I have to admit that I requested this book based on the title. Angels, Vampires and Douche Bags is a title with a lot of potential. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations.

The book separates the people in our lives into three categories. Angels are the people who love you and take care of you. Vampires are the people who are sexy and seductive but ultimately bad for you, and Douche Bags are the people who make your life more difficult. Things can also be in these categories. The whole prospect is kind of muddled and unfocused. It just didn’t quite work. [Read more →]

Tags: Lisa Reads, books & writing
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My friend and colleague (and occasional When Falls the Coliseum contributor) Paula Marantz Cohen has a piece in the Huffington Post about her new novel, What Alice Knew: A Most Curious Tale of Henry James & Jack the Ripper. I just started reading the novel today. It’s good fun so far, with the first chapter containing a dinner scene that includes a drunk, bloated (he prefers “corpulent”), distracted Henry James having to put up with Oscar Wilde’s quips. I look forward to reading more and hope our readers will give Paula’s novel a look.

Tags: announcements, books & writing
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Recently I’ve been reading Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef the oldest son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, one of the founders of Hamas. Yousef is a Christian convert who worked for years for the Israeli Shin Bet, feeding them information about planned terrorist attacks and so preventing countless deaths. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, trusted media & news
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Writing in the Philadelphia Inquirer today, our Frank Wilson takes on Philly’s blogging tax — a business license fee being charged to bloggers who have ads on their sites, even if the ads only make them $5 a year.

Tags: announcements, books & writing
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This book really took me back to my heavy metal roots. I was a fan in high-school and college, saw a lot of head-banging bands play live, and still have the hard rock/alternative stations programmed in the car radio. Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir is a look behind the scenes at how a scrawny kid from La Mesa, California became a rock and roll god. It’s full of great backstage stories and plenty of gritty truth about how Dave Mustaine got to where he is today. It’s a must-read for heavy metals fans. [Read more →]

Tags: Lisa Reads, books & writing
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A team of U.S. Navy SEALs huddles around a coffee urn at their firebase in Afghanistan after an exhausting firefight with the Taliban.

“How can you account for people doing something so … savage?” asks the team’s shocked and appalled medic.

“Easy,” replies the more jaded SEAL team leader. “They’re savages.”

Don Winslow’s crime thriller Savages (Simon and Schuster) opens with two words:

[Read more →]

Tags: on thrillers and crime
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Regarding John le Carre’s recent critical remarks  about fellow thriller writer Ian Fleming’s iconic character James Bond, the author of The Spy Who Came in From the Cold  and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy  is right about one thing.

Le Carre is correct in stating that the Bond films have overtaken the books. Its true that the general public’s image of the fictional secret agent is that of the often silly, superman-like film character, rather than the darker, more complex and more realistic Bond character in the novels.

Le Carre is wrong about everything else.

[Read more →]

Tags: on thrillers and crime
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I recently sent this e-mail to an automaton who works in the marketing department at the Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company:

Hi Nxxxx,

I’m writing ask if we might have an informal conversation about a marketing partnership that could, potentially, be mutually beneficial. While it might seem a bit unconventional or “outside the box,” it’s something that I’m sure has been done, and, at very least, would present the Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company with an opportunity whose risk is negligible compared to the potential reward. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, money
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As I’ve noted here before, I believe thrillers are an art form. Thrillers are like jazz to literary fiction’s classical music.

I devoured thrillers when I was a teenager and I still read and love them today.  

So I was very interested in reading Thrillers: 100 Must-Reads (Oceanview), edited by thriller writer David Morrell and critic Hank Wagner.

