Detectives in a Literary Deathmatch

Okay: so it’s silly as anything, but still kind of fun. In an all out battle between good ol’ Sherlock and everyone’s favorite Miss Marple, who would kick whose keister? Undaunted by anything as tedious as reality -- or a definite lack thereof -- Andrew Losowsky, books editor at the Huffington Post, set about trying to find the answer:It began, as so many things, with an argument. One of those

Holiday Gift Guide: Everyday Exotic by Roger Mooking and Allan Magee

“One person’s exotic is another person’s everyday.” That’s the basic premise behind Everyday Exotic (Whitecap) as well as the television show that spawned this new book.Host of the show and co-author of the book, Roger Mooking was born in Trinidad and Tobago, raised in Edmonton, Alberta and somehow the culinary traditions of both are seamlessly fused into the cuisine he coaches. Imagine for a

Holiday Gift Guide: The Misanthrope’s Guide to Life (Go Away!) by Meghan Rowland and Chris Turner-Neal

It’s true: the best of the season can bring out the worst in everyone. If the person you’re buying for is a candidate for The Misanthrope’s Guide to Life (Adams Media) you probably don’t need much prompting. We all know at least one of those “Bah! Humbug!” sorts. The only thing often missing for this sort of friend or relative is the perfect gift. And now? Here it is! From the book:The

New Today: The Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon

Fans of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series are unlikely to wait and ask questions before grabbing a copy of her latest, The Scottish Prisoner (Delacorte). And the end of November release date ensures that this meaty hardcover will be showing up in a lot of holiday packages.Fans who do rush out for this newest Gabladon will not be disappointed: the author serves up not only her usually engaging

Pierce’s Pick: Utu by Caryl Férey

This week, J. Kingston Pierce chooses Utu by Caryl Férey.
Set in New Zealand, Utu follows Paul Osborne, who’s called back to the Auckland police force from a bender in Sydney to take over an investigation by Jack Fitzgerald, an ex-colleague who committed suicide. But probing Fitzgerald’s death will introduce Osborne into a mystery involving Maori discontents, revenge and political

Holiday Gift Guide: Chicken Poop for the Soul: A Year in Search of Food Sovereignty by Kristeva Dowling

From the land that brought you the 100 Mile Diet, Kristeva Dowling takes it all a step further, getting back to the land in a very determined way in order to control what gets to her table.For her it began with a labor strike and a resulting lack of produce at her grocer’s. “It was this revelation that made me begin to question the necessity for Canadians to have pineapples in January.” The road

Children’s Books: All Good Children by Catherine Austen

In Catherine Austen’s new novel we spend a lot of time breaking out of dystopia. The story harkens back to the very best elements of Ira Levin’s 1975 novel (later made into a couple of astonishingly bad movies) Stepford Wives.At the center of the 21st century, select children of the well-behaved city of New Middletown line up and take their medicine. The treatment turns them into the

Poet Ruth Stone Dead at 96

Celebrated poet Ruth Stone died at home of natural causes in Ripton, Vermont, on November 19th. Born in June of 1915, Stone was 96 when she died. From The Huffington Post by way of AP:Widowed in her 40s and little known for years after, Ruth Stone became one of the country's most honored poets in her 80s and 90s, winning the National Book Award in 2002 for "In the Next Galaxy" and being named a

Fiction: 11/22/63 by Stephen King

As I write this, it is the 48th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and I have just finished reading Stephen King’s new novel about a man who goes back in time to try to stop Lee Harvey Oswald from firing the three bullets that would change the world, 11/22/63 (Scribner). What a ride!

When high school teacher Jake Epping is convinced by a dying friend to step into the past, he

Lost Kerouac Novel Found

Forty years after his death, the first novel by the author of On The Road was found by the writer’s brother-in-law.The Sea Is My Brother (Penguin Classics) is based on his Kerouac’s time as a merchant seaman. According to the BBC, the book features “correspondence with his best friend Sebastian Sampas and recalls his ‘life and experiences’ at sea, says the book’s editor Dawn Ward.”"This book is

Holiday Gift Guide: The Wizard of Oz: A Scanimation Book by Rufus Butler Seder

There’s something charmingly nostalgic and convincingly high tech about artist, inventor and filmmaker Rufus Butler Seder’s Scanimation books. Take his interpretation of The Wizard of Oz (Workman) for instance. It is, in all ways, a perfect little package. A delight. Even before you open the book, the glittery red of Dorothy’s shoes glints at you from the cover. But then you do open the book,

