Self-help guru, Rhonda Byrne (of THE SECRET fame), is back with her heart-over-matter explanation of money woes in THE POWER.

Eliza Griswold earns the respect of The New York Times for her book, THE TENTH PARALLEL: DISPATCHES FROM THE FAULT LINE BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM.

The Star Tribune offers up a look at some late summer reading for the younger crowd.

Elliott J. Gorn puts the spotlight on one of the toughest spectator sports ever sold to the masses in THE MANLY ART: BARE-KNUCKLE PRIZE-FIGHTING IN AMERICA (UPDATED EDITION).

Hello both to and from the annual Killer Nashville Literary Conference for Mystery, Suspense, and Thriller Writers.

I say hello to the conference because Butch Wilson (of tech4writers.com) will be using AuthorScoop in his presentation tomorrow morning and we thought it might be nice of AuthorScoop to say hello when we pop up on the screen at the click of Butch’s gizmo.  So, hi guys.  Wave at the screen.  Thank you.

I say hello from Killer Nashville because I am here, enjoying myself, learning things and marveling at the Tennessee heat and humidity.

More to follow, but right now I have to get ready to go to a presentation on autopsies and medical examiners offered by Lee Lofland.  Wish me luck and fortitude…

“Is that book entertaining or informative?” my eleven year old daughter asked, as I snatched my copy of Tana French’s, FAITHFUL PLACE, from the table.  I was making another run for sanctuary, to read in peace and make this a vacation of books-for-lunch, sand between my toes, and excellent whiskey taken in holiday moderation (which isn’t as much about upping the limit as it is about liberating some of the daylight hours for sipping.)

Her question was a reach for the very basic distinction between fiction and nonfiction that the public school has drilled into her head.  My answer ended up resolving an ongoing philosophical itch I’d had for years – what makes me love a book?  In short, it has to be both.

First off, FAITHFUL PLACE, is plain excellence in crime fiction, or suspense, or literary intrigue – whatever you’d like to brand it.  Tana French reeled me in with her wonderful debut, IN THE WOODS, (which won The Edgar for Best First Novel in 2008) and thrilled me with her sophomore outing, THE LIKENESS (a tantalizing premise that, in less capable hands, probably would have collapsed in a self-conscious heap.)  She’s made the big list over at The New York Times each time she’s gone to print and I’ve never once had the how-the-hell-did-that-happen flinch when I see her books there.

And now FAITHFUL PLACE has brought into bold focus what makes a great read for me.  The book opens with the discovery of an abandoned suitcase that pulls a police detective back to his old haunts to re-examine the conclusions he’d drawn two decades earlier when he’d cut anchor (and all ties) from the neighborhood of Faithful Place, his childhood home, in one of Dublin’s crustier corners.  At the heart of the revelations kicked off by the find is the luminous Rosie Daly.  A handful of hopeful balloon strings has kept her alive in the memories of the tenants of Faithful Place, but the investigation turns a facet of each of the players towards the light, ultimately sending the truth flashing through the tensions in the streets, and behind all the slammed doors.

So, back to the question – is it entertaining or informative?  Some books are all about the story and some books are all about the words.  The best books are about both.  The older I get, the less willing I am to wear uncomfortable clothes (even if they look good) or to devote eight or more hours to novels that pander.  If it’s all breathless Bruckheimer written in see-spot-run syntax or, conversely, a quicksand of impenetrable brooding and no plot, it won’t suit me.

Tana French seems devoted to the idea that only the right words will make you see what Frank sees, make you laugh at what he finds funny, and that only through the precision and music of the right words will you be convinced to throw your lot in along with his, for better or worse.  The people of FAITHFUL PLACE live so vividly through French’s words that the book practically breathes in rhythm with their sighs, huffs, and rages.  Their dramas are entertaining in the way that makes a comfy-chair Olympic sport out of a racing mind and a raised pulse.  And they are real enough (because of the right words) that we’re informed of our own minds as we live a brief parallel existence in Faithful Place.  Above all, if we can learn through the mistakes of others in ‘real life’, we can definitely come away smarter at the closing of the back cover of a book – if only it’s built of the right words in the right order.