[Read more →]

Tags: on thrillers and crime
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Because I’ve already promised my fans (my mother, my toddler upon occasion, etc.) that my next book will be an in-depth study of American writers and their lack of integrity, I felt it was not out of character (or desperation only) to conduct an interview with a gentleman I am most grateful to for bringing my first published novel to print. So in honor of in-house propaganda everywhere—fuck it; Dan is crazy enough to throw some dollars down on my novel, so why not?—I give you an interview with life-long book guy Dan Cafaro. This October, his new imprint Atticus Books will publish its debut title, Fight for Your Long Day, and follow with fiction by Joe Zeppetello and Randall Devallance. What I like most about Dan is his unabashed love of literature; it takes courage to profess open affection for anything in these cynical times, but Dan isn’t one to hide his passion. Despite the demanding schedule of an independent press, he found time to respond to each of my prompts. Yes, at times, in excess, but that’s only because I pay by the word. You’ll learn that Dan Cafaro is a former sports journalist and bookstore owner, well read, bald, and able to add self-deprecatory humor to the mix. Not necessarily in that order. Enjoy.

Alex: You’ve worked in the book trade in many different capacities—store owner, acquisitions editor, writer, and publisher. Could you describe what you’ve enjoyed the most and liked least about your various occupations within the book business?  [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, trusted media & news
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I’ve just discovered that the third-string quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles is named Mike Kafka. It’s a tale that cannot end well. While most NFL players simply have to succeed on the field, Kafka has larger problems. 

Try as Kafka might, he cannot learn what plays the Eagles want him to run — the playbook is kept from him by mysterious authorities; despite his many inquiries he cannot find the stadium — even though he always seems about to arrive, it remains just beyond his reach; he is accused of breaking league rules, but no one will tell him what crime he has committed or how he might defend himself against the unspoken charges; Kafka is tortured by feelings of unworthiness and knows he can never measure up to his father; and despite devoting himself to his family and working himself to exhaustion to provide them with his hefty NFL paycheck, in the moment of his greatest need his own family, even his beloved sister, will wish he were dead and leave him to starve to death as he gives up on life.

(Photo from philadelphiaeagles.com)

Tags: books & writing, sports
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If you wanted to completely change the face of American politics, what would you do?  If you had nothing left to lose, what risks would you take?  In Steve Martini’s The Rule of Nine, one character decides on a dramatic plan to change the political scene for decades to come.  The Old Weatherman is dying — he has nothing left to lose, a fortune at his disposal, and an idea so crazy that it’s not on anybody’s radar.  The Rule of Nine is a great twisty, exciting, political thriller. [Read more →]

Tags: Lisa Reads, books & writing
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The other day, as I was browsing my cookbook shelf, looking for something that didn’t actually require cooking, it occurred to me that I have a lot of books there that deserve a review.  I’m a big fan of cookbooks — I like serious, gourmet recipes, ethnic choices, theme cookbooks — all kinds of cookbooks!

Rock & Roll Diner (Menus and Music) by Sharon O’Connor is an older book, but diner food is always in style.  The cookbook came as a box set with diner music!  Mustang Sally, Blueberry Hill, and Where Did Our Love Go? all remind me of those little jukeboxes you find on diner tables.  The only problem: it’s a cassette tape.  I don’t even own a tape player anymore. [Read more →]

Tags: Lisa Reads, books & writing
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I love short stories and I truly love short stories about crime.     

Back in May I wrote a column about a collection of short stories called Boston Noir. At the end of my column I asked why there was no Philly noir collection and an editor at Akashic Books subsequently informed me that a collection of Philly crime noir stories would soon be published.

So while I wait for the Philly collection, I read another one of Akashic’s noir series, Manhattan Noir 2, The Classics.

[Read more →]

Tags: on thrillers and crime
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Bryant Simon, author of Everything but the Coffee: Learning about America from Starbucks, is a history professor at Temple University in Philadelphia and has spent years researching the coffee chain and drinking coffee at Starbucks. His book focuses on just how carefully Starbucks manages its image and in-store environment.

