This novel is everything Laura Lippman has been doing so well in her standalone novels but this time with Tess Monaghan. Lippman takes a confronting but tragically all too familiar crime and explores the fallout, years later, for all those involved. Combined with the ups and downs of parenthood this is not only a page-turning […]
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Blog: Perpetually Adolescent (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: laura lippman, Book Video, Book Bites, hush hush, Add a tag
Blog: Perpetually Adolescent (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Books, book review, motherhood, Baltimore, laura lippman, Crime Fiction, hush hush, Book Reviews - Fiction, tess monaghan, Add a tag
I am not a fan of long running crime series. While a recurring character can be like a familiar friend sometimes the longevity of a series means it falls into the realm of incredulity. Tess Monaghan was a character I fell in love with but was also quite happy when she was put on the […]
Add a CommentBlog: Galley Cat (Mediabistro) (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Events, Laura Lippman, Gillian Flynn, Add a tag
Here are some literary events to pencil in your calendar this week.
To get your event posted on our calendar, visit our Facebook Your Literary Event page. Please post your event at least one week prior to its date.
Slice Literary is hosting “An Evening of Fun & Such” pitting agents, editors, and writers against one another in games of trivia and Pictionary. Check it out on Wednesday, April 23rd at Housing Words Bookstore Café starting 6 p.m. (New York, NY)
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
Add a CommentBlog: Jagged Edge (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Book Review, Laura Lippman, Ethan, I'd Know You Anywhere, Add a tag
Publication Date: September 17, 2010
Blog: PowellsBooks.BLOG (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Laura Lippman, Contributors, Jo Nesbo, Louise Penny, P. D. James, alice laplante, Literature, Mystery, Add a tag
Slowly but surely, I'm creating a mostly complete list of my favorite books of 2011. Last time, it was science fiction and fantasy. Prior to that, it was young adult fiction. This time around, it's mystery/crime/thriller fiction. Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante was one of the most haunting and emotionally affecting novels I read [...]
Blog: Galley Cat (Mediabistro) (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Steve Hamilton, Harlan Coben, Tom Franklin, Awards, Timothy Hallinan, Tana French, Laura Lippman, Add a tag
The Mystery Writers of America announced the 2011 Edgar nominations this morning. The annual prize is named after Edgar Allan Poe, awarded to the best authors in the mystery genre since 1945.
Follow this link to see all the nominees, but we’ve included a few of the top categories below.
BEST NOVEL
Caught by Harlan Coben (Penguin Group USA – Dutton)
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
Faithful Place by Tana French (Penguin Group USA – Viking)
The Queen of Patpong by Timothy Hallinan (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton (Minotaur/Thomas Dunne Books)
I’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
Add a CommentBlog: Scholar's Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Poetry Friday, Edgar Allan Poe, laura lippman, Add a tag
I recently read Laura Lippman's In A Strange City, a murder mystery novel in which a strange little man attempts to hire PI Tess Monaghan in order to unmask the Visitor (also known as the Poe Toaster), who has been visiting the Baltimore grave of Edgar Allan Poe every year on 19 January for the past fifty years. On each visit s/he leaves three red roses and a half-empty bottle of cognac. Since the Visitor is committing no crime Tess refuses the assignment, but she worries that a less scrupulous PI may take it on, so she goes to the 19 January vigil as an observer. She watches as two cloaked figures approach the grave, appear to embrace and then part, but as they walk off in different directions, there's a gunshot and one of them is killed. Tess quickly learns that the dead man is not the regular Visitor. So who is he? And why was he there? When it turns out that Tess's would-be client had given her a fake name, she knows she must try to find him. And when an old friend from her past surfaces, claiming that the shooting was a homophobic hate crime, things only get more complicated...
This was a fascinating novel and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It also gave me a taste for reading Poe's poetry, so this week I'm sharing this poem:
Annabel Lee
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea:
But we loved with a love that was more than love —
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me —
Yes! — that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we —
Of many far wiser than we —
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:
For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling — my darling — my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
Today is the birthday of Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe, Edgar Allan Poe's first cousin whom he married in 1835 (despite being only 13 years old, and there being a 14 year age gap between them. Virginia contracted tuberculosis when she was 19, and when she died in 1847, Poe was devastated and started drinking heavily. It is possible that she was the inspiration for this poem.
This week's Poetry Friday round-up is over at Read. Imagine. Talk!.
Blog: The YA YA YAs (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Fiction, Non-Fiction, marc aronson, Monthly Roundup, jessica andersen, nightkeepers, ann-marie fleming, another thing to fall, julia quinn, laura lippman, naomi klein, race: a history beyond black and white, suzanne harper, the juliet club, the lost duke of wyndham, the magical life of long tack sam, the shock doctrine, Add a tag
in which I only read one YA novel. Two, if you count manga, since I did read Yakitate!! Japan vol. 10 (and is it just me, or did anyone else really want to try Azuma’s kamaboko bread?). All the other books I read were non-fiction and adult fiction. The rest of the month I spent watching sports on TV while I was sick and repeatedly listening to Bon Iver (to say I love For Emma, Forever Ago would be an understatement), Frightened Rabbit, and Santogold, with some Gutter Twins thrown in.