I don’t often write book reviews.  My mother’s admonition to keep it zipped if I hadn’t anything nice to say is a terrific cover for my cowardice.  I’m too wimpy to whet my grump on someone else’s hard work.  So most of my literary carping is done off the record. Thank you, thank you, Ms. French, for writing books that let me unpack an opinion in public.  It’s been a pleasure.

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FAITHFUL PLACE is likely sitting on a front table or endcap at your local bookstore, or you can have it delivered by your postman (or through the magic of 3G or WiFi directly to your eReader) from Amazon.com or Barnes&Noble’s online store.

Also see Ms. French’s thoughts on FAITHFUL PLACE and writing in general in our ‘5 Minutes Alone’ feature and ‘Is Your Book Your Baby’ essay series.

I’ve come across an intriguing bit of Historical Fiction, a debut novel by Robin Oliveira, called MY NAME IS MARY SUTTER, from Viking.  I was drawn to it partly because of my own interest in midwifery and then was happy to discover that it relates a fascinating and well-researched account of the evolution of the nursing profession at the start of the Civil War and the path to first female doctors in The United States.

Here’s a nifty, quick interview with Ms. Oliveira on The Leonard Lopate Show on WNYC.

AuthorScoop’s gotten word that a second edition of THE UNBREAKABLE CHILD, by Kim Michele Richardson, is gearing up for a new launch, with its new publisher.  (Click here to read Kim’s ‘5 Minutes Alone’ feature on THE UNBREAKABLE CHILD.)

With headlines around the globe converging on The Vatican and its poor record of vigilance against clergy child abuse, the timing couldn’t be more poignant.

Behler Publications will release a revised and expanded version of this heart-wrenching story on October 1st, 2010, but it’s certainly not too early to pre-order a copy now.

From the LATimes:

Comic book author Harvey Pekar, whose autobiographical series “American Splendor” was made into the 2003 film, has died. Pekar, a cancer survivor, was found by his wife, Joyce Brabner, early Monday morning at their Cleveland area home; he was 70 years old.

Pekar wrote his first comic strip in 1972; it was illustrated by his friend, R. Crumb. He began publishing regularly, or semi-regularly, a few years later. “American Splendor” was illustrated by a variety of artists and focused on the minutiae of Pekar’s life as a file clerk.

Even spooks have mundane issues and 21-year CIA veteran-turned-author, Susan Hasler, uses the fact to good result (according to The Washington Post) in INTELLIGENCE.

Justin Cronin’s vampire saga, THE PASSAGE, doesn’t live up to the hype in San Diego.

Slate Magazine looks at the highly charged ACTING WHITE: THE IRONIC LEGACY OF DESEGREGATION, by Stuart Buck.

The New Yorker waxes thorough on Anne Carson’s unusual poetry object/memorial/book, NOX.

I don’t know that I’d always have to stop the presses for the awarding of a literary prize, but when it’s given to one of my favorite authors for one of my top 20 favorite books of all time, well, I gotta crow - ’cause I was at the launch event and own a signed copy of Barbara Kingsolver’s THE LACUNA.

Congratulations, Ms. Kingsolver. Well done.

and here’s a link to my review of it, from earlier this year

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Never has it been more apparent why it’s called The Web.  AuthorScoop is getting quite tangled up in it all, and as far as I can tell, that’s good news.  But it’s early yet.

We’re already squawking Tweets about what we’re up to and just today, we’ve launched a page on FaceBook with updates on our articles and galleries of our staff and featured guests.  Of course, every bit of this is linked, for maximum tail-chasing, with our Twitterfeed.

So if you just can’t get enough AuthorScoop, click that button over there in the sidebar to the right of your screen, and then try getting this spider’s snare off your face.

