."

Reviews at Material Witness are always worth reading, whatever the view of the book: this one, on Impeccable Sources by David Brewerton, is no exception: "In his debut novel, David Brewerton, former hack and public relations man, offers a revealing and honest insight into the world of the printed media, as seen from the business desk of a major London-based daily, where an Aussie hack, Cassandra Brown, is handed the story of a lifetime, the sort all journalists dream of:  rich, successful advertising mogul disappears in mysterious circumstances while on holiday, leaving behind a wife he may have been cheating on (with a supermodel, naturally), personal financial woes, a hint of boardroom corruption and nakedly ambitious colleagues quite prepared to do the dirty on him dead or alive."

Update: here's a review of Ken Bruen's Ammunition, by the admirable Glenn Harper of International Noir Fiction.

Continuing the April theme

Not content with a brilliant glut of April reading in my previous post, here is news (via the same source, The Bookseller) of upcoming paperbacks in the UK.

March:

Losing You by Nicci French (Penguin, £6.99). Can't wait, I love these books, written by husband and wife Sean French and Nicci Gerard.

Skin Privilege by Karin Slaughter (Arrow, £6.99). Ditto. She's fantastic, and this one is a return to her Grant County series.

The Woods by Harlan Coben (Orion, £6.99). Completes the hat-trick for my March must-reads.

Beneath the Bleeding by Val McDermid (Harper, £6.99). She's always good. Make that four.

Also: Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child, the usual exciting outing for Jack Reacher; Trouble by Jesse Kellerman, son of Jonathan and Faye - I still have his first to read; Stalin's Ghost by Martin Cruz Smith (Ian Hocking has recently been reading Gorky Park, the author's sensational debut, which I adored when I read it all those years ago); and Suffer the Little Children by Donna Leon -- not up to her usual standards but a lovely read nonetheless.

April:

Borderlands by Brian McGilloway (Pan, £7.99). One of Euro Crime's three best reads of 2007, it is brilliant, as well as short. Please read it.

The Pool of Unease by Catherine Sampson (Pan, £6.99). I shall definitely be reading this, having loved her first two. The blurb says "the shadowy underbelly of modern China, depicted in a fast-paced thriller". The Chinese aspect is a departure from the domestic themes of the first two books in the series.

Friend of the Devil by Peter Robinson (Hodder, £6.99). More Inspector Banks, "delayed from March in an attempt to find more "space" ", whatever that means.

God's Spy by Juan Gomez Jurado (Orion, £6.99). Apparently a hugely successful Spanish novel about a serial killer in the Vatican after the death of Pope John Paul II. Said to be an "excellent, grisly, galloping thriller", but it has passed me by, possibly because of the theme.

Absolution by Caro Ramsay (Penguin, £6.99). "Introduces a Glasgow-based duo, Anderson and Costello, for the Rankin/Billingham market". They forgot to include the adjective "overworked" before "market". Nonetheless, could be good.

Cross by Ken Bruen (Corgi, £6.99). Obviously I have to read this, given that everyone who reads crime fiction rates him as one of the best, if not the best.

The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam by Chris Ewan (Pocket, £6.99). Winner of Susan Hill's Long Barn Books competition last year, and one I am keen to read - even though the Bookseller calls it "Christopher Brookmyre territory" (which isn't mine), it also says it is "about a delightful character caught up here in a crazy caper".

Other April paperbacks: The Alibi Man by Tami Hoag; The Burnt House by Faye Kellerman; Creation in Death by J D Robb (they are quite good but come out more quickly than you can read them, at two per year as well as at least that many non-Eve Dallas books under her Nora Roberts name); Citizen One by Andy Oakes, an Olympic-set thriller that follows-up Dragon's Eye, winner of the 2004 European Crime and Mystery award, apparently; The Blade Itself by Marcus Sakey, being compared by the publisher to Simon Kernick, only American; A Thousand Bones by P. J. Parrish; Stalked by Brian Freeman (said to be for the Patterson market).

April is delightfully cruel

Via a couple of Booksellers (21/28 December 2007 and 4 January 2008 issues), there are some mouth-watering books to be published in the UK in April, of which I provide a selection here:

White Nights by Ann Cleeves (Macmillan £16.99 hb), a sequel to Raven Black, winner of last year's Duncan Lawrie Dagger for best crime novel.