The Juliet Club by Suzanne Harper
The plot didn’t sound that interesting to me, but I decided to give it a try after realizing it was by the same author as The Secret Life of Sparrow Delaney. Kate wins a Shakespeare essay contest, enabling her to spend part of her summer in Verona studying Shakespeare. There are only five other teens in the program, the two other American essay winners and three Italian teens, and their professor feels that answering letters that teens have written to Juliet (as in Romeo and Juliet) would be a better way of studying the play than, you know, actually studying the play. A predictable, if enjoyable, book that reads a lot faster than its 400+ page length may initially lead you to believe.
Race: A History Beyond Black and White by Marc Aronson
I read this at the beginning of the month the night before it was due, so here’s what I can remember: Aronson attempts to explain the origins of the concept of race and how racism emerged from it. He definitely takes a historiographical view, with practically no psychological or anthropological perspective (okay, as someone who majored in psychology and anthropology, I’m biased), but I appreciated how he discussed his reasons for this early on in the book. While Aronson never convinced me of the relationship between anti-Semitism and racism, I still found his discussions of anti-Semitism extremely interesting. And I highly recommend this book. It covers an important topic in a conversational way, includes lots of pictures, and is meticulously footnoted (and the footnotes include Aronson’s thoughts on the works he’s citing and recommendations of which books are suitable for teens).
The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam by Ann-Marie Fleming
I first learned of this book from Chasing Ray. I think it was the Chinese magician bit that initially drew my interest, but once I started reading, I was hooked. Ann-Marie Fleming discovers an old 16 mm film of her great-grandfather, Long Tack Sam. To Fleming’s amazement, she discovers Long Tack Sam was a famous magician. At a magic collector’s convention, she meets magicians who had seen Long Tack Sam perform, who had performed with him. As she puts it, “I didn’t know anything about that world, and suddenly, I’m introduced to all these magicians, who want to help me find the history of my great-grandfather, and their own history before it slips away.”
Fleming turned her search for information about Long Tack Sam into a documentary film. Using illustrations, photographs, and what I assume are stills from the documentary, she’s created a funny, fascinating, and touching memoir. More than just a compelling investigation into life of Long Tack Sam, it’s also a thoughtful examination of family and race. I rarely read memoirs, but really enjoyed this. Between the graphic format and the themes of family and identity running through the book, it will definitely appeal to teens. I don’t have a copy of it in my library yet, but I’m planning on buying one. I have a feeling it’d get lost on the shelves since it’s cataloged with books on magic in the 793s, but it has so much appeal to both adults and teens (it would be excellent for booktalking) that you would just need to briefly talk it up to people to get it into the hands of readers.
The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein
Definitely not a teen book, but readable and accessible enough for teens interested in the topic, including those who may have read Klein’s article in Rolling Stone. Klein’s thesis is that free market capitalism has used, and sometimes created, disasters to take advantage of shocked populations who would otherwise oppose the loss of land, public services and utilities, and nationalized industries to privatization. Hence Klein’s term “disaster capitalism.” Powerful and provoking stuff. I think the paperback is coming out this month, and I might just have to get a copy of it for myself because I didn’t have the time to reread it like I wanted to. (I was on the waiting list for months for this.)
Another Thing to Fall by Laura Lippman
I was originally going to write about this with my April roundup, even though I read it in May, because of Yrsa Sigurdadóttir’s Last Rituals, which I read in April. But that roundup started to get really long, so I cut the adult books. Anyway, a TV show that will air on basic cable is being produced in Baltimore. Tess is asked to watch the lead actress when the actress is not on set because of pranks that have occurred and, later, the murder of a producer’s assistant. I said last year that part of what makes Lippman so great is that she is so consistently good. I think if almost any other author had written this, I would have said it’s a really good book, but as it is, I consider it an average (though better than a lot of what else is out there) Tess book. Judging by reviews at online bookstores, I’m in the minority who thinks What the Dead Know was better than Another Thing to Fall. Though I do hope we see Mrs. Blossom in future books.
The reason I was going to write about it last month is that Yrsa Sigurdadóttir has written five children’s books, and in Publishers Weekly, Lippman said, “I sometimes think that I’m just a YA writer who lost my way.” She should totally write a YA book! I can’t be the only person who would read it. And teenage characters are an important part of a lot of her books already.
