2009 National Book Award nominees announced

The nominees for the 2009 National Book Awards were announced today. I knew only one of the five books in the fiction category -- Jayne Anne Phillips' Lark and Termite. The other nominees are: American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Campbell, Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann, Daniyal Mueenuddin's In Other Rooms, Other Wonders and Far North by Marcel Theroux.

Non-fiction nominees are:

• David M. Carroll, Following the Water: A Hydromancer's Notebook
• Sean B. Carroll, Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species
• Greg Grandin, Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City
• Adrienne Mayor, The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates,
• Rome's Deadliest Enemy
• T. J. Stiles, The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt

Visit the National Book Foundation's website for the nominees in poetry and young people's literature.

Never Say Never: Lehane to write sixth Kenzie-Gennaro novel

File this under the category of Never Say Never.

Author Dennis Lehane has long insisted he would never write another book featuring Boston P.I.s Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. But, now, Lehane has announced that the sixth entry in the series will be published sometime in 2010! And it will be a sequel to, Gone, Baby, Gone.

Read more about it here.

And, while we're on the subject of mystery writers, George Pelecanos has won the 2009 Dashiell Hammett Award (for literary excellence in the field of crime writing) for The Turnaround.

Nice to see George recognized.

Pelecanos appeared last month at the National Book Festival on the Mall in Washington D.C. He told me then that he doesn't have a novel in the pipeline, but is, instead, working on a new television series with the crew from The Wire.

Pike's Back!

In an email to fans, Robert Crais indicates that Joe Pike will make a return appearance as the star of his own novel.

The novel, The First Rule, is tentatively set for publication in February, 2010.

Here's what Crais has to say about the novel:

Frank and Cindy Meyer had the American dream – until the day a professional robbery crew invaded their home and murdered everyone inside. The only thing out of the ordinary about Frank was that – before his family, business, and oh-so-normal life – a younger Frank Meyer worked as a professional mercenary . . . with a man named Joe Pike.

Pike learns of the crime when the police question him. The same crew has done other home invasions, and all the targets have been criminals with large stashes of cash or drugs. The police believe the same is true of Frank, but Pike does not, and with the help of Elvis Cole, he sets out to clear his friend . . . and punish the people who murdered him.

They won’t know what hit them.

The first rule: Don’t make Pike mad.

Reading Update

I've been reading rather than posting. I'll try to do better.

Here's my reading since the last time I posted a summary. On pace to read 180 books this year with 90 books completed by the end of June.

A quick explanation of the numbers: the column on the left represents the number of books read. For example, Victory Over Japan is the 78th book is read in 2009. I completed it on June 5 and it had 277 pages.

78. Victory Over Japan, Ellen Gilchrist. Stories 6-5 277

79. Brooklyn, Colm Toibin. Fiction 6-7 262

80. Road Dogs, Elmore Leonard. Thriller 6-8 262

81. Gone Tomorrow, Lee Child. Thriller 6-9 421

82. Nocturnes, Kazuo Ishiguro. Stories 6-11 221

83. The Scarecrow, Michael Connelly. Thriller 6-13 419

84. Leadership on the Line, Ronald A. Heifetz and Marty

Linsky. Leadership 6-14 236

85. The Little Stranger, Sarah Waters. Fiction 6-17 499

86. The Complete Game, Ron Darling. Baseball 6-19 255

87. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Alan Bradley. Mystery 6-21 370

88. The Angel’s Game, Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Fiction 6-26 531

89. Lark & Termite, Jayne Anne Phillips. Fiction 6-29 254

90. Miracle Ball, Brian Biegel. Baseball 6-30 227

July

91. In the Kitchen, Monica Ali. Fiction 7-3 430

92. I Feel Bad About My Neck and Other Thoughts on Being a

Woman, Nora Ephron. Humor 7-4 137

93. Exiles in the Garden, Ward Just. Fiction 7-5 279

94. A Short History of Women, Kate Walbert. Fiction 7-7 237

Post features Connelly, Scarecrow

The Washington Post has an interesting story this morning on Michael Connelly's new thriller The Scarecrow. The article focuses on how the decline in the newspaper business -- an element of the novel -- posed challenges for the author.