T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton (Macmillan, £16.99 hb). I've read all of the Kinsey Millhone series to date. This one sounds very good, based on the US reviews.

To Steal Her Love by Matti Joensuu (Eurocrime/Arcadia, £11.99 tpb). "A Helsinki-set crime tale featuring scholarly police sergeant Timo Harjunpaa." Sounds good, and his earlier novel, The Priest of Evil, is being released at the same time, in B format pb at £7.99.

The Girl of His Dreams by Donna Leon (Heinemann, £16.99 hb). The new Comissario Brunetti novel, eagerly awaited by Norm of Crime Scraps, me and a few others.

A Killing Frost by R. D. Wingfield (Bantam, £14.99 hb). The first Jack Frost novel for eight years, and presumably the last as, very sadly, the author died last year. The earlier books were brilliant so I am looking forward to this one. I didn't see many of the popular TV adaptations, but saw enough of them to note that Frost had been seriously softened-up compared with his character in the bleakly excellent books.

No Trace by Barry Maitland (Eurocrime/Arcadia, £11.99 tpb). Past winner of the Ned Kelly award, an Australian police procedural featuring DCI David Brock and DS Kathy Kolla. Sounds as if I'd like this series.

Bruno, Chief of Police by Martin Walker (Quercus, £12.99 hb). First in a series featuring Captain Bruno Courreges, "a small-time cop in deepest rural France". Sounds promising.

Nemesis by Jo Nesbo (Harvill Secker, £12.99 hb). Eagerly awaited installment in the Harry Hole series, set in Norway. (See here for Euro Crime reviews of his earlier books, The Redbreast and The Devil's Star.)

Pitch Black by Alex Gray (Sphere, £19.99 hb). Latest DCI Lorimer novel, set in Scotland, this one with a soccer theme. I have recently read the first of this series and although I quite enjoyed it, have yet to be convinced that it is up there with the best.

The Finder by Colin Harrison (Bloomsbury, £10.99 tpb), about a "beautiful young Chinese woman" involved in industrial espionage and on the run in New York.

Beautiful Lies by Lisa Unger (Arrow, £9.99 hb), thriller "about a young woman who steps off a New York street to save the life of a child and finds herself thrown into a whirlwind of violence, deception and fear".

Other April crime highlights: The Eye of the Leopard by Henning Mankell (non-Wallender); The Museum of Dr Moses, a short story collection by Joyce Carol Oates; The Twilight Time by Karen Campbell, a good-sounding debut (Glasgow police-procedural); and Rough Justice by Jack Higgins.

OK, that's April taken care of, then. See you in May.

Red Room: authors' book discussion

I found out today about Red Room, a social networking site for authors that launched in December. From the site: "the official home of the world’s greatest writers. Through original, author-generated content, we offer a trustworthy and creative social network unlike any other. Here, you can connect with your favorite authors, access current industry news, and comment on engaging features. By fostering true community between authors and readers, Red Room showcases esteemed writers and inspires the next generation. We also give back to the community we aim to nurture with our commitment to the causes we support."

Just another social networking site? Not sure, yet. There is an article about Red Room in SF Gate here, describing it as "one of the more ambitious online communities for writers to date and perhaps the most timely, aiming to capitalize on the current potential for profitability of social-networking sites. It features 150 authors (with 400 more to come), ranging from Amy Tan and Salman Rushdie to Edinburgh Castle Pub owner Alan Black; Graham Leggatt, executive director of the San Francisco Film Society, who moonlights as a sci-fi writer; and local mystery writer Cara Black."

SF Gate spoke to Amy Tan: "What's not to like?" said Tan, who shot to fame with the 1989 novel "The Joy Luck Club" and who recently wrote her first blog on Redroom - a self-described "virgin-blogger moment" about a ski trip and the importance of word games. "Redroom said they would maintain a free blog and give money to charity. I just thought, 'Well, yeah, sure, I'll do that.' "

The Red Room main blogs page is here. I wonder if Red Room will fulfil its goal of becoming "the Internet's premier site for authors and the discussion of books and ideas"?