Holiday Gift Guide: Piece of Cake! by Camilla V. Saulsbury

Here’s the scenario: you’ve been invited to a holiday dinner and it was requested you bring some type of dessert. You really would like to make a cake, but every time you think about all those bowls and all that mixing, you sit back down and start thinking about buying something rustic enough to pass off as your own. Then guilt sets in, and it all begins again.It was times like these that I

Pern Creator Dead at 85

It seems that there is a little less magic in the world today, since we got the news of the death of Anne McCaffrey.Best known for her award-winning and bestselling Pern series, McCaffrey has said that her best novel was 1960’s The Ship Who Sang.According to her publisher’s blog, McCaffrey, 85, died at her home in Ireland Monday “shortly after suffering a stroke.” Her health had been declining

Holiday Gift Guide: Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

“In the beginning, there were dragons: proud, fierce, and independent. Their scales were like gems, and all who gazed upon them despaired, for their beauty was great and terrible.”Inheritance (Knopf) is the fourth and final book in wunderkind Christopher Paolini’s heart-stoppingly good series. It finishes this deeply imaginative story in a satisfying and completely creative way.Looking back it

Michael Moore Set to Help Local Library

To promote his new book and help save his hometown library, author and filmmaker Michael Moore (Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11) has donated 2000 copies of his new book, Here Comes Trouble (Grand Central), for a library fundraiser in Flint, Michigan. The book will be on sale that night only for $12. while Moore does a signing with all proceeds to benefit the Flint Public Library. From an

The Official Notable Books of 2011

The New York Times Sunday Book Review delivers its annual list of notable books of the year. In the 100 books mentioned in the 2011 list, there are some surprises, but not many.The list is here. If you’re looking for their Gift Guide, that’s here, while ours is here and ongoing.

New in Paperback: The Bird Sisters by Rebecca Rasmussen

Rebecca Rasmussen’s debut novel earlier this year was one of those quiet arrivals that seems to build on its own steam. A scant seven months later, Rasmussen is poised on the brink of something huge and the gorgeous new paperback -- out today from Broadway Books -- reminds readers that the book is a Ladies’ Home Journal Book Club pick. It’s also been selected for the Target Emerging Authors

Crime Fiction: Death Plays Poker by Robin Spano

You can take the girl out of the trailer park, but you can’t necessarily take the trailer park out of the girl. That’s the subtext of Robin Spano’s second Clare Vengel novel, Death Plays Poker (ECW).In her second outing, undercover cop Clare has been loaned to the RCMP to solve a string of murders taking place within the tightly closed world of professional poker. Clare goes undercover as a

Happy Birthday to Margaret Atwood

It’s difficult to believe that the divine Miss Atwood turns 72 today. Difficult because, as we’ve said often enough in reviews and interviews, the author’s voice is as vibrant and variable now as it was 20 and even 30 years ago. One could argue that it is more so: Atwood writes with the verve of someone still pushing towards the zenith of her powers.The Writer’s Almanac gives us some background:

Holiday Gift Guide: Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven and Hell With Black Sabbath by Tony Iommi

When it comes to rocker biographies, the 2011 winner is former Black Sabbath lead guitarist, Tony Iommi’s Iron Man (Da Capo). This is the whole package: Iommi is candid, engaging and celebrated and that’s exactly the right combo for this sort of book.Though it’s Iommi’s autobiography, this is also the story of Black Sabbath, one of the most celebrated and seminal rock outfits of all time. And on

Fiction: The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

Who’s to say, when we start a life, where we will end up? What will we do? What will we regret? What, if anything, will we understand? These are a few of the questions posed by Julian Barnes’ Man Booker Award-winning novel, The Sense of an Ending.

At just 160 pages or so, the book is deceptive. It’s spare but not sparse. It’s short but not light. Instead, it is a rich tapestry of starts, stops,

Holiday Gift Guide: The Illiad by Homer translated by Stephen Mitchell

If high school literary abuse makes the very mention of anything by Homer cause your eyes to roll up into your head, you’re in for a treat. In this new translation of The Illiad (Free Press) author Stephen Mitchell starts things off on a wonderful note. “We return to the Illiad because it is one of the monuments of our own magnificence. Its poetry lifts even the most devastating human events into