Anyone laboring under the delusion that Starbucks exists to feed the hungry and solve the world’s problems will learn from Simon’s book that Starbucks is just a company, out to make as much money as it can by providing customers with what they want.  [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, recipes & food
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Proust’s Overcoat: The True Story of One Man’s Passion for All Things Proust is an interesting little read — a case study in obsession.  It is the story of a book lover, his connections to the Proust family, and his obsession with preserving the author’s writings and possessions.  Author Lorenza Foschini does an excellent job of pulling the threads of this story together into a fascinating — if short — read. [Read more →]

Tags: Lisa Reads, books & writing
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When it comes to talking books, I’d be hard-pressed to find a better correspondent than regular WFTC contributor Frank Wilson, who was Book Editor for the Phildelphia Inquirer for eight years … I’m looking forward to Frank’s review of these books.

“How to get boys to read?” asks this report from AP’s Leanne Italie. “Try a book on farts.”

The article goes on to report that parents — and some teachers — hope gross-out humor can close a gender gap in reading achievement. It focuses upon teacher and author Ray Sabini, who self-published SweetFarts in 2008 under the name Raymond Bean, and is set to release Sweet Farts, Rippin’ it Old-School, next month.
[Read more →]

Tags: books & writing
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I’ve been a student of crime since I was an aspiring writer growing up in South Philadelphia in the early 1960s.

My interest in crime, and my particular interest in organized crime, stems partly from my being half-Italian and my coming of age in South Philly, the hub of the Philadelphia-South Jersey Cosa Nostra organized crime family. Angelo Bruno, the long-time local mob boss, lived around the corner from my home.

[Read more →]

Tags: on thrillers and crime
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Sometimes, a book is not at all what you expected it to be. You pick up a novel for the mystery but get sucked into the romance along the way, or a piece of historical fiction turns out to be more educational than any college textbook. Of course, this can also be disappointing, as in the case of Refuge on Crescent Hill by Melanie Dobson. The blurb didn’t mention that this was Christian fiction, which is usually a red flag for me. I am sure there are some great writers in the genre, but in everything I have run into so far, the plot is far less important than the moral the writer wants to convey. In this case, we have the seed of a good story that never really blossoms into a great book. [Read more →]

Tags: Lisa Reads, books & writing
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A page from Malcolm Gladwell’s moleskine:

I haven’t slept for days. No idea when I last ate. My mind is on fire. Synthesizing all that data has turned my head into a furnace. Seriously, my ears feel hot. Correction: my hair is on fire. I must have nodded off on the stove again. It looks like my snap decision to work in the kitchen today was one of those snap decisions with adverse effects. Which only confirms my thesis: Sometimes the decisions made in the blink of an eye have positive outcomes, though, in certain cases, the outcome is negative. That’s the “50/50 Effect.”

Or consider it this way:

[Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, race & culture
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Dear Diary,

Today I started reading Eclipse. This was after I told myself I was not going to read any of the books in the Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer. I’m a thirty-(cough)-year-old woman, and not a twelve year old girl. I’m too mature to be reading this, right? But I read Twilight and New Moon, and now I’m reading Eclipse. And I really don’t like reading it because it’s taking up my whole day and I can’t get anything done. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, ends & odd
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… Thomas M. Disch, the great and too much unsung author of The Genocides, Camp Concentration and 334 who on this day two years ago declared his own independence from a  world he could no longer endure by opening up his skull with a liberating blast from a gun.

Mr. Disch, your prose was pure, joyous darkness and your poetry was damn fine too. I still visit the ghost ship you left us from time to time.

Rest in peace.

