Short Takes 08/20/20

On August 18,1910, author David Dodge was born in Berkeley, California. Among many other books, Dodge went on to write To Catch a Thief (1952), the basis for the classic Hitchcock film. 

August 4th was publication day for Isabel Wilkerson's Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents and Oprah immediately announced it would be her latest book club selection. The book examines "the hierarchy that defines and divides us in America".

Austin Kleon suggests reading children's books from the library if you need to learn about something new. See what he has to say in Want Quick Knowledge? Visit the Children's Section.

In the June 2020 issue of the Oprah magazine, the question was asked, would you rather read fiction or nonfiction? 44% voted for nonfiction while the winner was fiction at 56%.

Have you read Agatha Christie? If not, here's an article from Publishers Weekly that will convince you to take a look.

 

Short Takes 07/25/20

On July 3, 2020 Disney+ introduced a filmed version of a performance of the hit Broadway musical HAMILTON. It stars the show creator and title role originator Lin-Manuel Miranda. A week later the 2004 biography that inspired Ron Chernov's Alexander Hamilton sold 17K print copies and was just short of being a top ten seller.

For the time period January to June 2020 the #1 Print Best Seller was Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. (Publishers Weekly July 20, 2020)

Austin Kleon just posted a helpful list for those of us having trouble reading during the pandemic.

The countdown of the greatest crime films of all-time works its way through the top 10 with a look at Laura. | CrimeReads



 Also from Crime Reads: Looking for a series to keep you occupied for a while? Check out The Binge Read: 10 Iconic Crime Fiction Series of the 70s. Only two women are mentioned by I can recommend both highly: Amanda Cross and P.D. James. On the other hand, when I was a prison librarian, the inmates were always requesting Donald Goines, which I dismissed as trash. Read the description in this article. It changed my mind. 

Short Takes 07/18/20

Carlos Ruiz Zafon, author of THE SHADOW OF THE WIND has died. The Reuters article was dated June 19, 2020.

NYT-bestselling author Tana French's THE SEARCHER is a standalone in which a retired from the Chicago police force buys a fixer-upper in a small Irish village looking for peace and quiet. Instead he gets drawn into investigating a missing boy. (October 2020)

Check out The Ultimate Summer 2020 Reading List from Literary Hub. The author read 38 lists, which recommended a total of 464 books including only those cited at least four times. 

Crime Reads has an interesting article called Crime in a Tenured Position: The Feminist Mysteries of Carolun Helbrun. As Amanda Cross, Carolyn Heilbrun wrote her Kate Fansler series to explore academia, politics, and modern womanhood.

P.D. James: A Crime Reader's Guide to the Classics is an in-depth article by Neil Nyren  for Crime Reads about how James "refined the crime novel to its dark, poetic core and created a roster of iconic detectives along the way".

Short Takes 05/31/20

Phoebe Judge

Have you heard of Phoebe Reads a Mystery? Phoebe Judge is best known for hosting the true-crime podcast Criminal. During quarantine she came up with the idea of reading a chapter a day from a mystery starting with Agatha Christie's The Mysterious Affair at Styles. There's much more to explore if you check it out.

Transylvania

If you are looking for a good book with a specific location, check out TripFiction. And if you have a suggestion for a book that is missing, you can become a member and add it for others to enjoy.

Coast of Maine

Mary Kubica has put together this list  of Ten Great Mysteries Set in Maine for The Strand Magazine. Mary Kubica is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of six psychological suspense novels, including her latest release, THE OTHER MRS.

Cookbooks

When looking for a recipe are you overcome by the number of wonderful cookbooks you own? THE WEEK MAGAZINE May 8, 2020 just suggested checking out EatYourBooks.com, a website that indexes the recipes in the books you may already own. For $3/month, the service will let you input your titles. Additionally there are many newspaper and magazine recipes you can access.

Unfortunately for me, when we downsized to a retirement community a year and a half ago, I donated most of my cookbooks to the local library. The ones I kept were unusual ones which I am pretty sure are not indexed by this company. Think local museum cookbooks and small targeted topics. I figured I'd never be able to find them again. Maybe it's time I carefully curated a new collection. I know, I know, there is the Internet but I haven't been thrilled with some of the recipes that people have supposedly been delighted by.

 

Short Takes 6/24/2019

Don't have enough time to read? Check out this excellent list of 50 Must-Read Short Books Under 250 Pages from BookRiot.

Do you know the difference between a cozy and a traditional mystery? Here's an article that interviews the Agatha Award nominees before they attended Malice Domestic in Bethesda, Maryland.

An what about using Instagram/Bookstagram? I didn't even know that was a thing until recently. Here are some tips from blogger Dominique: My Top 5 Bookstagram Tips.

Short Takes 04/18/2019

A good friend sent me a copy of Susan Orlean's The Library Book recently. I'm not ready to read it yet but there was a short interview with the author in the January 2019 issue of the Oprah magazine.

In 1986 a fire at the Los Angeles Central Library destroyed 400,000 volumes and damaged an additional 700,000. While trying to uncover the perpetrator of this crime, Orlean delivers a love letter to libraries everywhere.