Let’s Make Poetry Cool

What or who could make poetry cool? If you had to come up with a single name, Brian Eno would not be a bad place to start. Especially since he’s been working on a project that means to do pretty much that for the last 10 years.To hear a snippet of the “poetry music” Eno has created along with British poet Rick Holland for Eno’s new EP, Panic of Looking (Warp Records), check Lucy Jones’ column in

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: a Chat With Jeff Kinney

It was like a rock concert. A thousand kids, siblings, and parents, all gathered on sidewalks outside the Barnes & Noble in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Outside, even on this warm night, a pile of snow, with fake snowflakes sprayed by a special machine, and a massive luxury bus decorated with Wimpy Kid art on all sides. And at four o’clock sharp, the rock star emerges from it: Jeff Kinney, author of

Holiday Gift Guide: The Collected Poems of Patrick Lane by Patrick Lane

If the person on your list has a particular interest in Canadian poetry, The Collected Poems of Patrick Lane (Harbour) is a handsome and complete collection.For many years considered by many to be one of his country’s leading poets, Patrick Lane was born in Nelson, British Columbia and currently lives in Victoria. In the time between he has lived many places all over North and South America. And

New this Month: The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson

I’ve been following the work of fantasy author heir apparent Brandon Sanderson since 2009’s Warbreaker. Though Sanderson hasn’t been around very long, his impact on the fantasy genre has been intense and far-reaching. Something likely to continue when he completes Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. Even if Sanderson were not a terrific writer in his own right, being tapped to complete Jordan’s

Governor General’s Literary Award Winners Announced

The names of the 2011 winners of Canada’s most prestigious literary prize, the Governor General’s Literary Award, were announced this morning. The 14 winners -- one French, one English in seven categories -- each take home $25,0000.In addition to the monetary award, each winner will receive a specially-bound copy of the winning book, created by Montreal bookbinder Lise Dubois. The publisher of

Pierce’s Pick: Our Man in the Dark by Rashad Harrison

This week, J. Kingston Pierce chooses Our Man in the Dark by Rashad Harrison.
Set during the 1960s, Harrison’s debut crime novel follows John Estem, a bookkeeper who steals money from Martin Luther King Jr.’s organization, only to be found out by the FBI and coerced into playing informant against America’s most prominent civil rights leader -- a man whose reputation the feds hope to

Don’t Bother Me with Facts

Though Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly seems to posture as a paragon of knowledge, his new book, Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever (Henry Holt), might just offer up a few lessons in taking what you read -- or hear -- with a grain of salt. After all, it’s one thing to mangle historical fact on television where few people other than Jon Stewart seem to be keeping

Copy That

The mini-scandal surrounding first-time novelist Q.R. Markham (aka Quentin Rowan), who’s been accused of plagiarizing the work of previous authors in his new spy thriller, Assassin of Secrets, continues to be fed by the print and online press. The Wall Street Journal weighs in on the controversy here, while Edward Champion looks at the numerous read-alike passages here.

READ MORE: “Q.R. Markham’

Cookbooks: 300 Best Potato Recipes by Kathleen Sloan-McIntosh

The cover is not a clue. In fact, it’s misleading, playing in as it does to so many people’s idea of what a potato should be: shoe-stringed, then boiled in fat until golden brown. And, sure: while, like most people, I respond well enough to a properly french fried potato, there is so much more to this at once humble and noble vegetable than that.Food journalist, author and restaurateur, Kathleen

Children’s Books: The Outcasts by John Flanagan

The Outcasts, which is book one of the Brotherband Chronicles, is a spinoff from John Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice series, through which I’m currently making my delighted way.I admit I had only read the first book in that series, The Ruins Of Gorlan, when I read this, and saw some resemblance to that book, although it’s set in another country, Skandia, the Norse analogue, rather than Araluen,

Esi Edugyan Wins Canada’s Richest Literary Prize

Esi Edugyan has won the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize for her novel Half-Blood Blues (Thomas Allen).The announcement of the largest annual literary prize in Canada was made at a black-tie dinner and award ceremony hosted by Jian Ghomeshi and broadcast live on CBC. The Scotiabank Giller Prize awards $50,000 to the author of the best Canadian novel or short story collection published in English and

Bill Clinton’s Back to Work: What Are the Best Bits?

