And speaking of J. Kingston Pierce, our man at The Rap Sheet does a great job at affectionately grilling James Garner, the former star of The Rockford Files, for an extensive interview that ran, in part, on Kirkus and in part on January’s sister publication. There are two things that make Pierce’s interview with the star so special. One, Garner has publicly stated that he’d “rather dig a ditch than do an interview.” That being […]
This week, J. Kingston Pierce chooses Prague Fatale by Philip Kerr. No sooner has German homicide cop Bernie Gunther returned to a beleaguered Berlin in 1941, than he’s called away again — this time to Prague, where a gathering of Nazi officials is taking place. Following a locked-room murder, it falls to Bernie to solve it, or maybe lose more than simply his good reputation in failing. Looking for previous Pierce’s Picks? Twelve months of […]
Though the pictures make it pretty, in many ways, it’s kind of a lame piece: it includes no thoughts or reasoning, or even what would have helped get these stores on the big list, but I do like the idea of celebrating the very best indie bookstores. In “America’s Greatest Independent Bookstores,” The Daily Beast includes little beyond great photos of 23 great stores. Mind you, a lot of the books on this list make […]
In his foreword to Cory Doctorow’s Context (Tachyon), publisher Tim O’Reilly calls Doctorow “one of the great context-setters of our generation, helping us all to understand the implications of the technology being unleashed around us.” This has basically been true about everything Doctorow has cared to share with us, including his sharp and worthwhile novels, beginning with his first book-length work of fiction in 2003, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. This has been […]
At first glance The Gluten-Free Asian Kitchen (Celestial Arts) seems too esoteric for words. But this book by the “Gluten Freedom” columnist for the Oregonian takes something esoteric and makes it delicious: not just for those battling gluten-related health issues, but for anyone. As author Russell says in her introduction: “Gluten free or not, I want everything I eat to be delicious.” The increasing number of people with gluten sensitivities will find comfort in those […]
In a 2003 interview with January Magazine, Russell Banks explained why his characters manage to live and breathe as sharply as they do: Again, it goes back to: how does the writer view the universe? How do you view human beings? It’s the case, I think, that no one is simply one thing or the other — except for those few beings who are out of their minds, in a literal and ongoing way. But […]
From the beginning, I was entranced by the cover. Simple black sans serif type on a plain white background, and the whole is framed by a strong black box. Anyone who was ever at all familiar with the work of designer Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel would recognize the design: it is Chanel: elegant, simple, sophisticated. Here captured perfectly in a book cover by legendary designer and long-time Knopf art director Carol Devine Carson. And there’s more […]
Fans of Tamora Pierce’s series featuring Provost Guard Bekka Cooper will meet the third book in the series, Mastiff (Random House) with mixed feelings. On the one hand, it seems a long time since the last installment, Bloodhound, was released in the first half of 2009. On the other, this is the end of what has been a terrific, ground-breaking series for Pierce, a prolific writer who, nonetheless, has taken her time about getting caught […]
Though people have likely been reading on the toilet as long as there have been books and bathrooms, virtually no scientific work has been done to determine if reading on the can is a good idea or if doing it helps flush away your health. Fortunately, The Guardian has some answers: It transpires that toilet readers spend more time on the loo and consider themselves less constipated than non-toilet readers, but other measures of their […]
This week, J. Kingston Pierce chooses Bad Signs by R.J. Ellory. Seized as hostages by a fleeing psychopath, orphaned half-brothers Clarence and Elliott — blind to the world outside their institution’s walls — are suddenly swept up in a frantic getaway across America’s Southwest. That escape leaves a trail of violence and threatens to consume the siblings in their kidnapper’s frightening vision of the world. Looking for previous Pierce’s Picks? Twelve months of them are […]
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