Robert Girardi, author of among others Madeline's Ghost and The Pirate's Daughter, has another one out now, titled Gorgeous East, about, of all things you don't hear about anymore, the French Foreign Legion. A good read, like most of his. I always remember both Beau Geste and The Last Remake of Beau Geste. Also, the library at one time had a copy of Morocco on VHS, had Gary Cooper and Marlene Dietrich in it.

For an interesting, semi-cozy light mystery, read The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by C. Alan Bradley. The narrator is a ten-year old English girl but don't let this put you off. It's a fairly complex mystery, with good pacing. Heard the author is going to write more in this series, hope that's right.

Other adult British books with non-adult narrators; Black Swan Green by David Mitchell; The Dead Fathers Club by Matt Haig; When We Were Romans by Matthew Kneale; and of course the immortal Adrian Mole series by Sue Townsend, beginning with The Diary of Adrian Mole Age 13 1/2. The speakers vary in age but all of these books are well worth your time.

John Grisham just published a book of his first short stories, Ford County, written about the same time as A Time To Kill, his first book. These are as good as anything he's written (they still, obviously, have the flavor of his earlier stuff - not trying to write a spy novel or anything).

Pete Dexter, author of Paris Trout and Train, has got a new one out, titled Spooner ; I've just gotten through the first couple of chapters but I can tell it's going to be another winner.

Also, feminist author Marilyn French has written a semi-autobiographical novel about the Sixties and early Seventies titled The Love Children. The opening line quotes a Hemingway short story; "In the fall the war was always there but we did not go to it anymore". Makes me want to read this book and Hemingway again.

New World Monkeys by Nancy Mauro -- a debut novel, very good and different - everyone's actions are unpredictable. Non-formulaic is what I mean. ("Everyone" is mainly the couple at the center of the novel, Lily and Duncan).

There is a new book out by a first time author named Steve Hely, titled "How I Became a Famous Novelist" which is very funny and revealing about publishing as a business. The title is fairly self-explanatory. A good precursor to this is About the Author by John Colapinto, mentioned much earlier in this blog.

Jim Carroll died last week. He was only 60, but I guess that's a good run considering where he was coming from. His Basketball Diaries revealed a whole new world to me when I read it in undergrad. They made a movie out of it with Leonardo DiCaprio rather clumsily cast in the lead. JC himself had a bit part doing his song/poem People Who Died. Both worth accessing.

May Contain Nuts by John O'Farrell, subtitled A Novel of Extreme Parenting. A light funny novel along the lines of Alison Pearson's I Dont Know How She Does It. Glad to see this craziness isn't confined to Americans

Back now, after a 6-week bout with flu/cold/sinusitis. Jean Thompson, mentioned earlier as the author of Throw Like a Girl, has a new book of short stories out, Do Not Deny Me, that are so good you read the whole book straight on through, just like a novel.

Next, The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker, a nice book concerning a man who is trying to write an introduction to an anthology of poetry. It's taking a little longer than he thought, not only because of life problems (stalled career, girlfriend left him) but because he wants to put in everything he knows about writing poetry -- wonderful secrets and tips and tricks, the truth about iambic pentameter, why rhyme goes in and out of style, etc.

Finally, a goldie oldie, Cathedrals of Kudzu, Hal Crowther's collection of articles subtitled "a personal landscape of the South". For admirers of Deal Mule and StorySouth. In it he mentions "a town so backward the Episcopalians handled snakes". 'Nuff said.

More memoirs: The Center of the Universe by Nancy Bachrach. About dealing with her bipolar mother, sad but funny too, similar to I'm Looking Through You: Growing up Haunted. (The center of the universe is her mother) .

I like memoirs as much as I like pure fiction, and a good one out now is Closing Time by Joe Queenan. Father was a mean drunk, grew up on and off welfare, but lacks the self-dramatizing, how-I-been-done-wrong-all-my-life tone of many of these efforts. A good, fast read, and funny in a lot of places.

A new writer named Albert Sanchez has a book out titled Pandora in the Congo, which is very good and readable even after it goes off into a semi-science-fiction tangent (I don't read science fiction much).

Little Bee (by Chris Cleave) was just as good as I thought it would be. (You can read part of it online).
Also, the new writer Gillian Flynn has a new book out called Dark Places. Her first one, Sharp Objects, was a little strained, but with this one she really hits her stride. It sounds like horror or true crime but isn't really, and its very good.

Jane Hamilton has a new book out, "Laura Rider's Masterpiece", about a love triangle between a woman, her husband, and a woman she wishes she was best friends with. The twist is the affair is known to, and practically orchestrated by, the first woman (who wants to be a writer, hence the title). Hamilton specializes in putting the typical American family into strange situations.

I was reminded just recently of the writer Jerzey Kosinski - the reference was to Being There, but his best book was The Painted Bird, about an abandoned orphan in Russia leading up to WWII. This is outsider fiction the way art brut is outsider art. Kosinski got into some trouble later on in his career, after he got successful enough to excite envy I suppose. In any case, for the umpteenth time, YOU CANNOT COPYRIGHT A PLOT !!!

More nonfiction; Mop Men: Inside the World of Crime Scene Cleaners by Alan Emmins. Emmins took a job with a company that does just what the title says. Not for the squeamish, but interesting.

For nonfiction, Jennifer Finley Boylan has written a memoir called "I'm Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted", which covers both haunted houses and transgenderism intelligently and amusingly (Jennifer used to be James). I would put this in the same category with Running With Scissors.

Chris Cleave wrote a very good book (that actually came out some time ago) about the Al-Queda bombings in London called Incendiary, where the narrator is the wife and mother of two of the victims. Survivor fiction - I should have mentioned it before, it was a very good book. Anyway, he has a new one coming out called Little Bee ; a complete change of venue since the narrator is a little girl from Nigeria. Nigeria being what it is, I suspect this is still survivor fiction.

A debut novel by a writer named Josh Brazell titled "Beat The Reaper" is out now and anyone who enjoys thrillers should read it. The plot would sound overdone if I described it but give it a try and I promise you won't regret it.

I want to reiterate my recommend for Wally Lamb's "The Hour I First Believed", even if you don't get to any of his others, read that one.

For non-fiction recs, be sure you read Agnes Humbert's "Resistance" about her experiences in wartime France and later a concentration camp. Tells the story and still very very readable.

Finally, there has been a spate of good British books lately; Kate Atkinson's "When Will There Be Good News?" ( all of Kate Atkinson's books are recommends); Phillip Hensher's "The Northern Clemency"; and Catherine O'Flynn's "What Was Lost".