Popular astronomy quiz

Cross-posted from Nautilus

Alex Witze (currently at AAS) passes on some questions for "sci/pop culture buffs":
In what popular movie does Daryl Hannah play an astronomer? (Answer.)
- What Japanese car company is named after a well-known star cluster? (Answer.)
- What science fiction story, written by an astronomer under a pseudonym, features a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram of stellar evolution? (Answer.)
- Can you recite the most famous neutrino poem, and name the poet? (Answer.)
And here's really geeky one I haven't a clue about - if you know, comment below please!
- What rock group had its members' names included in a reference in the Astrophysical Journal, unbeknownst to the editor? (Answer is provided here, with additional story by Oliver Morton).

Euro crime fiction weekly reviews

News just in of a few more reviews, via Euro Crime's weekly update. Karen herself has chosen two audio books as her favourites of this medium for 2007: Michael Dibdin's Back to Bologna; and Barbara Nadel's A Passion for Killing.

This week's new Euro Crime reviews include mine of Unseen by Mari Jungstedt, "another excellent author in the vibrant Swedish crime-fiction scene"; and The Simian Curve by Mark Lalbeharry, a police procedural with a scientific thriller theme. Star book of the week, however, is The Sinner by Petra Hammesfahr, reviewed by Fiona Walker. Fiona writes: "I can't really praise this book enough. It’s a brilliant piece of work, focused, fascinating, and very well written indeed. It's a great mystery and a first-class psychological portrait of a woman tormented by her past." Or if you like the mystical, historical genre, Pat Austen was entranced by Manda Scott's The Crystal Skull. Or, spoilt for choice, Declan Burke compares Ray Banks's writing style to that of Samuel Beckett in his review of Saturday's Child. A good week! You can also check out reviews and articles about European crime fiction in the press in the Euro Crime weekly update, which provides links to all the latest news.

A reminder: if you live in the UK or rest of Europe, you can enter the Euro Crime competition to win a copy of Simon Lewis's Bad Traffic. Closing date 31 January.

It's an ing mystery

Link: Language Log: A new way of 寫ing Mandarin.

It seems from the post above that the Chinese mystery and thriller magazine is among the leaders in language evolution. Language Log links to an article in Pinyin News discussing how frequent it is now for Mandarin publications and informal writers to add .."ing" to the Mandarin -- to look "cool and modern". From the comments to that article:

"For example, the Mystery and Thrillers magazine cover here has a cover line reading “《天机》第二季火热连载ing ” (and I think they’ve used the same wording ever since the magazine launched mid-year). My guess is that it started online (or close to it, like in cutesy IM language), similar to other grammatical borrowings (的说 being another prominent example)."

You can see more examples at the Language Log post, including an election poster.

Sunday Salon: reading ideas

Some reading recommendations for Sunday Salonists:

I've recently discovered a delightful blog straight after my own heart. It is called Mysteries in Paradise. Here, blogger Kerrie reviews Susan Hill's The Pure in Heart, the second Simon Serrallier novel. I enjoyed the first, The Various Haunts of Men, and have a copy of the third, The Risk of Darkness, thanks to Karen of Euro Crime. All that remains is for me, an orderly soul, to read the second, so I'll obtain a copy get on to that forthwith. What was stopping me from continuing with the series, I think, was the shocking end to "Various haunts". Kerrie's review, earlier post and comments have made me resolve to read on.

My pseudonymous friend and devoted carer of Oscar, CrimeFicReader, here reviews Roger Morris's second book, A Vengeful Longing. I haven't read it or the first, possibly because historical fiction is not my top priority from the many excellent books demanding my reading attention. On the basis of the It's a Crime! review, I should probably change my mind. The review also provides details of a Hampstead crime evening featuring Roger Morris and other authors, on 7 February.

Author Martin Edwards here writes about Dorothy L. Sayers's books, in particular his favourite, Have His Carcase. I loved all these books as a child, reading the old yellow editions from the library several times over. One day.....a re-read?

Declan Burke of Crime Always Pays is rather taken with the cover of Cat Trap, by K. T. McCaffrey. The story sounds pretty good, too.

And Norman Price of Crime Scraps here provides the rationale-in-brief for his five favourite Euro Crime reads of 2007. You can't go wrong with these books -- or at least the four that I've read -- the fifth is a Ken Bruen about which I constantly hear such good things that I'm sure it deserves its place in this pantheon.

