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Feb 25, 2010

Thoughts on The Lonely Polygamist

We have Brady Udall coming to the store in May and everyone who has read this loved it. There will be so much buzz for this book that I don't have to post a review. I do however have a few observations. I'm all for live and let live but every Polygamist much be permanently knackered. First you need the organisational skills of a four star general to co-ordinate the houses, the 18 kids and which of the four (or however many) wives gets to spend the night with hubby. Second there's the jealousy factor, I can't imagine sharing Chris with anyone else but one wife must through a combination of bribery and wiles become the favourite and that must royally tick the other wives off. Funny and sad in equal measure and so not my usual book but this is 'say yes week' and I'm glad I did. The book is published in April.

Vienna Secrets, Frank Tallis

Vienna 1903, a city struggling with cultural and religious identity, a melting pot of wealth and grinding poverty and a powder keg in the wrong hands. Inspector Reinhardt involves psychoanalyst Dr Max Leibermann after two men are murdered on church grounds, their heads literally torn off their shoulders. Locals are whispering that the devil or some older superstitions are responsible.

Reinhardt’s enquiries establish anti Semitic ties between the victims and he sends Max to interview Barash, the powerful leader of the city’s Hasidic community. Could the murders be politically motivated or have the Hasidim summoned a protector they cannot control. Max doesn’t think he much time left to find out.

Feb 24, 2010

A rare opportunity and say 'yes' week.

The rare opportunity was the chance to get a book talk from a rep and long time friend of the store. Normally the only people meeting with reps are the book buyers. I'm now in a queue for Glob-ish, the EO Wilson novel(!) and yes it's great, Packing for Mars by Mary Roach (she of Bonk, Spook etc) I did manage to snag an arc of The Lonely Polygamist by Bradly Udall and The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg.

Say 'yes' week is a way of stepping out of my comfort zone, the rules being if I can do said activity without relying on someone else to get me there I'll do it. For instance Monday, I was voice talent without a net, Tuesday I put the above book talk over a dental appointment (it was a cancellation - and a bit of a no brainer) Who knows what the rest of the week holds, I don't and I'm okay with that.

Feb 21, 2010

Tearing through 'Crashers'

I found Crashers by Dana Haynes in our stock of arcs - published in June. It's topical, fast and downright scary and to think I'm going to be on a plane in a month's time! It's about an NTSB go team dealing with the aftermath of a deadly crash and then learning that they only have 72 hours to work out what caused said crash and stop it from happening again.

Feb 18, 2010

Linking series together

Since I've been assigned to look after our mystery section and recently finished re-reading 'a whole new mind'. I'm working on a piece of hopefully creative marketing. Most mystery readers have a favourite sub genre, noir, light, books you read in one sitting, medieval, war,whodunnit, psychological etc. It got me thinking and I'm working on a way to string similar series together - a sort of further reading list but on steroids. Your feedback would be a great help. Tell me your favourite mystery series and then liken it to a drink. E.g

Evanovich - Cappuccino,
Mankell/Larsson - Vodka,
McBain, Mosley, O'Connell, Pareksky - Bourbon

See where I'm going with this?

Comments through the usual channels.

Feb 14, 2010

Juliet Naked

Hornby isn't an author I've read a lot of. About a Boy was the last title of his that I read but in the spirit of bookclub I picked up a copy and finished it yesterday. It's a fun read, full of whit, humour and observations on celebrity and the obsessive nature of the internet. Here's a quick summary.

Annie spent 15 years in a dull seaside town organizing Duncan and handling his obsession with Tucker Crowe, a sensation in the 80's because of the album Juliet. According to the purists a journey of his relationship with Julie Beaty. Annie likes Tucker's music but disagrees with Duncan over the singer's latest work - a stripped down version of the album entitled Juliet, Naked. Annie posts a review of the album on the fan site and gets an e-mail from the reclusive Tucker and once Annie digs deeper she has an 'Emporer's new clothes' moment about the genesis of the album that made Tucker famous.