A round-up of today's reading

June 4th and 5th brought eight new books to my door. Six of those have been dispatched. Only Monica Ali's new book and Alan Bradley's The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie remain. Bradley is up next.

Today, I read a couple of chapters in The Complete Game by former Mets pitcher Ron Darling. The best of books on baseball combine something instructive about the game and a few wonderful anecdotes. Darling's book does exactly that. It is an extraordinary look into the mind of the major league pitcher.

I also read:

• Susan Glaspell's Trifles. Written in 1917, this play about a farm wife who murders her husband holds up remarkably well.
  
  
• Two short stories by Robert Crais. The stories, With Crooked Hands and The Dust of Evening, represent Crais' first published work. Both are works of science fictions. Crais later turned to mystery writing, where he established a name for himself with his characters Elvis Cole and Joe Pike.
  
  
• An article in the June 22 The New Yorker on romance novelist Nora Roberts. I have never read Ms. Roberts, which makes me an exception among the novel-reading public today. The article reports that according to Forbes Roberts grosses $60 million a year -- that's more than Stephen King or John Grisham. She wrote three of the 10 best-selling mass-market paperbacks last year. 27 Nora Roberts books are sold every minute.

Pixar hires Chabon to write John Carter of Mars script

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Michael Chabon has been hired to write Pixar's John Carter Of Mars movie. You can read more here.

What the Mailman Brought -- Part Two

The following books arrived today in the post:

The Little Strangers, a ghost story by Sarah Waters
Nocturnes, the newest work by Kazuo Ishiguro
In the Kitchen, Monica Ali's third novel
Brooklyn by Colm Toibin

All are signed British firsts, and all were dispatched to the USA from England by Firsts in Print.

I have a signed first of the American edition of Toibin's book. I expect to finish it tomorrow. It's quite good, as was expected.

What the mailman brought

Arriving today from those marvelous people at Murder by the Book:

Gone Tomorrow, the new Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child
Road Dogs by Elmore Leonard (love the jacket design)
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (I am promised this is good)
The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly

This should hold me for a week.

Summary of most recent reading

Here's a list of the books I've recently read. Some thoughts on these books will follow.

67. Odd Man Out: A Year on the Mound with a Minor League Misfit, Matt McCarthy. Baseball, 5-12

68. A Reliable Wife, Robert Goolrick. Fiction, 5-14

69. The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery. Fiction, 5-17

70. Free Fall, Robert Crais. Thriller, 5-18

71. Beat the Reaper, Josh Bazell. Thriller, 5-20

72. The Way Home, George Pelecanos. Fiction, 5-25

73. Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music, Ted Gioia. Blues, 5-27

74. Sag Harbor, Colson Whitehead. Fiction, 5-28

75. The Best American Short Stories 2008, ed. Salman Rushdie. Stories, 5-30

76. The Breaks, Richard Price. Fiction, 6-3

77. The Last Campaign: How Harry Truman Won the 1948 Election, Zachary Karabell. Political History, 6-4

Munro wins International Man Booker Prize

Alice Munro is today, 27 May 2009, announced as the winner of the third Man Booker International Prize.

Worth £60,000 to the winner, the prize is awarded every two years to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language.

Stross completes Merchants' War series

My oldest son, Brandon, met British sci-fi author Charles Stross about a week ago. Stross was a speaker at LOGIN 2009, a conference for game developers. I could be wrong about this, but I think my son was instrumental in arranging Charlie's appearance.

Brandon reports that Stross "is an awesome guy. Pretty much a geek like anyone else." Well, not anyone. I sent along about a dozen first editions of Stross' books and he signed them all. I don't read much science fiction these days, but I don't miss a new book by Charles Stross.

Brandon also furnished an update on Stross' current work: "He finished the 6th book in the Merchants' War series and says he's done with that stuff for now, but wants to write a second series down the road. He says he wants to do a sequel for Glasshouse and has one in the works for Halting State. His latest book is the 5th in the merchant's war: The Revolution Business."

While on the subject of science fiction, Robert Sawyer's book, Flash Forward, has been turned into a 13-hour long series and picked up by ABC. It's schedule to appear this fall. The trailers are airing now.

