i hope some readers/writers/thinkers/translators/publicists will take time out from baking christmas cookies and wrapping gifts to read the whodunit blog. i'm going to push my way through the snowflakes and tinsel to try to reach you -- first with news of two articles to read, then some books!
The winter 2012 issue of the e-zine, The Exclamation Point!, the newsletter of National Punctuation Day® and Punctuation Playtime®, is available at: http://www.punctuationplaytime.com/exclamationpoint/index.html.
it's always fun to read what jeff rubin, the punctuation guy, has to say about a subject i--and many of you--love.
thanks to friends (ex., r.m. of canton), family (ex., c.l. also of canton), and miscellaneous readers (ex., d.z. of fl.) of this blog who have encouraged me to read the 9 december wall street journal article: WSJ.com - How I Became a Best-Selling Author by alexandra alter. alter has put together a great deal of information that perhaps all would-be authors already know. but whether you are familiar with her points or not, you are bound to find a nugget that applies to you. for example, i have always thought it a literary sin to pay for a review, kirkus or not. whaddayaknow? everyone does it. kirkus does not promise a good or even passing review, but as is pointed out in alter's article, if it's bad you don't have to publicize it. no one will know your secret. count me in next time around.
since i last wrote my blog (the season has gotten to me, too), i have finished or almost finished five books. that's too many to really think and write about, but i will give a brief note about each one.* the books all fall under the category 'gifts for myself.' and why not?
read and enjoyed are david rosenfelt's on borrowed time and play dead. i recently reviewed rosenfelt's one dog night starring the world's laziest lawyer/detective andy carpenter. not quite as good, but still a fun read and still staring carpenter and his golden retriever tara, is his 2007 play dead.
four years is a long time as mysteries go; this one written four years ago still stands. his page of acknowledgements alone is worth the read of this 308 page novel published by warner books.
minotaur books is the publisher of the 291 page on borrowed time, more of a science fiction novel than a detective story. it's a good read for all of us living in this world of computer chips. it's one of those someone disappears and no one admits to ever knowing or having seen her stories. what is richard kilmer to do? she was his fiancee.
jim harrison hits a completely different note in his the great leader. the hero (one can't help but assume that's harrison even though i've spent a great deal of my academic life trying to teach students that the author and the character are not one and the same.)is named sunderson. he is wry, egotistical, and lusty. an ex-law enforcement officer from the u.p. of michigan, he has ranted away during the first half of the novel. i fully expect him to continue. the most redeeming feature of this old geezer is his love for nature. harrison is the author of 31 books. i think that college students would like his work. i am half way through this 329 page book and have yet to met the great leader sunderson is searching for. the search gives narrative structure. we'll see. grove press is the publisher.
*i've written about three of the five books and will save the two women writers for next time: gaskell and her cranford and ephron and i remember nothing and other reflections.
happy holidays to all
What is wrong with Janet Evanovich? I struggled through Explosive Eighteen. It was hard to stay interested in the diluted plot that started blah and ended without the promised bang. The loyalty stock Evanovich had created has kept us all reading her last half dozen duds but that party is over. Many reviewers suggest that she publish less and write better. In her earlier books Stephanie Plum was quirky and fun and bewildered about how to handle career and her love life. Stephanie hasn't changed, developed or evolved over the years. In 18- SPOILER ALERT, she destroys her 4th car and has sex with both guys. So I guess in 19 she will be pregnant and have her car insurance cancelled.
Posted by: Lauren | December 16, 2011 at 01:06 PM