Feb 7, 2010

MJ Rose

Finished the arc of The Hypnotist this morning. Last in a trilogy (why do I always seem to find series at the end?) Sufficiently engaging that I'm going to have to check out the first two books. I'm assuming Rose is an artist or has taught art. This book comes out in May, as usual full review then.

Update 2/8 - the three books are not a trilogy - they can be read in any order and there's more to come.

Feb 4, 2010

The kiss of death

My current pet peeve is publishers putting the first book in a series out of print while the series is still active

Case in point - the first of the Bryant and May series, Full Dark House. I could've hand sold a couple of copies of that yesterday but on further investigation - in indie world - our suppliers can't get it. Reason - in big red letters OUT OF PRINT and I'm all for getting hooked on a series in the middle but not everyone wants to do that.

update 2/6 so we can still get FDH as a trade paperback hopefully we can keep one in stock to sell the whole series.

49Up

Being sans hubby for a week I have fully embraced the idea of Netflix instant streaming - and yes this is going somewhere. 49Up showed up on my documentary queue. We were made to watch the original 7Up at school. The saying goes 'give me a boy until he is seven and I will show you the man'

Every 7 years film maker Michael Apted goes back to the same group of kids. At seven they were rich kids at prep school, poor kids from the east end, several kids in a children's home. The two standouts for me were the boy who wanted to be a jockey (Tony?) and the girl who wanted to work in Woolworths. Apted documents the twists and turns they lives have taken. Jackie - the want-to-be shop assistant made the most impression on me because she told Apted she hated doing the films. She said that to be wrenched out of your comfort zone every seven years as a form of entertainment was emotionally draining. It got me thinking, how would my own life measure up to that and would I have the raw courage this lot have shown in allowing themselves to be shown warts and all. How honest would I be? How honest would you be? Think about it.

Picked up an arc of The Hypnotist by MJ Rose yesterday. I've read one of her earlier books Flesh Tones but that was a couple of years ago. I also put a yes please sticker on the new Sebastian Faulks, A week in December.

Feb 2, 2010

The literary murder mystery

I could argue that all murder mystery/thrillers should be literary but with long descriptive passages you often lose the impetus that keeps you turning the pages. Vienna Secrets - due out in April - doesn't have that problem. Well written - of course - but evocative too. Vienna is one of my favourite travel destinations and when I've read a book that conjures up Vienna it makes me want to go back and get lost on its streets all over again. Thinking of the Prater, Stefans Dom, Lipizzaners and Sacher Torte right now.

Heresy, S J Parris

A sixteenth century historical whodunit based on the real life adventures of Doctor Giordano Bruno of Nola. Bruno, ex-communicated from his faith for the heinous crime of being caught reading Erasmus on the privy has been on the run from the papist inquisition for years. He arrives in England only to be recruited into the service of Queen Elizabeth I.

Bruno – attached to a royal party - travels to Oxford University ostensibly to debate Copernican theory. His real mission is twofold, to investigate whispers of a Catholic plot against Elizabeth and to track down an ancient heretical text rumoured to be in Oxford.

Before Bruno can begin his investigation, a series of murders shakes Lincoln College to its foundations and the murderer seems to be pointing Bruno towards the answers he seeks. But Bruno will learn to his cost that Oxford is full of secrets and betrayal.

Tooth and Claw, Nigel McCrery

A detective’s worst nightmare is a serial killer who never kills the same way twice and leaves no overt links between his crimes. DCI Mark Lapslie is handed the high profile case of a murdered television newsreader despite his protests. Lapslie thinks that his superiors are trying to force him into early retirement by using his rare condition – synethesia – against him. In Lapslie’s brain sound equals taste, smell equals sound and so on. But Lapslie, ably assisted by Sergeant Emma Bradbury could be the only one who can link this murder to a string of other unsolved killings and a jealous colleague is about to let that slip to the media. Can Lapslie catch the sick killer, before one of his team becomes the next victim.