Booked by 3: October, My Answers

At least, I'm answering before the month is over. ;)

1. Do you have favorite sites for getting book info? Share 3 (or more!).

• Bookslut
• MediaBistro GalleyCat
• BookWire
  

2. How about favorite author sites? Share 3 (or more).

• Minette Walters has a very nice site. I get her emailed newsletter, too.
• Barry Eisler has a great site, and it's got a lot of information on things other than his books.
• Michael Marshall Smith is one of my favorite authors.
• Other nice author sites include: Neil Gaiman, Lawrence Block, and Jonathan Lethem.

3. And finally, are there 3 or more book review blogs you never miss reading? And no, you don't have to name this one! :)

• This is hard, in that I'd hate to leave anyone out, so just look over in the sidebar.

Dorothy Uhnak

I just read on Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind that author and former transit cop Dorothy Uhnak died of a deliberate drug overdose, aka suicide, at 76. She was the author of police procedural crime novels that predated today's current crop of similar authors.

I didn't read many of her books, and I didn't even know she had a short-lived series, but her books I did were excellent, notably Law and Order (which I read in 1977) and The Investigation (which I read in 1978). The latter was inspired by a true life story, that of Alice Crimmins who was convicted of killing her 2 children. The crime was committed in Queens, NY, not far from where I grew up, so the case, which was sensationalized and major news at the time, was hard to miss. Uhnak was not the only writer inspired by the case.

If you haven't read her books, you might want to try them. I'd imagine they're a bit dated now, but her storytelling is solid.

Reacher vs. Rain

This is too funny. For fans of Barry Eisler's John Rain books and/or Lee Child's Jack Reacher series. Link found on Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind.

A Big Book

So, how many folks plan to read Hunger's Brides by Paul Anderson? This debut novel weighs in at 1,360 pages. I must admit to being curious, though I think it'll take me a year to read it and I certainly wouldn't be able to carry it around, given it weighs almost 5 pounds. I'm trying to picture what the lareg print edition would look like, or the eventual paperback. And how many cassettes or CDs to record it? The mind boggles. This article on NY Times Online about it seems accessible without a password.

Author Interview

Barry Eisler, author of the John Rain novels that have become one of my current reading obsessions, was interviewed on Mystery Ink.

Some Miscellany

Literary quotes can be found here.

Also, I just read the sad news on a few blogs that Evan Hunter, who also wrote under the name Ed McBain, died. I never read his books, but I have the pb of Candyland, the book he wrote, uh, with himself, waiting for me. I tried to find a link, but nothing's coming up for "Evan Hunter" obituary, which is weird because the internet is usually faster with news than that.

Okay, I'm Hooked

On Minette Walters. I can't remember when I was last so excited about an author. I picked up three more of her paperbacks today. Not the newest one because it's a bit bigger and heavier. It's an experiment in design for aging baby boomers: a more readable paperback. A bit taller, better quality paper which is heavier but nice looking, and a larger font for a pb. And I tried it but it's too heavy and clumsy in my hands and I won't be able to hold it while on the treadmill and that's where I mostly read mysteries. I just have too many other books to read to get it for subway reading. Still, I can't really complain about a publisher trying to make books more readable.

But the 3 I got should keep me busy for a while:

• The Ice House
• The Breaker
• Fox Evil