April-May reading include new works by Robert Sawyer and Denis Johnson

Here's the list of my reading for the end of April and first of May:

55. Scat, Carl Hiaasen. Fiction

56. The First Person, Ali Smith. Stories

57. Life Sentences, Laura Lippman. Fiction

58. The Believers, Zoe Heller. Fiction

59. Wake, Robert J. Sawyer. Science Fiction

60. Taft, Ann Patchett. Fiction

61. The Northern Clemency, Philip Hensher. Fiction

62. Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, Wells Tower. Stories

63. Nobody Move, Denis Johnson. Fiction

64. A Jury of Her Peers, American Women Writers from Anne

Bradstreet to Annie Proulx, Elaine Showalter. Non-Fiction

65. Bloodbrothers, Richard Price. Fiction

66. Alphabet Juice, Roy Blount Jr. Words

Let's start with thegood stuff.

I loved Carl Hiaasen's Scat, his third young adult novel. Many of the ingredients that make his grown-up novels so much fun appear in these books, including his wicked sense of humor. I especially appreciate Hiassen's young adult novels

because he doesn't back away from difficult issues, like father's returning from the war in the Middle East missing their right arm. Forget the young adult category and do yourself favor and pick up all three titles -- Hoot, Flush and Scat.

I don't read much science fiction any longer, but I don't let a new book by Robert Sawyer or Charles Stross pass by. Wake is Sawyer's newest effort and the first in a trilogy on the Internet's emerging consciousness. Let me throw this to the American Idol judges. Yep, Randy says it's "Da Bomb." And i

t is. I won't say this is Sawyer's best work -- that covers to much ground -- but it is one of his finest. A thoroughly intriguing, thoroughly captivating read.

What is it about Ann Patchett's early novels? I love them. Taft is wonderful.

There is an underlying suggestion of menace is every short story by Wells Tower in his terrific collection Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned. I can't think of anyone writing stories quite like these. They are edgy and brilliant, and leave me wanting more.

I didn't much like Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson. I can make it up to you now Denis, I thought your new work, Nobody Move, was fantastic. It's a pulp yarn, a bit of noir, that is best read in a single day.

Philip Hensher's The Northern Clemency was long-listed for the Booker Prize. It took me a while to warm up to this tale of English surburbia. Hensher's prose can be dense at times, but he tells a powerful story. Ultimately, it is the narrative that secures this novel's status as a fine read.

The only non-fiction in the lot is Elaine Showalter's A Jury of Her Peers, American Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx. Bravo, Elaine. This long overdue survey of women writers in America is as thorough as it is engrossing.

Modest disappointments: Life Sentences by Laura Lippman (it was a Peggy Lee); The First Person, a collection of short stories by Ali Smith; The Believers by Zoe Heller (I know Heller specializes in unappetizing people, but is it too much to ask for one person -- just one -- that you could care about?); Bloodbrothers, Richard Price's second novel showed glimpses of the talent on full display in Clockers, but glimpses aren't enough; and, finally, Alphabet Juice, Roy Blount Jr.'s glossographia (I expected to like it more than I did, but . . . I just didn't).

Final post on The New Yorker cover contest

To complete my account of the Cover Contest here's yesterday's post The Book Bench with the complete covers:

April 30, 2009

Grand Prize Winner

A big day yesterday for Joba Chamberlain, Dwight Howard, J. J. Putz, and John Reinhart, of Alexandria, Virginia, though only the last of these won this week’s Covers Contest, divining correctly that the small images corresponded to books about sports. Trés sportif, Jean!

Below are the full book covers, which remind us that it’s how you play the game. The game resumes next Wednesday.

_________________________________________________________

The top two books took a matter of seconds. First editions of both books -- Lance Armstrong's It's Not About the Bike and Jim Bouton's baseball classic Ball Four -- are on my shelves.

Book three is clearly about fly fishing and that quickly led me to Norman MacLean's A River Runs Through It.

Finally, the fourth book was obviously devoted to golf. The little bit of cover available made it clear it wasn't Tiger Woods; that left Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus. I checked covers for Hogan first and there it was -- Five Lessons.

From the time I saw the contest to the time to emailed in my entry was a matter of minutes. I was confident I had won and received confirmation of the same Thursday morning. It made my day. I emailed my daughter, called friends and posted the results to Facebook.