Short Takes 7/31/2018

July 26, 2018 was the eleven year anniversary of Book Keeping. I decided to start blogging shortly before I retired so I would not loose touch with new books. Finding Net Galley allowed me access to wonderful books before the general public. As a matter of fact, I have to be careful not to drown in promises!

 

Today's mail brought me Donna Andrews newest entry in the Meg Langslow series. The twenty-third adventure is Toucan Keep a Secret. Cozy mysteries are not my first choice but I am looking forward to reading this. Thank you Minotaur Books/MacMillan!

Motherhood Noir, 10 Books That Explore the Fears and Ambivalences of Motherhood by Carol Goodman. The site is called Crime Reads and it is packed with information about "the best mystery, thriller, & crime on the Internet."

First glimpse at the plot of Louise Penny's new Inspector Gamache novel, Kingdom of the Blind, coming from @MinotaurBooks Nov 27: http://www.gamacheseries.com/kingdom-of-the-blind/

 

A Critic Sells Books Down by the Seashore

A bookstore in the village of Wigtown, Scotland, allows people to run the shop while renting an apartment upstairs. A book critic for The Times recently took his turn at the till.

Short Takes 1/15/2018

The Library of Michigan has now announced the Michigan Notable Books for 2018. This article appeared in yesterday's Detroit Free Press. This year’s 20 books were chosen from a list of nearly 300 published in 2017.

I was in a bookstore the other day and although I don't need another book to read, I picked up Turtles All the Way Down by John Green.

There's a new title coming from Kate Atkinson in September 2018. "Transcription, a bravura novel of extraordinary power and substance, will be published in Doubleday hardcover in September 2018. It tells the story of Juliet Armstrong, who is recruited as a young woman by an obscure wartime department of the secret service. In the aftermath of war she joins the BBC, where her life begins to unravel, and she finally has to come to terms with the consequences of idealism."

23 of the Biggest Mystery Books of 2017 posted at the Book Bub Blog if you need suggestions for mysteries that will keep you up late.

Short Takes 7/27/2017

Louise Penny has a new book coming out. GLASS HOUSES will be available August 29, 2017 from Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio.

Here's a great article 20 MUST-READ NOVELS BY FEMALE MYSTERY AUTHORS. I've read seven of these authors but not necessarily the specific book mentioned: S.J Rozan; Minette Walters; Barbara Vine/Ruth Rendell; Ngaio Marsh, P.D. James; and Patricia Highsmith.

14 Summer Reading Challenges for Adults Here's an interesting variety of reading challenges to inspire your summer reading.

Leslie Odom Jr has signed a book deal with Macmillan with a release date set for March 2018.

John Green has his first new novel, TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN, in 6 years coming out this October. His last book was THE FAULT IN OUR STARS in 2012.

Short Takes 10/4/2016

Guaranteed to be a popular gift for this holiday season! I've already purchased a copy and cannot wait to sit down and wander through the "over 600 of the most curious and unusual destinations around the globe." Read more about this fascinating book HERE.

This past weekend was the first Harbor Springs Festival of the Book and my friend Joy and I drove to Northern Michigan on Friday to explore. There was so much going on that it was impossible to attend everything we thought looked interesting (and everything looked interesting). The town itself was worth the trip. Check out the Harbor Springs Visitors Guide. Located on Little Traverse Bay, the area has been a resort since the late 1800s. Unique shops, restaurants, and a great little bookstore welcome visitors.

Highlights were an interview with author Elizabeth Letts about her new book The Perfect Horse, which tells the story of a little know struggle to save horses during World War II, and a lecture by Craig Johnson, creator of the Longmire mystery series and television show that caused much laughter.

A classy event, that was free (donations accepted) except for the special speakers paired with meals, talk is that there will be another Festival next year. I recommend you subscribe to their newsletter if you think you might attend! Harbor Springs Festival of the Book.

Short Takes 9/24/2016

JSO (Jackson Symphony Orchestra, MI) composer, Spring Arbor University Music Department Chair, and now author, Jonathan Bruce Brown will be speaking at the Jackson District Library's Carnegie Branch on Friday, September 30th at 6:30 pm.

Dissonance, Brown's first book, is a mystery about music, Michigan, and its people.

American Library Association Picture

History was made on Wednesday, September 14, 2016 after Carla Hayden was sworn in as the first African American and woman appointed as the librarian of Congress. Read more HERE.

What are your favorite banned books? Celebrate Banned Books Week 2016 by reading one! An annual event celebrating the freedom to read. "Find out which challenged books made the 2015 list, which was released as part of the 2016 State of America’s Library Report." Read more HERE. (How can #1 on the top 10 on the video be John Green's Looking for Alaska? I loved that book.) 

 

Short Takes 9/15/2016

Becky Masterman has a new thriller featuring Brigid Quinn, a retired FBI agent pushing 60. coming out March 21, 2017. You can read what I had to say about her earlier books HERE.

I am currently reading Elinor Lipman's On Turpentine Lane. It lays down on February 14, 2017. I've read and enjoyed many of her chic-lit novels. You can read my comments on earlier titles HERE.

Love cozy mysteries? Have you discovered Wendy Sand Eckel yet? Her series features Rosalie Hart, who escapes to Maryland's Eastern Shore to build a new life when she discovers her husband wants a divorce. Small-town charm and charming recipes make this series irresistible. My reviews HERE.