Sunday Salon: No time for goodbye

No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay is an American domestic thriller in the tradition and style of Harlan Coben, so start it when you have plenty of time in front of you. Twenty-five years ago, the parents and brother of teenager Cynthia Bigge disappeared without trace. The police are completely stumped, and Cynthia never hears from her family again. In the meantime, she is raised by Aunt Tess, goes to college, meets and marries the narrator (a high-school English teacher called Terry Archer), and has a daughter, Grace. Cynthia works in a clothes shop owned by Pam, her best friend from school, as she does not want to move away from the neighbourhood, just in case.

The book opens well, with the making of a reality TV show in which Cynthia and Terry tell the story of the past 25 years in flashback. The strain has told on Cynthia, so seeds of doubt are sown in the reader’s mind, as well as in Terry’s, about her mental stability. She is certainly paranoid about Grace’s safety, refusing to let her out of her sight.

The plot develops with real pace and tension. Strange events begin to happen – a phone call, a psychic who claims to have information, a disappearing door key to the Archers' house…is someone using the house while the family is out? The reader is cleverly kept on the edge. Most of the story is told by the very straight Terry, so we are never sure if Cynthia is telling the truth, imagining things, or is involved in something more sinister. Terry’s life at school is portrayed in some detail, to some extent to provide a few potential suspects and red herrings, but also bringing some depth to the story in the descriptions of the creative writing Terry teaches to a “difficult” class.

Cynthia’s aunt becomes very ill and Cynthia decides to hire a private detective to look into the past tragedy again, even though she and Terry can ill-afford it. These two events stimulate various crises which lead to a racy, thrilling read and the uncovering of the central mystery.

I have to say that I guessed the bare bones of the solution early on, and also the identity of the “surprise” secondary nasty character. I also felt that the solution depended too much on clues having been overlooked in the initial investigation and subsequently. An example is the box of newspaper cuttings kept by Cynthia’s father. She is said to have pored over the contents many times, yet not one but two essential clues are found in an article and photograph kept in the box. I didn’t mind, though; the book is an impressive debut -- a highly enjoyable, exciting account.

Crime offers from Waterstone's

Waterstone's latest crime fiction email is out, which includes the offer of proof copies of the following books: The Rabbit Factory by Marshall Karp; The Cleaner by Brett Battles; Ritual by Mo Hayder; The Frightened Man by Ken Cameron; and Innocent Blood by Elizabeth Corley. If you want to review any of them, send an email to [email protected], including your postal address. Although I'd love to read the Hayder, I don't want to read any of the others (so far as I know). Last time Waterstone's offered three proof copies, of which I wanted to read two but not the third. I asked in my email only to send either of the two I wanted but not to bother if they only had the third left, as I would not read it. So they sent the third. You have been warned.

Also in the same email, Waterstones is promoting an unabridged audio version of 7th Heaven for £14.99 (a "Women's Murder Club" title), which they say will not be available as a CD. Me, I wonder how you could abridge a James Patterson book in any event.

Other promotions this month include are A Quiet Belief in Angels by R J Ellroy (this is cheap everywhere as it is a current Richard and Judy selection); Nothing to Fear by Karen Rose; Broken Skin by Stuart MacBride; Unseen by Mari Jungstedt (which I've just read and is very good indeed); Cold in Hand by John Harvey, the new Resnik novel, which I'm looking forward to. The Woods by Harlan Coben is out in paperback later this month, another one I'm looking out for. All Waterstone's current offers are here; based on past experience, I recommend a price check against Amazon before committing yourself to a purchase.

No Aragorn in the NBCC

David Orr of the US National Book Critics Circle has kindly explained to me (here) why Aragorn was not chosen as one of the new directors. David points out that he was disqualified because of a late candidate statement. Must have been too busy chasing those orcs.