This week marks the second anniversary of AuthorScoop, so I would like to take this opportunity to thank our contributors, interview subjects and our readers—who visit us daily by the hundreds and, on a good day, by the thousands.

Most of all, of course, I would like to thank Jamie Mason, my partner and right hand, for a lot of hard work and a lot of patience, most of which is consumed in putting up with me.

Thanks everyone.

Author, Kim Michele Richardson, takes her appeal directly to the Vatican’s highest office in an open letter to Pope Benedict XVI, in a response to his watery address of the avalanche of criticism bearing down on the Church over fresh allegations of worldwide institutionalized abuse and betrayal.

Richardson’s memoir, The Unbreakable Child, chronicles a decade of trauma at the hands of nuns and a priest in a rural Kentucky orphanage in the 1960s.

Just got word that Christina Meldrum’s excellent debut YA novel, MADAPPLE, was released today in paperback.  I interviewed Christina back in the summer of 2008 for the hardcover release and was so impressed that I hunted her down for our ‘5 Minutes Alone’ segment last March.

MADAPPLE keeps rolling, and well it should.  Congratulations, Ms. Meldrum.  Looking forward to more from you, for certain.

Honestly, my Latin isn’t what it could be, so I don’t even know for certain that I’ve gotten it right, or right enough, but for author Nujood Ali, even a near-miss at an ancient proclamation of freedom through a book seems somehow fitting.  The book, I AM NUJOOD, AGED 10 AND DIVORCED, is her autobiography.

Hailed as “one of the greatest women” Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has ever seen, and honored in Glamour Magazine as one of 2008’s Women of the Year, Nujood diverted the course of her life, and perhaps the lives of more of her Yemeni sisters, in a covert dash to the local courthouse to demand a divorce from her abusive, molesting husband.  Husband.  Nujood was 10.

The book has gone on to translation in 18 languages, but it is the release of her story in her native Arabic that Nujood anticipates the most; the hope of where it could shake loose the most benefit.

It’s an honor to have simply run across the story of her bravery, with a nod to Patti Wiggington for drawing my attention that way.

Nicholas D. Kristof elaborates in The New York Times‘ op-ed section from this past Wednesday’s edition.

My Valentine’s Day guest-blogging column is now online over at Writer in Waiting. A taste:

Since the mid-1800s, Valentine’s cards have been big business in both England and America, and this commercialization of people’s most intimate feelings has spread to just about every other holiday, homogenizing most of our celebrations, both sacred and secular, to the point of cliché.

Read the whole piece here.

In honor of JD Salinger, The New Yorker is making all thirteen of his short stories they published available online.To access the digital archives at no charge, click here.

From their site:

J.D. Salinger has died. From 1946 to 1965, Salinger published thirteen stories in The New Yorker including such classics as “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” and “Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters.” There will be much more to come online and in next week’s magazine, but for now, we are making all of his stories available to all readers through our digital edition:

“Slight Rebellion Off Madison” (December 21, 1946)

“A Perfect Day for Bannanafish” (January 31, 1948)

“Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut” (March 20, 1948)

“Just Before the War with the Eskimos” (June 5, 1948)

“The Laughing Man” (March 19, 1949)

“For Esmé—With Love and Squalor” (April 8, 1950)

“Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes” (July 14, 1951)

“Teddy” (January 31, 1953)

“Franny” (January 29, 1955)

“Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters” (November 19, 1955)

“Zooey” (May 4, 1957)

“Seymour: An Introduction” (June 6, 1959)

“Hapworth 16, 1924” (June 19, 1965)

J.D. Salinger Dies at 91: The Hermit Crab of American Letters (TIME)

Catcher in the Rye author J.D. Salinger dies (CBC News)

‘Catcher in the Rye’ author JD Salinger dies (Washington Post)

JD Salinger, 91, Is Dead (NYTimes)

Catcher in the Rye novelist JD Salinger dies at 91 (BBC)

NEW YORK – J.D. Salinger, the legendary author, youth hero and fugitive from fame whose “The Catcher in the Rye” shocked and inspired a world he increasingly shunned, has died. He was 91.