The Book Bench, The New Yorker's book blog, features a weekly Covers Contest. Below, are the covers for this week. It's pertinent because I am the weekly winner. I will post the complete covers tomorrow.

April 29, 2009

Covers Contest: Sport’s Bar

We were certainly flying near the sun last week, when the leitmotif of this contest was Oprah’s Book Club. Yes, indeed, my wax wings felt a little melty when tackling that august—Augustan?—personage. Luckily for the eschatological metaphor we’re working with, the winner was Moses!

This week, we’ll concern ourselves with earthly things. It was a hot summer when I read every tell-all autobiography ever written by a New York Yankee. And while some of the more recondite aspects of Mickey Mantle’s beaver-shooting technique passed over the head of my ten-year-old self, my fondness for sports books—and their attendant vulgarity—has never waned. Below are details from the covers of four quite informative books, each about a different sport. What are they? E-mail us with your answers: the author of the first fully correct response will win a 2009 New Yorker desk diary whose utility is being measured out in fewer and fewer coffee spoons.

Erdrich, Pearl, Mosley and Patchett dominate my April reading

46. The Sweet Hereafter, Russell Banks. Fiction, 4-2, pp. 257
47. Child 44, Tom Rob Smith. Fiction, 4-6, pp. 436
48. The Red Convertible, Louise Erdrich. Stories, 4-7, pp. 494
49. Steer Toward Rock, Fae Myenne Ng. Fiction, 4-8, pp. 255
50. A Cool Head, Ian Rankin. Fiction, 4-9, pp. 107
51. Franklin and Winston, Jon Meacham. Biography, 4-10, pp. 370
52. The Patron Saint of Liars, Ann Patchett. Fiction, 4-12, pp. 336
53. The Last Dickens, Matthew Pearl. Fiction, 4-15, pp. 383
54. The Long Fall, Walter Mosley. Mystery, 4-16, pp. 306

Here's my reading list for the first half of April. First, the books I thought exceptional: Louise Erdrich's short story collection, The Red Convertible; Ann Patchett's first novel, The Patron Saint of Liars; the newest biblio-mystery from Matthew Pearl, The Last Dickens; and The Long Fall by Walter Mosley.

Erdrich is an accomplished writer in a variety of genres, principally the novel and poetry. Her short fiction has been largely overlooked, but, I think, no longer, for in story after story in this impressive collection the reader cannot help but acknowledge her skill with the short form. The Red Convertible also provides valuable insight into Erdrich's technique as a writer for much of this material was later worked and re-worked into her novels.

The Patron Saint of Liars is Patchett's first book; many notable books, including Bel Canto, followed. It's an impressive debut and an exceptional book.

Matthew Pearl's literary career is founded on the biblio-mystery. First, Dante and then Poe and now Charles Dickens. Pearl hits his stride with The Last Dickens, which focuses on the possibility that Dickens actually completed the missing final half of The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

The Long Fall is a departure for Mosley. It is set in New York not L.A. and introduces a new character, private eye, Leonid McGill. It's fresh and captivating and Mosley's best work in years.

Also worth reading: A Cool Head by Ian Rankin. Part of the Quick Reads series on offer in the U.K. it is a quick, but enjoyable for all that. I also liked Russell Banks' The Sweet Hereafter, the story of a community rocked by a devastating school bus crash. It wasn't great, but it was good.

I was greatly disappointed in Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith. Much is being made of this tale of a serial killer in Stalin's Russia. I don't understand why. The killer and the motives behind his acts are preposterous and the chain of events that lead to his discovery improbable. Coincidence is the writer's best friend.

Steer Toward Rock by Fae Myenne Ng received much critical acclaim. I kept thinking I should like it more than I did. It is well written, but I found it opaque. I hate to put anyone else off this book. I do believe it will find its audience; just not me.

Only one work of non-fiction: Franklin and Winston by Jon Meacham is an account of the friendship between FDR and Churchill. It's not great -- Meacham's recent biography of Andrew Jackson is better -- but it is solid work and well worth reading.