Thank you to crime-fiction bloggers

Saturday is the day for doing essential domestic duties as there is little other time for such matters at Petrona Towers. While enduring a day of washing, ironing, searching for turquoise sequins in the shops (buying a few books in the process*, I'm nobody's fool), changing beds, wrapping up birthday present, reading through homework, etc, my mind was wandering over various topics, one of which was how much I have enjoyed the crime-fiction books I've read this year, and how much I owe to a band of crime-fiction-friendly bloggers who have reviewed and recommended many of these titles. So without further ado, I would like to thank: Norm of Crime Scraps (particularly for the Martin Beck series and Andrea Camilleri); Karen of Euro Crime (not just for excellent recommendations, but also actual copies of the books); Glenn of International Crime Fiction (for Gene Kerrigan and others); Peter of Detectives Beyond Borders (Diamond Dove and others); CrimeFicReader of It's a Crime! (Joanna Hines and others); Declan of Crime Always Pays (for The Big O by Declan Burke ;-) and several books via his fiendishly difficult competitions); and Sarah of Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind (for Daniel Woodrell and Asa Larsson). I have also picked up some good titles via our otherwise sadly quiet crime fiction reading group at Revish (Red Leaves by Thomas Cook, for example). I expect I haven't remembered everyone, but thank you all and especially the bloggers I have mentioned, who by writing such stimulating perspectives on a range of novels and authors, have widened my horizons considerably.

---------------

*Dr Zhivago by Boris Pasternak; York notes on The Spire by William Golding and on poetry by Carol Ann Duffy, and because the preceding titles came to more than £10, the £11.99 edition of A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseni at the special price of £3.99 -- Malcolm is reading The Kite Runner at the moment, and enjoying it, so I thought he might like this. I did not buy Alastair Campbell's diaries, despite a request for it. This was partly because when I picked up the book my body literally curdled at the prospect of actually having it in the house in a "matter over mind" moment. When I then saw that the price is £25, I simply could not throw so much good money at it as opposed to, say, a home for retired booksellers, so instead have suggested to the potential reader that she either borrows it from the library or from her teacher (as has been offered). I suppose I could make a attempted clever point about a world in which "an extract" (I quote the blurb on the front cover) of A. Campbell's diaries is priced at more than three times Dr Zhivago, but I won't.

My favourite books of 2007

Here are my favourites of the books I have reviewed in 2007, with a link to my review and a taster excerpt for each. Enjoy!

English language Euro Crime

The Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill. One of the many delights of this book about ordinary people's experiences of living under the communist regime are the small everyday acts of subversion and rebellion that avoid the notice of the unimaginative authorities but cause a liberating sense of personal triumph that sustains people through each day.

The Midnight Choir by Gene Kerrigan. Elegiac novel of corruption in Ireland.

Borderlands by Brian McGilloway. As with many of the best crime-fiction novels, the strengths of this book lie both in its convincing portrayal of place, and in the shadows of the past.

The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penny. A suspenseful, atmospheric novel set in Canada in 1867.

The Shadow Walker by Michael Walters. "Murder at the edge of the world" - Mongolia, to be precise.

Translated Euro Crime

The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri. The beauty of this book is in the evocation of place.

Reasonable Doubts by Gianrico Carofiglio. An unpretentious, shiningly true book.

Calling out for you by Karin Fossum. One of the best crime novels of its year, undoubtedly.

Voices by Arnaldur Indridason. Masterly in the way the story of each crime is suspenseful yet an elegy for sad and lonely lives of most of those involved.

Ice Moon by Jan Costin Wagner.The main strength of this excellent book is the character study of Kimmo Joentaa, a young police detective trying to come to terms with the death of his even younger wife from Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Crime beyond Europe

Echo Park by Michael Connelly.Harry Bosch continues his lonely, almost religious campaign to close old unsolved crimes.

Diamond Dove by Adrian Hyland. As soon as I started reading, I was absorbed in the author's world.

Triptych by Karin Slaughter An exciting, must-read mystery-thriller.

The Broken Shore by Peter Temple. Drama, sadness and insight. The everyday casual brutalities of racism and ruination of the beautiful, grand environment of this most wonderful continent are compellingly conveyed.

Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell. A desperately sad book, brilliantly conveying the histories and culture of the people, and one that won’t leave you in a hurry.

Five stars

The Big O by Declan Burke. A fast-paced and very funny book.

I’ve Heard that Song Before by Mary Higgins Clark Wonderful, escapist, uplifting. Utterly reliable, sure in her plotting, knows what her readers like, and delivers.

Red Leaves by Thomas H Cook. A focused, claustrophobic tale of an apparently happy nuclear American family falling apart under psychological stress.

