I am please to announce the first in what I hope to be an ongoing series of blog entries regarding the 2008 summer reading habits of authors, bloggers, and critics I have across on my travels. In other words, I'm getting not much done on the writing front, so this might make me feel like I'm getting something done. I kid. I hope that the series will remind you (and myself) of some of the fantastic literature that's available, as well as draw attention to some works you might not have considered before.
Our first participant is the award-winning Canadian author Andrew Pyper. Andrew is on the cusp of releasing his fourth novel The Killing Circle, which I am currently reading and currently loving. It is a fantastic thriller, and a biting look at literary types to boot. Don't miss this one, I'm serious.
From Andrew's website:
Andrew Pyper was born in Stratford, Ontario, in 1968. He received a B.A. and an M.A. in English Literature from McGill University in Montreal, as well as a law degree from the University of Toronto. Although called to the bar in 1996, he has never practiced.And here's what Andrew has to say about his upcoming summer choices:
His first novel, Lost Girls, was a national bestseller in Canada and a Globe and Mail Notable Book selection in 1999 as well as a Notable Book selection in the New York Times Book Review (2000) and the London Evening Standard (2000). The novel won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel and is an Otto Penzler pick on Amazon.com. Andrew is attached as screenwriter for a feature film adaptation of Lost Girls, working with producer Steven Hoban (Ginger Snaps, Oscar-winner Ryan, Splice).
Andrew's second novel, The Trade Mission, was selected by The Toronto Star as one of the Ten Best Books of the Year. His third novel, The Wildfire Season, was a Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year and has been published to acclaim in the U.K., Canada, U.S. and Holland. The Wildfire Season is currently in development for feature film with L.A.-based producer Chris Moore (Good Will Hunting, American Pie).
He lives in Toronto.
Here's what having a 21-month-old daughter (and the shortened hours that has come with her arrival) has done to my reading strategies: (almost) no more magazines (and definitely no texty ones, ie. The New Yorker, Harpers, etc.), an even greater liberty to quit books that don't get off the ground in the first 50 to 100 pages, a newfound appreciation of mass market paperbacks (they can fit in the pockets of my shorts), a fiercer-then-ever aversion to the "duty read." The result has been a more focused - but more pleasurable - reading life. We're going away to a cabin in Quebec for a couple weeks, and though our daughter will be with us, I am hoping for stolen naptimes for books. The pile, at the moment, includes:Thanks, Andrew! I've been meaning to pick up the Chabon, I think I'll put that on my TBR Summer list.
1 comment:
The Chabon is great and a good summer read.
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