Let’s call April mystery book month. Here’s what I’d read. At the Malice Domestic convention April 22 to 24, devotees of traditional mysteries will present the Agatha Awards. On April 28 the Mystery Writers of America will hand out the annual Edgar Awards. Therefore, Michael Dirda asks, “Shouldn’t April be designated National Mystery Month?” He continues […]
Falling by T.J. Newman Simon & Schuster, 2021Hardcover, 304 pagesISBN 978-1-9821-7788-1 When Bill Hoffman arrives at Los Angeles International Airport to pilot Coastal Airways flight 416 to New York, he expects a routine day. It’s not until the plane is in the air that he learns today will be anything but routine. When he receives
Ngaio Marsh I read a lot of mysteries as well as a lot about mysteries, and Ngaio Marsh is one of the names of mystery writers that comes up most often. I’m therefore embarrassed to admit that I’ve never read any of her books, especially because she is known as one of the four “Queens
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Celebrate National Poetry Month with these 6 books April is National Poetry Month. Launched by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month has become one of the largest literary celebrations in the world, reminding us that poetry is an art form for everybody. Categories: Reading, Writing Kafka the hypochondriac “Franz Kafka believed
This week is a freebie, which means we get to come up with our own topic. I tend to think that writers, like most people, get better at what they do with practice. Over the years I’ve read a number of debut novels that I found particularly striking because they demonstrate a high level of
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Home and Away: Horror & Gothic Fiction 2022 Among this season’s horror releases, twinned themes emerge. On one side, the oppressive atmosphere of a childhood home and the secrets it holds; on the other, the ambiguity of liminal spaces and the unease of isolation. PW spoke with editors about the fear of the unknown, whether
The Book That Unleashed American Grief “John Gunther’s Death Be Not Proud defied a nation’s reluctance to describe personal loss.” Deborah Cohen discusses Death Be Not Proud, published in 1949, John Gunther’s account of the his son’s death at age 17 from a brain tumor. The publisher, Harper & Brothers, feared at the time that
Women’s History Month at New York Public Library “This March, The New York Public Library celebrates Women’s History Month with recommended reading, spotlights on significant women librarians from our 125 year history, events and programs, and more.” Categories: Literary History, Literary Criticism 13 Empowering Memoirs Written by Women In honor of Women’s History Month. Categories:
Introduction I still remember the experience of first seeing the movie Planet of the Apes (the original 1968 version starring Charlton Heston). As the movie ended, Taylor (the astronaut played by Heston) and Nova rode off on a horse in search of a new place to live. As they rode along the beach, the camera
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“There are many reasons I love novels with multiple narratives. In novels where the events are filtered through the consciousness of a single ‘reliable’ narrator, I often wonder; is this the whole story? What could be missing here? Truth is often a multiplicity of perspectives, and sometimes the more viewpoints and versions of events there
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