The Princess of Burundi by Kjell Ericksson. Uppsala detectives, the crimes they solve, and their personal lives as they work to keep the peace on those mean, snowy streets.

In the Woods by Tana French. I have often read the word "unputdownable" to describe a book, but in this case it is true.

The Murder Bird by Joanna Hines. A compelling little psychological thriller of dark family secrets.

Borkmann's Point by Harkan Nesser. The humour is dry and the characters of the local police well drawn.

See all my book reviews in full here; and as a list of links here for 2007, and here for 2008.

Diamond Dove to Moonlight Downs

Via Crime Down Under:

"Kerrie at Mysteries in paradise reports that the fair folk at the Oz Mystery Readers forum have put their heads together to compile a list of their best reads for 2007, with Diamond Dove by Adrian Hyland heading the list. It should be noted that the books in the list are books that were read in 2007, not necessarily books that were published in 2007. She has followed that post up with her review of Diamond Dove. By the way, there has been a lot of discussion about this book here in Australia and it will be released by Soho Press in the US in February under the name Moonlight Downs."

My review of Diamond Dove is here. I highly recommend reading the book. Here is the start of my review: "Adrian Hyland's first novel, Diamond Dove, is a tale of the Australian outback. The descriptions and atmosphere are so compelling that from page 1 the reader is jettisoned into the heat, the dry dust, the rocks, and the impoverished townships and itinerant camps of the Northern Territories, a place where Alice Springs seems as sophisticated, and indeed remote, as Paris or Milan. As soon as I started reading, I was absorbed in the author's world. The narrator is a young, motherless, half-white, half-Aboriginal woman; her lack of identity with either culture forms the basis of the book, as she is more of an observer than a member of any of the social groups or places so evocatively described." Read on here!

Although I read this book at the time that I did because I was sent a review copy by a very kind, generous and charming gentleman from Quercus, the UK publisher, I was very keen to do so because of the pieces written previously about the book by Peter at Detectives Beyond Borders. Here is Peter's review. Peter includes the book in his list of his favourite reading for 2007.

Whose crime fiction is it, anyway?

Not content with tempting us beyond realistic reading expectations by listing upcoming Scandinavian crime novels, Karen of Euro Crime has now completed the hat trick by providing Amazon lists of French and Italian titles to be published this year [in translation]. Karen will update these lists as the year progresses and she hears of more new publications, so it is worth bookmarking them and checking back now and again.

Missed from my yesterday's post, Mark Thwaite of the Book Depository here posts a brief review of Cormac McCarthy's The Road -- a book, it seems, people either love or hate.

I may be guilty as charged but I don't look like this ;-). Imagery apart, Declan Burke of Crime Always Pays takes issue with me about what is a "crime fiction" novel. He writes: "If a writer understands that the fictions of crime in books or movies serve as a lightning rod to the inevitable fears and paranoias of the modern world, and has wit enough to render our most primal instinct entertaining, then he or she is a crime writer and the book is a crime novel." I'm still thinking about whether I meant exactly what I wrote in my comment (which is highlighted in Declan's pulchritudinous, plus even bearded, post) or whether that "not" was in the wrong place in my sentence. When I've worked it out, I'll respond over at Crime Always Pays, but in the meantime, head on over and accept Declan's invitation to jump in.

New year bloggers' book reviews

A selection of reading recommendations (and a film review if you get to the end) that have been accumulating in my reader since the start of the year. As I've already bought about 20 books this year based on various "best of" lists, I'm already not sure how to cope with 2008.

Max at Revish reviews Judas Heart by Ingrid Black, calling it one of the best crime thrillers he's read in 2007. I have recently read the second in this series, The Dark Eye, and although I quite enjoyed it, I need a break from the slightly claustrophobic atmosphere and slow pace before I start on Judas (which I am lucky enough to have, thanks to winning a fiendishly difficult competition set by a man who is not himself mean, on Crime Always Pays).

Stephanie Sweeney on the Picador Blog asks us what we would read again if we had a day to ourselves and only one book to return to. There are about 20 suggestions in the comments, but some people have cheated and suggested more than one.

