Stephen White - Alan Gregory discussion

Here's an idea from Laurel, our group member who was wondering if anyone would be interested in reading one of the 2010 Edgar nominees for either a group read or a side read.

so, rather than do a nomination process, lets just discuss and see if we can agree on a title to read. We can read another title in Summer, Fall, etc if people are interested. The Edgar Nominee Group Read would be in addition to the regular Spring Group Read. If we need to, we can put some titles on a poll to decide too. Thanks - here's the nominees:

2010

Best Novel:
· The Missing by Tim Gautreaux
· The Odds by Kathleen George
· The Last Child by John Hart
· The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston
· Nemesis by Jo Nesbø, translated by Don Bartlett
· A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn


Best First Novel by an American Author:
· The Girl She Used to Be by David Cristofano
· Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley
· The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf
· A Bad Day for Sorry by Sophie Littlefield
· Black Water Rising by Attica Locke
· In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff


Best Paperback Original:
· Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott
· Havana Lunar by Robert Arellano
· The Lord God Bird by Russell Hill
· Body Blows by Marc Strange
· The Herring-Seller’s Apprentice by L.C. Tyler

Should I have heard of any of these books?

Maybe I have been living under a rock. I go to the book store fairly often. Too offten.

But none of these sound at all familiar to me.

Admittedly I probably wouldn't have heard of any of the authors in the latter two groups but I have only heard of one of the authors in the first group and none of these books.

Not to say that one or another of them might be okay to read.

Bookreporter.com featured The Weight of Silence as one of their Best Bets, and I have heard from others that it is very good. That web page also reviewed a couple of the other books, The Last Child, and The Missing. Otherwise I have not heard of any of these books, either, Jan. I did just read a different book by Charlie Huston, titled Sleepless, and it was quite different, an alternative history set in LosAngeles, in present day, but with an epidemic of sleeplessness causing societal collapse. I am not sure if that is his usual type of book or not, so don't know about this one. But I am interested in this idea of also reading one of these nominated titles.

OK, having a few minutes to spare this morning I actually looked some of these titles up. And from the descriptions and the ratings most of them sound pretty good. Even the Charlie Huston doesn't sound all that wierd.

But there are also a couple that got low ratings from other GR folks. And one (Nemesis) is the fourth in a series from a Scandinavian writer.

I usually try to read a few of the nominees each year. If, as in the case of Nemesis, a book isn't the 1st in a series and if it looks interesting, I'll start at the beginning of the series and read the first. Most of the time I haven't heard of any of the nominees, but that's what makes it exciting for me. I look at readers' reviews, too, to see if I want to read one.

I wouldn't mind checking out Jo Nesbo's series. I am totally into reading some of the works from Scandinavia. Wall Street Journal did a great article not too long ago on mystery writers from there. I will see if I can find a link to it and get back to you.

I have heard of only a few titles here too but I am always open to new sources for books to read. It requires a little research on our part to weed out what is good and what is not so good. I trust what other GR folks have to say about some of the titles and believe that it is a good place to start

Here is the link to the article I mentioned above:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001...

Its called "The Strange Case of the Nordic Detectives" by Laura Miller and it was in the Wall Street Journal on 1/15/2010

Enjoy!

I just ordered a copy of the first in the Nesbo series today, Christine. I have a couple of the others on my Kindle, The Missing, The Weight of Silence, and In the Shadow of Gotham.

Thanks for the link. A coworker is a huge Henning Mankell fan and I requested Faceless from the library this a.m. I'm forwarding her the link; she'll enjoy it.

I have The Weight of Silence too. My husband really likes Henning Mankell and I have been reading Stieg Larsson's trilogy as has everyone else. I also have read Arnaldur Indridason's Voices but you might want to take an anti-depressant and move any sharp objects away from you before you read him. While the book is good, his main character is rather glum but I was not put off enough to stop reading the series and have added Silence of the Grave to my "to read" pile. They take place in Reykjavik (Iceland).

There sooo many good books out there and not enough time to read!!!!!

Christine, thanks for the link. I read the first book in Karin Fossum's series, set in Norway, a couple of months ago, and just started the second in the series, He Who Fears the Wolf; the first was pretty good, and I have also read reviews that tout the Indridason series that starts with Jar City. I want to read the Weight of Silence, but am open to any of these titles.

I've wanted to read Jar City for a long time. I'm open to reading any of these titles, too.

sorry I haven't gotten around to weighing in on these titles before now. I'm looking at them now - here's the ones I like:

In the Shadow of Gotham
The Weight of Silence
The Last Child
Nemesis
Starvation Lake: A Mystery
Black Water Rising

None of the paperback ones interested me - That God Bird one was sounded ultra-weird!

