Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Finally...


It has been quite some time since I have posted and I apologize. Life and work simply caught up with me. However, I am back.


Some books you simply must read in 2010:


Tomorrow by Philip Wylie (University of Nebraska Press): Wylie is considered one of the kings of science fiction and this book supports that. A story of a typical American Midwestern city during Christmas, the plot takes on a nightmarish one when Condition Red is sounded and hysteria rears its ugly head. A metaphor for the American obsession with technology and fear of terrorism, this book is a must read.


The Lie by Petra Hammesfahr (Bitter Lemon Press): Hammesfahr is considered the German Patricia Highsmith; her work is suspense at its best. Two women with remarkable physical similarities switch lives for what is supposed to be one weekend...their scheme soon turns into a deceitful game that neither can walk away from alive.


The Semantics of Murder by Aifric Campbell (Serpent's Tail): Based upon the true story of the 1971 murder of UCLA Professor Robert Montague, Campbell creates a remarkable read of literary fiction with a frightening theme.


Thursday Night Widows by Claudia Pinero (Bitter Lemon Press): A prize winner and soon to be film, this Argentinian novel uses three murders as the basis to tell a story about living beyond your means, living to impress and life without concern for others.


The Passport by Herta Muller: Muller, the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2009, tells an incredible story of Germans caught in Romania during the dictatorship of Ceausescu. This is the book that every human being must read this year.