Salinger died of natural causes at his home on Wednesday, the author’s son said in a statement from Salinger’s literary representative. He had lived for decades in self-imposed isolation in the small, remote house in Cornish, N.H.

“The Catcher in the Rye,” with its immortal teenage protagonist, the twisted, rebellious Holden Caulfield, came out in 1951, a time of anxious, Cold War conformity and the dawn of modern adolescence. The Book-of-the-Month Club, which made “Catcher” a featured selection, advised that for “anyone who has ever brought up a son” the novel will be “a source of wonder and delight — and concern.”

Enraged by all the “phonies” who make “me so depressed I go crazy,” Holden soon became American literature’s most famous anti-hero since Huckleberry Finn. The novel’s sales are astonishing — more than 60 million copies worldwide — and its impact incalculable. Decades after publication, the book remains a defining expression of that most American of dreams — to never grow up.

Link

…after more than a century:

NEW YORK (AP) - The journalism trade journal Editor & Publisher is shutting down after 108 years of publication.

Editor & Publisher is being closed as its parent company, the Nielsen Co., sells several of its other business publications such as The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard.

Crime fiction seems to be the topic of the week, what with the flurry of blog commentary and newspaper response to Jessica Mann’s announcement of her intention to abandon the genre over misogyny.  Then there’s my friend, John Hart, taking the Silver Dagger at the CWA Awards.

And now this from CNN, crime-fiction star, Michael Connelly’s research trip to  Hong Kong overlaps a real life case with grim parallels -

…I prepared to publish and promote my latest detective novel, “Nine Dragons,” I learned of a true mystery with eerie similarities and connections to my story and my research. It has been a heart-tugging reminder that while crime novels may be entertaining thrill rides and puzzles, they also skirt the shores of reality for many.

For myself, I do not think we (and that ‘we’ is of the healthy, non-violent collective) feast on literary tragedy and look up from our books, our faces smeared in the grease and gore of a vulture’s banquet, even if the offerings were bloody and terrible.

When the cover closes at our train stop, or for the night, or at having achieved The End, we know ourselves a little better.  We’ve met a few new people and sorted them, and their troubles, into their proper slots — or not, if it’s complicated.  Either way, we have afforded ourselves an opportunity to learn from someone else’s mistakes and also from their triumphs.

But it’s good to be reminded that there is nothing glamorous about real murder or terror or heartbreaking loss.  Pat the wall between your empathy and your mind’s storehouse, with its shelves cluttered or ordered with what intrigues you, and thank God for the luxury of its protection.

On October 21st, Britain’s gala televised event, ITV3’s Crime Thriller Awards, saw the presentation of The Crime Writers’ Association’s Dagger Awards.  The CWA Daggers have been awarded since 1955 for excellence in crime fiction and their index to past winners reads like a Who’s Who of Page-turners.

This year’s Gold Dagger was presented to William Broderick for A WHISPERED NAME.

The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger went to friend-of-AuthorScoop’s John Hart for THE LAST CHILD

And the New Blood Dagger saw Johan Theorin take home the John Creasy prize for ECHOES FROM THE DEAD.

Congratulations all!

The Dallas Morning News say the wait for Pete Dexter’s over due next novel, SPOONER, was well worth the wait.  Sometimes it’s like that.

A century-old Kansas City mystery is revived and reexamined in Giles Fowler’s, DEATHS ON PLEASANT STREET: THE GHASTLY ENIGMA OF COLONEL SWOPE AND DOCTOR HYDE.

Who knew Talking Heads frontman, David Byrne, was an avid cyclist?  Well, you do now.  And if you need more proof, check out his BICYCLE DIARIES.

Debit novelist, Marilyn Chin, converted a rough start to a satisfying finish in, THE REVENGE OF THE MOONCAKE VIXEN.