Charles Ardai the publisher at Hard Case Crime emailed to straighten me out on the Edgars. Domenick Stansbury won. Little Girl Lost was nominated but didn’t win. Sorry for the flub. Brenda Coulter has a response to Otto Penzler on her blog. You may recall that Otto chastised women writers this past week. Otto was [...]
The Friday review coincides with the morning after for mystery writers, the lingering smoke in the air, the thoughts of Otto Penzler, and a quick look at the Edgar winners. Donna Moore, a writer from Scotland, captured the Nevermore prize again this year offered by Partners & Crime bookstore in Greenwich Village. Your reporter was [...]
Not to leech from the misfortune of small amphibians, but this headline from MSN News caught my eye. “Exploding Toads Baffle German Scientists.” A thousand toads from Hamburg-Altona have exploded in recent weeks defying scientific explanation. The article pointed out that Altona is an upscale suburb of Hamburg. Presumably toads from lesser neighborhoods are not [...]
As you might have noticed, things have been a little quiet around here of late. I have a lot of things going on and I am a little distracted/uninspired. To catch all of you up on my reading I thought I would give a few dis-jumbled thoughts collected in one place rather than pretend I [...]
The links in this post remind me of the dangers of cynicism. Maud has an entry on a review of On Bullshit by Harry Frankfurt. It is easy to appear wise by saying that someone is spinning public persception of himself. It is easy to say that something true is obvious or that a disagreement [...]
I can’t seem to get inspired to write reviews of the books I have finished so let me throw a few links your way. – The New York Daily News reports that Three big publishers have concluded that size matters: They plan to introduce and promote a new paperback format – a slightly taller size, [...]
Ohio never seems to disappoint in the weird weather department. On Wednesday it was 80 degrees this morning it is snowing! Every spring we have a streak of gorgeous weather and I begin to think of summer. But we always have some cold ugly weather before summer rolls around. But hey, the cold makes the [...]
The Friday Review, an institution around here for weeks now, takes a different turn this time. Yes, a few titles will be mentioned in the last paragraph, so if you’re in a hurry, skip the middle parts. James Marcus wrote an article in last Sunday’s WaPO about the unplanned release of Amazon’s anonymous reviewers. They [...]
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For your entertainment this morning, I present a column by Jonah Goldberg that combines the Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, Hannibal Lecter (from Silence of the Lambs), and the Cookie Monster: C is for political correctness, and that’s silly. Here is the relevant snippet: Lecter: “First principles, Clarice. Read Marcus Aurelius. Of each particular thing, ask: [...]