I haven't read any of the Richard and Judy selections for this year, but flicking through them in British Bookshops (formerly known as Sussex Stationers) and WHS on Sunday, most look pretty good. Mark Thwaite of the Book Depository has a useful post here, in which he lists them all and links to short reviews (and a purchase page!) for each. Thanks to Mark.

Martin Edwards describes the latest issue of Deadly Pleasures magazine, which sounds my cup of tea - but would I ever have time to read it? The magazine's (long) selection of best books of 2007 is here, a few of which I've read and enjoyed.

For another list, see Aust Crime Fiction for Karen Chisholm's selection. I'm delighted to see Adrian Hyland's excellent Diamond Dove at the top of the list ("local" category), and that another of my 2007 favourites, Ice Moon by Jan Costin Wagner, is there. Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo's Martin Beck series rightly gets a special award for "best series revisit". I couldn't agree more with Karen: "their entire series is being re-released by Harper Perennial and it's an absolute joy to go back and reread books which are just as good now as they were when first published.  If you've not read any of the books from this breakthrough Swedish series - then head off to the bookshop / library!  If you have - this re-released series is a ripper because it includes interviews with Maj, introductions from a stunning range of current day writers - all of whom have been influenced by these books, and other bits and pieces to enhance the stories." What's more, I've only read the first three, so I've got seven more to go ;-).

Karen C has been on a roll recently in reviewing books that I haven't read but which look good. One such is a book I've had bookmarked in Amazon for about two years but have never got around to buying, The Butterfly Effect, by the exotically named Pernille Rygg. And here's another, a historical thriller, Equinox by Michael White. And another, Clean Cut by Lynda La Plante, third in a series. (I stopped reading her a while back when she began franchising out, but this Anna Travis series looks to be worth a try.)

Also in Australia, Damien of Crime Down Under reviews The Perfect Suspect by Vincent Varjavandi, a debut psychological thriller "that soon blossoms out into a much more complex thriller that becomes increasingly confrontational."

Had enough yet? If not, here are Crime Fiction Dossier's top five debuts of 2007. I've read none of them, nor the honourable mention, so there are a few more for my list, should I ever be short of ideas.

Finally, a complete change of pace, here is Jennifer Rohn of Lab Lit reviewing the Will Smith movie version of I am Legend (book by Richard Matheson), from a scientific perspective. Still not sure whether to go and see it, though -- realistically, it will be a DVD if anything, I suspect.

Mars and world end, what next?

Well, 2008 has started explosively. Last week (2 Jan), we had an asteroid about to smash into Mars. Now, via the same source, The Great Beyond, I read a post Sunspot heralds end of the world!:

"A rather hysterical press release from the US warns us that a sunspot heralds a new solar cycle that could “bring down power grids, disrupt critical communications ... threaten astronauts with harmful radiation ... knock out commercial communications satellites and swamp Global Positioning System signals”. Run for the hills!"

When I read this kind of thing, I always wonder what the perpetrators think when they wake up the next morning and we (or the martians) are all still here. This particular example is the press office of the US Space Weather Prediction Center of the National Weather Service (part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). The Mars effort was NASA.

Anne Frank strikes a false note

Via the Guardian: Anne Frank the Musical strikes a false note. Yes, it seems there is to be a musical based on the life of Anne Frank, backed, apparently, by the Anne Frank foundation - but not by me. The news immediately made me think of Mel Brooks's film The Producers, in which Zero Mostel, for crazy plot reasons, needs a sure-fire loss maker to put on Broadway, so he decides upon a musical, Springtime for Hitler. Against all expectations, the show is an overnight sensation, which is ruinous for Zero. Much later, the movie was made into an (also successful) theatrical musical -- called, unsurprisingly, The Producers rather than Springtime for Hitler - that would have taken irony a step too far.

Back to Anne Frank. Michael Billington puts it perfectly in his Guardian piece:

Anne Frank's diary exists as a record of a young girl's thoughts and feelings. Even the play based upon it, according to Kenneth Tynan when he saw it in New York in the 1950s, "smacked of exploitation". And a musical will surely take us even further from the world of raw truth. This is a vital aesthetic question raised by David Hare in Via Dolorosa. Visiting Yad Vashem, the museum of the Holocaust, Hare was struck by the thought that the paintings and sculptures on view seemed superfluous when one was confronted by the matchless horror of fact.

