"The Janus Stone" by Elly Griffiths
24 Jan 2011 01:36:53
In this follow-up to Griffiths' debut, "The Crossing Places," Dr. Galloway, head of forensic archaeology at the University of North Norfolk, is called to consult when an archaeology team uncovers the bones of a small child, minus the skull, buried underneath the main doorway of a derelict Victorian mansion in Norwich.
At a concurrent dig of a Roman Britain site nearby, another skeleton is found underneath the wall of an ancient villa. The two bodies are unrelated, but the latter serves to provi... Read Full Story
Can't waiting books from authors of UK
22 Jan 2011 02:33:57
The 11 include Cornell University lecturer Téa Obreht, whose book talks of tigers and the Balkans, former Reuters correspondent Sophie Hardach writing about forced marriages, actress Sarah Winman on innocence and Stephen Kelman -- who made British news last year when his novel "Pigeon English" was at the center of a 12-way bidding war.
The full list of the Waterstone's 11 is:
"City of Bohane" by Kevin Barry
"The Free World" by David Bezmozgis
"The Registrar's Manual for Detecting Forced Marr... Read Full Story
Interesting book from interesting author
22 Jan 2011 02:00:19
Like "Primary Colors," the 1996 roman a clef by journalist Joe Klein based on Bill Clinton's first presidential run, "O" tries to illuminate Obama's character through the people around him and the campaign he chooses to wage. And like "Primary Colors," the authorship of "O" has been kept a tantalizing secret. (Klein's book was released anonymously and he denied authorship for months.)
But while "Primary Colors" offered a witty and unexpected portrait of Clinton and his complicated blend of bril... Read Full Story
If you love Bob Dylan, this article will make you happy
22 Jan 2011 01:10:22
The legendary singer will be writing two sequels to his best-selling "Chronicles: Volume One" published in 2004, Crain's New York Business reported, citing unnamed insiders.
Another volume will be based on Dylan's radio show at Sirius XM satellite radio services. It was unclear what the other three books would cover.
Simon & Schuster would not comment on the report.
"Chronicles" was a best-seller in 2004. Dylan told Rolling Stone that good reviews of the book "some of 'em almost made me cry -... Read Full Story
"The Weird Sisters" by Eleanor Brown
21 Jan 2011 01:32:19
The eldest sister, Rose (Rosalind), never left Barnwell, becoming a math professor at the college. She's engaged to another professor who accepts a teaching position in England, forcing Rose to choose between the life she knows and the life she could have. As the story opens, she cannot make that choice because she's trapped by her own fear and sense of self-importance.
The middle sister, Bianca, known to everyone as "Bean," has just been fired from her job at a New York law firm. That particul... Read Full Story
"Late for Tea at the Deer Palace" from by Tamara Chalabi
21 Jan 2011 01:31:19
The author's father, Ahmad Chalabi, is the character readers may be most curious to learn about; a key leader in the opposition to Saddam Hussein, he provided the U.S. with intelligence on weapons of mass destruction leading up to the costly invasion of Iraq that proved to be faulty.
But the controversial Iraqi politician is not the protagonist of this tale. This is Tamara Chalabi's story; one of an inheritance of exile and a struggle to connect with a distant, troubled homeland.
"He has his o... Read Full Story
"Caribou Island" written by David Vann
21 Jan 2011 01:29:47
First-time novelist David Vann, a former magazine journalist and author of a well-regarded short story collection also about Alaska, crafts beautiful sentences. He's also capable of keen insight into the motivation of his damaged characters, and certainly well-rendered tragedy has a rich tradition in literature.
But even Shakespeare sneaked a few jokes into "Hamlet." Vann's novel is compelling at times and even occasionally spellbinding, but he fails to leaven the relentless darkness of his cha... Read Full Story
Sherlock Holmes was the genius creation from Conan Doyle may have another life
18 Jan 2011 23:51:18
Anthony Horowitz, author of stories about teenage spy Alex Rider, has been chosen by Arthur Conan Doyle's estate to write the full-length novel, which will be published by Orion in September.
"I fell in love with the Sherlock Holmes stories when I was 16 and I've read them many times since," said Horowitz.
"I simply couldn't resist this opportunity to write a brand new adventure for this iconic figure and my aim is to produce a first rate mystery for a modern audience while remaining absol... Read Full Story
Some interesting facts about Patrick Poivre d'Arvor
18 Jan 2011 23:49:15
Patrick Poivre d'Arvor, a household name in France for the past three decades, is being sued by Agathe Borne for violation of privacy and plagiarism for using her letters in a 2009 novel he penned, L'Express magazine reported.
PPDA, as he is popularly known here, was accused in early January of lifting around 100 pages from a previous biography of Hemingway and passing them off as his own in his new biography of the late US novelist.
Poivre d'Arvor, who denies copying the extracts, was ex... Read Full Story
"Is the Internet Changing the Way You Think?" this question was interested John Brockman
18 Jan 2011 23:40:26
Frank Wilczek, 2004 Nobel laureate in physics, uses this example from chess of how the Internet has multiplied the skill of computer users: "Pioneering programs allowing computers to play chess by pure calculation debuted in 1958," he notes, "they rapidly became more capable, beating masters (1978), grandmasters (1988), and world champions (1997)."
He foresees: "Some not unrealistic possibilities ... lossless power transmission, levitated supertrains, and computers that aren't limited by the ... Read Full Story
Ida Hattemer-Higgins: The History of History
18 Jan 2011 01:50:03
This 30-year-old's debut novel, The History of History, published this month, arrives pre-garlanded with praise. The novelist Riva Galchen calls it "brilliantly disorienting"; according to Booklist, it's "stunning in its artistry, audacity and insight".
The History of History: A Novel of Berlin
by Ida Hattemer-Higgins
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Set in Berlin early in the last decade, it charts a young American woman's descent into a surreal form o... Read Full Story
Book that created Adam Mars-Jones called Cedilla
18 Jan 2011 01:48:29
Cedilla is even longer and stranger than its predecessor, Pilcrow, and it is just as unsettling, disarming, and compellingly readable. Adam Mars-Jones has created a narrative about disability that disables conventional critical vocabulary. It is a weird achievement, accomplished with panache, and forged in some region of the literary imagination that defies easy explanation. On one level, this novel is a cross between Proust and Nigel Slater, featuring sickly adolescence, inversion, ambiguous wa... Read Full Story