My five (5) most memorable fictional characters

My oldest son recently posted his five favorite fictional characters on Facebook. There is only one character I was familiar with: Marc Remillard, a recurring character in two extraordinary series – the Saga of Pliocene Exile and the Galactic Milieu – by Julian May. I respect my son's selections, but if I had to choose a character from May's work I would have favored Jack the Bodiless (Marc's incorporeal brother), their endearing Uncle Rogi or even Atoning Unifex, a later manifestation of the aforementioned Marc Remillard.

All that said (and it is quite a lot) no characters from May’s work make my top five favorite fictional characters. And here, I must engage in a quick internal debate: Favorite seems inappropriate. Memorable would be my choice of words. What characters do I most remember? What characters do I recall with fondness or admiration or good humor?

I list five. I will not be so willful as to suggest that I can only summon four or must put forth six. Five he lists. And I will do the same.

1. Sam Weller from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens. The book is transformed upon Sam's appearance. The book is a tad staid, rather slow, and then Sam Weller bursts upon the reader’s sensibilities and The Pickwick Papers becomes a delight. Sam is the first of Dickens' vivid "minor" characters. He is the model for those that follow.

2. Antonia Shimerda from My Antonia by Willa Cather. My Antonia is a book that I return to year after year. Jim, the narrator, has a “crush” on Antonia, the independent Bohemian girl of the title. This willful girl who becomes the mother of 10 children is an archetype of the American immigrant.

3. Gollum from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. There are lots of favorites here. The first time I read the trilogy Strider (Aragorn) captured my imagination. Certainly, Frodo and Bilbo make a bid for most memorable. But Gollum with his link to the ring – both psychic and physical – is the one character who carves a vivid arc throughout all four books.

4. Chanticleer from Walter Wangerin, Jr.'s fine two book set, The Book of the Dun Cow and The Book of Sorrows. Yes, a chicken. More precisely, a rooster, but Chanticleer is the archetype (there’s that word again) of the literary hero -- bold, dare I say cocky, yet blind to his own pride. Chanticleer comes to understand that he must rely on others as much as his own fighting spirit. Wangerin’s work is a Christian allegory that can be read simply as two fine fantasy novels.

5. Reggie from Kate Atkinson's When Will There Be Good News? “Sweartogod.” Regina (rhymes with vagina) Chase the most vivid character in one of the most exciting reads that has come my way in a long time. I cared about Reggie, and I’d very much like to read about her again. She is an absolute original, and a pure joy.

A short short story

Here is a link to a short story written by my daughter.

I think it's pretty darn good.

(You may need to be a member of Facebook to access it.)

38. All the Colors of Darkness, Peter Robinson.
39. The New Wolves, Rick Bass.
40. The Jewel That Was Ours, Colin Dexter.
41. Run Less Run Faster, Bill Pierce, Scott Murr and Ray Moss.
42. As They See ‘Em, Bruce Weber. Baseball
43. American Rust, Philipp Meyer.
44. The Messenger, Jan Burke.
45. A Partisan’s Daughter, Louis De Berniéres


The list above constitutes books that I read between March 14 and March 30.
As They See 'Em, Bruce Weber's account of umpires in major league baseball -- what it takes to get there and what it means once you are there -- is the best of the bunch. It is an insightful, provocative book on a subject that's been written about many times but never with such seriousness or sensitivity. Okay, I can't resist -- Weber hits a grand slam.

Peter Robinson's new book, All the Colors of Darkness, is exactly what we've come to expect from Robinson. That means it is a terrific read . . . vivid characters, a solid plot and a riveting narrative.

I've been a fan of Jan Burke's Irene Kelly, her tough as nails reporter, who inevitably finds herself immersed in a murder mystery each book. In The Messenger, Burke abandons Kelly for a supernatural yarn that is an absolute bust. If this is the direction Burke plans to take her writing, I'm bailing.

Both American Rust, Philipp Meyer's debut novel, and Louis De Berniéres' A Partisan’s Daughter received some critical acclaim. I didn't like either book much.

Colin Dexter's The Jewel That Was Ours is less than his best.

The New Wolves by Rick Bass is terrific. I liked this so much more than Bass' most recent book, which I found whiny.

Don't bother with Run Less, Run Faster unless you are a runner. But if you are, it is a must read.

Reading can help reduce stress

The Telegraph reports that reading -- even for as little as six minutes -- can help you relax and reduce stress. But we knew that.