Three Is are Euro Crime winners

Yesterday, Euro Crime published its reviewers' favourite reads of 2007. Karen asked all her reviewers to nominate their five favourite books of the year (that's 14 people as well as Karen herself), counted them all up and found that three books came out a shade ahead -- with three votes each. They are:

Gianrico Carofiglio - Reasonable Doubts (another review here.)
Arnaldur Indridason - The Draining Lake (plus one vote for Voices (also reviewed here and here) )
Brian McGilloway - Borderlands

Mine was the vote for Voices. I chose it because I have read so many great books this year that I decided to limit myself to those for which I've had reviews published during the year. I have read and reviewed The Draining Lake, but the review is not yet published. I do think that The Draining Lake is better than Voices: each of the four books by Indridason so far translated into English has been better than the last -- and the first was pretty spectacular! (The four are Jar City, Silence of the Grave, Voices and The Draining Lake.)

If you haven't read any of these books yet, I do urge you to do so. They are all very short, so won't take long, and are all wonderful. The first is Italian, the second Icelandic and the third Irish, so the three Is of Europe have taken the honours this year. Carofiglio's is the third of a series (for maximum enjoyment, read them in order: the first two are Involuntary Witness and A Walk in the Dark) , and McGilloway's is a first novel.

At the Euro Crime post, you can also see the 14 books that collected two votes each. A very good selection, based on the 7 that I have read. And here are the choices broken down by reviewer, including mine. (Karen's own top ten are here.) I'll post a bit more about my nominations tomorrow (or whenever I can next find time for this blog), but that's all folks, for tonight.

Sunday salon: bookgroup.info

Some time ago, I attended a Bloggers' Brunch, and wrote about it here. Two of the people I met are Clare and Irene, who run a website for reading groups called bookgroup.info. As a result of meeting them, I signed up for their newsletter, the latest edition of which has just arrived. Here are a few highlights:

The recommended title of the month for book groups is Angel by Elizabeth Taylor. I am ashamed to say I have never read this book, but have long wanted to. Here's an excerpt from the bookgroup.info review: "ANGEL is a tale of hubris (a word I feel she would have liked) except that Elizabeth Taylor is kind to her protagonist and, as well as presenting us with an arrogant, selfish and unempathetic Angel, she let us into her innermost hopes and dreams and what could have been written as a satirical, cautionary tale becomes humane and convincing."

The site features an interview with Lloyd Jones, author of Mr Pip, a book which I see from my recent trip to the shops is receiving much exposure due to being a Richard&Judy selection. The book sounds intriguing; here is the first Q/A:

Q: What made you want to write Mister Pip?

A: My stories grow out of certain preoccupations. I start exploring them and after a while story begins to grow and knit some sort narrative. The preoccupations feeding into Mister Pip have much to do with post-colonial culture in the Pacific. Perhaps my working title ‘Inventing the Pacific’ provides the best clue. This month's BBC Radio 4 bookclub is today, repeated on Thursday 10 January, in which Alice Sebold discusses her haunting and haunted novel The Lovely Bones (one I have read: loved the first half intensely, found the second half ran out of steam). Bookclub.info also points to its review of the recent Costa prizewinner, What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn. Although my earlier trip to the shops was officially to buy knives, a tablecloth, some lightbulbs and a chair, in actual fact my secret mission was to buy a copy of this book. I didn't write down the title or author before I left the house, assuming that copies would be on prominent display in WHS, Waterstones et al. Not so. I came back without it as I couldn't remember what it was called or who it was by, and was greeted by blank incomprehension when I asked a WHS assistant if the book was in stock. Oh well, I've bookmarked it on Amazon now (a steep £6.25 for a paperback, surprisingly, in view of the standard £3.99 for Richard and Judys). I shouldn't write "surprisingly", I am sure this is all down to marketing deals concerning pricing, placement and promotion -- and Amazon has to compete with whatever the High Street is doing (buy one get one half-price on R&Js) but needn't bother otherwise. I digress. Please do check out the bookgroup.info newsletter (you can sign up to monthly editions for free): there are competitions, giveaways and plenty of other features. Although the newsletter and site are for UK book groups, there is plenty there for any keen, lone reader to enjoy.