With former U.S. president Bill Clinton’s new memoir, Back to Work (Knopf), out today, everybody is looking for the best bits. The Daily Beast delivers:In a country looking to regain its economic mojo and self-confidence, it’s easy to imagine why Americans might look back fondly at Bill Clinton, who oversaw an era in which the U.S. felt safe, victorious, prosperous, and assured. With those

Pierce’s Pick: The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbøl and Agnete Friis

This week, J. Kingston Pierce chooses The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbøl and Agnete Friis.“After helping an estranged friend retrieve luggage from the Copenhagen train station, only to discover a naked child in the suitcase, Nina Borg is drawn into a dangerous world as she tries to identify the boy and keep him safe from the people who trapped him, and who will now kill to get him back.”

Art & Culture: Everyday Eden: 100+ Fun, Green Garden Projects for the Whole Family to Enjoy by Christina Symons and John Gillespie

When it comes to gift giving, Everyday Eden (Harbour) is on a par with the best of travel and food books. Whether or not your giftee has any intention of gardening (or traveling or cooking) sometimes it’s nice to just curl up with a great book on the subject and imagine what profound change you could manifest in your life… if only the weather would change and you could pry yourself out of your

Holiday Gift Guide: Archie: The Married Life

It’s a sliding doors world for Archie Andrews in Archie: The Married Life (Archie Comics) where we look at two possible realities for the eternal teen as he moves into adulthood. In one thread he marries the rich and sultry Veronica Lodge. In the other, he ties the knot with perpetual girl next door, Betty Cooper.In both possible realities, we see the well-loved characters respectfully and

Cats in High Places

Though we’re still collecting data on your favorite bookstores (and thanks for continuing to send them in) we loved reading about the bookstore cats featured in NYU LOCAL.“One of our favorite parts of New York City,” the piece begins, “is its many independent bookstores. Even more than these bookstores, we love their cats.”The piece, appropriately enough called “Kitty Porn” profiles several of

Are We Sick of Celebrity Excess?

At a time of international financial crisis and lots of attendant personal strife for many readers have we, as a culture, finally lost our taste for empty tales of pointless riches and celebrity excess? With sales in the usually dependable category of celebrity biographies down almost by half, that would seem to be the case. From The Telegraph:According to industry figures quoted in The

SF/F: All Men of Genius by Lev AC Rosen

Lev AC Rosen’s debut is smart, thoughtful and even oddly timely. An intelligent, muscular work of steampunk with a strong central female character and a full load of steam. A great balance and a perfect mix.Violet Adams is a genius. A brilliant inventor and maven of all things mechanical, she wants nothing more than to attend London’s prestigious Illyria College, a scientific academy. But since

Cookbooks: 750 Best Appetizers by Judith Finlayson and Jordan Wagman

When it comes to 750 Best Appetizers (Robert Rose) my biggest complaint is a pretty high class one: there’s simply too much. I know that sounds silly, possibly even foolish, but 750 is almost encyclopedic. Almost. Not quite enough for that. Just enough to leave you feeling, every time you sit down with the book, that you just don’t know where to start.At least, that was my reaction. For every

Mapping the Path to a Literary Life

Though we’ve seen a lot of new technology aimed at booklovers over the last few years, perhaps nothing is likely to touch us in our reading life as acutely as the Book Drum World Map, an addictive site/technology that may well change the way we experience books and perhaps even the way we read them.Billed as “the perfect companion to the books we love, bringing them to life with immersive

Art & Culture: Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge by Mark Yarm

Twenty years after Nirvana’s Nevermind and Pearl Jam’s debut, Ten, Blender senior editor, Mark Yarm, delivers Everybody Loves Our Town (Crown), the perfect remembrance/celebration/recollection of an era that some would say never was and others say never left us. After all, as Yarm tells us early on, even the grunge label itself is entirely subjective:We could argue forever … about what bands are

Punctuation in Peril

Is the apostrophe on the way out? Though he’d be at the head of the line to mourn the apostrophe’s demise if it should pass away, in an essay for The Huffington Post, Henry Hitchings (The Language Wars) posits just that.Before the seventeenth century the apostrophe was rare. The Parisian printer Geoffroy Tory promoted it in the 1520s, and it first appeared in an English text in 1559.Initially the

Fiction: Jane Austen Made Me Do It: Original Stories Inspired by Literature’s Most Astute Observer of the Human Heart edited by Laurel Ann Natt

If we are at the zenith of Jane Austen-inspired hysteria, then Jane Austen Made Me Do It (Ballantine) is its nadir. Not the mania or madness of the Austen-inspired zombie stories popular late in the last decade or even the gentle Austen-solved mystery stories more recently come to the fore. Jane Austen Made Me Do It is Austen as applied right now.The publication of Jane Austen Made Me Do It is