JR: There seems to be a kind of wild kinetic energy to Mr. Peanut, the debut novel coming this summer from Knopf. The author, Adam Ross is no where to be seen in these pages, which always signals to me that the trick has been achieved, there is no reveal, the illusion is complete, because you’re only watching the characters that all seem to be present, like they could be your next door neighbors, standing right next to you in line at the train station. I didn’t read any cliché’s in this novel; the dialogue is crisp, so much so, that I was emailing snippets of it to friends and co-workers as
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DH: It looks like I’m going to be snowed in this weekend. But next to my laptop is a collection of dark stories called Phoenix Noir from Akashic Books that I’m very eager to get to. It’s part of this notable pub’s series of original noir anthologies set in distinctive neighborhoods.
It got me thinking that NYC and London aren’t considered regions. They’re cosmopolitan centers where most of the media and opinion-making talking heads reside.
My favorite NYC park is the elevated High Line. On the westward side of this north/south running ribbon park is the east bank of the Hudson River. That’s the right side, the Manhattan side. Everything on the west bank side of the Hudson is a region.
But regional
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JC: We’re all very well aware that every newspaper, magazine, blog and website is seemingly required to list their 10 or 15, or whatever number of “best books” of the year. I guess this is kind of like that, but somewhat more amorphous. I don’t know if these are the best, and I’m not asking the guys for a specific number (hell, they don’t even have to be from 2009 – we’re rule-breakers here), but here are a few of the books I’m particularly glad to have read this year, that may or may not have been mentioned here on the blog.
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