Dustin, the titles you picked are pretty consistent with my top choices as well. I guess if I put mine in order of preference they would be:
The Weight of Silence
In the Shadow on Gotham
A Beautiful Place to Die
Starvation Lake
Black Water Rising
The Missing
The Last Child
But as I said before, I am open to reading any of the titles, if one of the others is the choice of the group.

I'm gonna do a poll to choose which Edgar nominee we'll read first. If anyone else wants to mention titles they are most interested in - please do it soon :-) The poll will consist of any Edgar nominees that were mentioned by more than one group member :-)
I think we'll plan on the same time-frame as our other group read: April-June.

The only ones that sounded at all interesting to me were

In the Shadow of Gotham
Starvation Lake
Bury Me Deep

Thanks Jan :-) I'm seeing several people mentioning the same titles - I think we're getting closer to narrowing this down :-) We can read another one in the Summer.

I'm up for reading whatever you all decide!

Christine wrote: "I'm up for reading whatever you all decide!"

What a great attitude :-) I'll probably get the poll up sometime on Monday for Edgar Nominees. The regular spring read poll is ending tonight - looks like Await Your Reply is gonna win.

I'll read any of them also. Aren't we a cooperative group?! Perhaps we could work our way through all of the ones we share an interest in?! LOL! Now I'm getting carried away.

I think we may be on our way to that! hahaha

I'll get working on that poll :-) either tonight (Monday) or tomorrow (Tuesday)

Okay, the poll is now ready with 10 titles to choose from :-) I've set the poll to end on the early morning of the 20th, so vote soon and we'll do a tie-breaker poll if necessary. Thanks.

Anyone interested in trying this again? Which ones are you most interested in? Here's the list of Edgar Nominees:

Mystery Writers of America is proud to announce on the 202nd anniversary of the birth of Edgar
Allan Poe, its Nominees for the 2011 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction,
non-fiction and television published or produced in 2010. The Edgar® Awards will be presented to the
winners at our 65th Gala Banquet, April 28, 2011 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City.

BEST NOVEL
Caught by Harlan Coben (Penguin Group USA - Dutton)
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
Faithful Place by Tana French (Penguin Group USA - Viking)
The Queen of Patpong by Timothy Hallinan (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton (Minotaur/Thomas Dunne Books)
I’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman (HarperCollins – William Morrow)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
Rogue Island by Bruce DeSilva (Tom Doherty Associates – Forge Books)
The Poacher’s Son by Paul Doiron (Minotaur Books)
The Serialist: A Novel by David Gordon (Simon & Schuster)
Galveston by Nic Pizzolatto (Simon & Schuster - Scribner)
Snow Angels by James Thompson (Penguin Group USA – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
Long Time Coming by Robert Goddard (Random House - Bantam)
The News Where You Are by Catherine O’Flynn (Henry Holt)
Expiration Date by Duane Swierczynski (Minotaur Books)
Vienna Secrets by Frank Tallis (Random House Trade Paperbacks)
Ten Little Herrings by L.C. Tyler (Felony & Mayhem Press)

I've read "Caught", "Faithful Place" and "The Serialist".

I've read none of them but heard of a few of them :-)

I'm reading I'd Know You Anywhere. It is one of Laura Lippman's stand alones.

I'm still reading Tana French's first book, In the Woods.

I thought "Faithful Place" was the weakest of the French books but still a decent read. "In The Woods" and "The Likeness" were great books.

I want to read In the Woods, I hear its excellent.

Christine wrote: "I want to read In the Woods, I hear its excellent."

I really am enjoying it. Not sure why I waited so long to get to it. I think I thought it was a romance or something. It isn't.

I'm the same with you. In the Woods has been sitting in my TBR pile forever. I've vowed to not buy any books for a while in order to make that pile a little more manageable. I've made it almost a month!

In the Woods is on my to read list as well, and the library should have it for me soon. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter is on my list as well, and the reviews of it sound pretty good. And I am also waiting for The News Where You Are, so any of those would be my first choices. But I am up for another group read, and could go for any title that others would decide on.

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter has been on my TBR since I first heard about it. I'm up for a group read, too.

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't checked in for a while. I must have missed the email and didn't catch up with the posts. Anyone still want to read one of those titles? I can do a poll and try to get our group some activity again.

I'm still up for a group read, several of these titles appeal to me, and would go with whatever was chosen.

I'm reading In the Woods now. I'm also still reading In the Shadow of Gotham.

I'll try to get a poll going around the first of the month with titles people have mentioned.

btw, if anyone is interested in being co-moderator in this group and helping set up group reads just let me know. I moderate 4 groups and I can't keep up with all of them.

Okay, I'm working on creating a poll which will feature 3 books: Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, The News Where You Are and In the Woods

In the Woods isn't actually an Edgar Nominee but people were more interested than the book by French that was, so it will be included :-) All group members will get an invite to take the poll which will run through the weekend.