Nightkeepers by Jessica Andersen
I believe this is Andersen’s first single title, which makes it even more impressive. It’s long, but doesn’t feel padded. There’s a lot of plot and backstory, but it wasn’t overwhelming. It’s the first in a series, so while Andersen obviously lays the groundwork for future books in terms of the overarching plot, as far as the supporting characters go, there was not much sequel-baiting. And if I didn’t completely buy into Strike and Leah’s relationship (at least, not enough for Strike to risk such, well, apocalyptic catastrophe for it), I still finished the book exhilarated and feeling more excited about a romance novel than I’ve been in a while. I’ve already recommended this to a romance-reading library patron, which is something I never do. You know, because of that have not been very excited about any romance in ages thing. Now I just have to wait until NEXT YEAR! for the next book.
The Lost Duke of Wyndham by Julia Quinn
The thing about me and Julia Quinn is that, while I haven’t read all of her books and while I do tend to like the ones I’ve read, I never seem to like them as much as everyone else. So although I did enjoy The Lost Duke of Wyndham and felt that it was, in a way, her most mature book yet (though the most recent of her books I’ve read are Hyacinth’s and Colin/Penelope’s, so I could be wrong), I never moved beyond liking into really liking, or more, the book. Yes, Jack was charming. And, yes, Grace was admirable. But I found Thomas the most interesting. This is not so much a criticism of JQ’s writing as it is Thomas’ situation intriguing me. After all, Jack is not the first missing nobleman to be found, nor the first charming highwayman. But I can’t recall reading a romance about a displaced Duke before, especially one who was so prominent a part of a previous book.
Blog: LadyStar (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: adventure stories, beautiful flowers, books for free, enchanted forests, fairy princess, fantasy adventure, free anime, haunted, healing power, high school marching band, magical warriors, myths and legends, natural world, princesses, spells and magic, warrior, The Tree Shores High School Band Room, Jessica Hoshi, manga, myths and legends, high school marching band, magical warriors, natural world, The Dreamspeaker, haunted, healing power, adventure stories, fashion, fantasy adventure, free anime, books for free, enchanted forests, fairy princess, anime, warrior, princesses, spells and magic, Jessica Hoshi, beautiful flowers, Add a tag
“Hiiii everybody, it’s me Jessie! This week’s LadyStar Chapter of the Week is a real neat one. It’s from our first book, The Dreamspeaker, and it’s a chapter that’s called Swifty River. It’s about when Talitha found this real spooky forest where these little lights float around the trees and a pond. There’s this little bridge that’s real important later too. We hope you like our story! Be sure to visit us every week for a new best chapter! Ja!”
Blog: LadyStar (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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“Hi everyone! It’s me Jessie! We’re starting a new thing on our site because we like having new stuff. So we’re going to do something called the ‘Chapter of the Week’ from all our best stories. This week is Chapter 15 from The Palace in the Sky which is the second book in our series.”
“The chapter is called ‘The Solar System Reconstruction Committee.’ It’s about the time we helped Cici build a new model of the solar system ’cause some mean kids at her school broke the first one.”
“And the best part is you can read it for free just like all our books! We’re gonna have a new chapter every week, so be sure to check back soon for more stories!”
Blog: LadyStar (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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“Hi everyone! Shannon here. You probably already noticed I opened a New Gift Shop, and Hayashi really went all out with a really cool new design. I’d be really happy if you would all come visit us because this is the best Gift Shop we’ve ever had, and we’re starting a new thing on our site today.”
“Teko likes to explore, so he’s going to fly through our shop to find a new item each week that will be ‘Teko’s Magical Treasure.’ We’ll announce it here along with a link.”
“This way we can announce our best Gift Shop gifts with our best designs.”
“And you know we’ve got the best designs!”
“This week’s Magical Treasure is the Warrior of the Night Tote Bag with our brand new Starlight Huntress design.”
Teko’s Magical Treasure of the Week
“Yay for Teko-chan! Don’t forget, minna! Shannon-sama donates some of what the Gift Shop makes to benefit the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls which is a super-neat camp every year that’s all about music! Have fun! Ja ne!”
Blog: LadyStar (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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LadyStar is the story of a group of girls who each have a powerful weapon they wear disguised as a priceless jeweled treasure. With their magical weapons, Jessica Hoshi and her friends can transform into the Ajan Warriors, champion defenders of the enchanted realm of Aventar!
“Hi! I’m Jessica Hoshi! If you like stories about action and adventure and discovering magical treasures and fighting evil monsters, you’ll like our books a lot! Me and my friends have lots of fun adventures together! You can read LadyStar: The Palace in the Sky for free! The whole book! Right in your browser! So tell all your friends and come visit us as much as you want! There’s always something fun happening on our site!”
Okay, eew. She was thirteen and she married her twenty-plus year old cousin!? Who apparently adored her. Well, what can I say. I guess it worked for them, because it's a lovely poem!
It does sound a bit "eew" doesn't it? I know it was a different era and everything but even so, my mind boggled just a bit!!
Poe was a bit of a creeper in real life, methinks. Still, I enjoy quite a lot of his work.
I enjoy a lot of his work too - but I think the less I know about his private life, the better!