Tags: art & entertainment, books & writing
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Last year, I wrote a piece here called “The Future of Literary Fiction” , which included a list of authors that I regularly search for at Amazon.com for their upcoming novels or short story collections. In essence, it’s a personal version, exclusive of age or nationality, of other recent attempts to list the best writers of fiction. I referenced the list of authors in the 1999 “Future of American Fiction” issue of The New Yorker, which has held up extremely well. Now, TNY has published a new list of “20 under 40″, which doesn’t pretend to be a “best of” list as much as a grouping of representative voices for our current culture. This has generated a number of alternate lists, including this one at The Guardian of British authors and this tiresome and nearly incoherent screed by Lee Siegel in The Observer informing us that fiction is dead. Nonsense. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, now read this!
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On Saturday I was walking with my 7-year-old son in the parking lot of a pool club. On the gravel-grass hill was a small purse, not really a purse but a small vinyl bag with a zipper. It looked a little like a pencil case kids use in school and was brown and had a paisley pattern. It is the sort of thing one brings to a pool when one doesn’t want to bring a pocketbook. My arms were full with pool gear, so I told my son to pick it up. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, family & parenting
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The Killing of Mindi Quintana presents a scenario we see in the newspapers every day: a murder has occurred, and the press is far more concerned with the murderer than the victim.  The accused gets to make his or her case to the press; he turns up on Larry King or Oprah, interviews present them in the best possible light and reporters are willing to kiss up to a killer for a chance at an exclusive or a book deal.  Defense attorneys use the media to try their case before the accused ever sets foot in a courtroom and district attorneys use high-profile cases to launch political careers.  Lost in all this is the victim; if they are mentioned at all, it is only when some lurid detail from their past is dredged.  But what if someone decided they weren’t going to play the game? That’s the case study Jeffrey A. Cohen presents in his first novel. [Read more →]

Tags: Lisa Reads, books & writing
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In My Little Chickadee the late, great comedian W.C. Fields played a wily card sharp.

In this classic comedy film an eager sucker sees Fields spreading cards across a table and asks excitedly, “Is this a game of chance?”

“Not the way I play it, no,” was Fields’ classic answer. [Read more →]

Tags: on thrillers and crime
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Angel and Apostle takes up the story of Hester Prynne and her illegitimate daughter, Pearl, and fills in the gaps left in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter.  At the end of the earlier novel, Hester and Pearl leave Boston and no one knows of their whereabouts.  Years later, Hester returns to Boston alone, still wearing her scarlet A. There are occasional letters from Pearl, who is married and living in Europe, and Hester lives out the remainder of her life alone.  Such a cheerful story, and one that infuriated all my budding feminist sensibilities as a teenager.  Why did Hester bear her burden alone?  Why didn’t she publicly declaim them — the man who dishonored her and the husband who abandoned her?  I’ve still got no satisfactory answers to those questions, but Deborah Noyes has given us the tale of Pearl’s childhood and marriage. [Read more →]

Tags: Lisa Reads, books & writing
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John Timoney, the man Esquire magazine called “America’s Top Cop,’ has written a book about his experiences commanding police forces in New York City, Philadelphia and Miami. The book is called Beat Cop to Top Cop: A Tale of Three Cities (University of Penn Press).

[Read more →]

Tags: on thrillers and crime
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In Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen, an unhappy woman makes an impulsive decision that leads to tragedy.  Stranded, cold and in danger, she has plenty of time to contemplate the choices that lead her here.  Pretty standard stuff, really, as far as mysteries go.  Luckily, Ice Cold has a handful of plot twists that keep the story moving along.  Good beach reading, when you need to cool off a little. [Read more →]

Tags: Lisa Reads, books & writing
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I love a good memoir! I tend not to enjoy celebrity memoirs as much as I do those books written by relatively ordinary folks who have lived really interesting lives. I’ve reviewed a number of them over the last few years, but The Bucolic Plague is by far the funniest — from the title, which would have made me pick it up all on its own, to Josh’s thanks to Martha Stewart in the Acknowledgments. I started out marking funny passages that I might want to share in this review, but the book quickly became a forest of pink and green Post-It flags.

The names of some characters have been changed, and some are composites of various people, experiences and conversations I had then. If you think that’s unfair, you’ve obviously never lived in a small town and written a memoir about your neighbors.

[Read more →]

Tags: Lisa Reads, books & writing
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