Macavity Awards 2009 Nominees

Heads up for mystery/suspense lovers looking for good reads!
The following mystery works have been nominated for the Macavity Awards 2009. Members and subscribers to the Mystery Readers Journal will be considering the following nominees:

Best Mystery Novel

Trigger City by Sean Chercover (Wm. Morrow)
Where Memories Lie by Deborah Crombie (Wm. Morrow)
The Dying Breed (UK)/ The Price of Blood (US) by Declan Hughes (John Murray/ Wm. Morrow)
The Draining Lake by Arnaldur Indridason (Minotaur)
Curse of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz (Simon & Schuster)
The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
The Fault Tree by Louise Ure (Minotaur)

Best First Mystery

Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (Knopf)
Death of a Cozy Writer by G.M. Malliet (Midnight Ink)
Calumet City by Charlie Newton (Simon & Schuster)
An Innocent Client by Scott Pratt (Onyx)
A Carrion Death by Michael Stanley (Harper; Headline)
The Blood Detective by Dan Waddell (Minotaur)

Best Nonfiction/Critical

African American Mystery Writers: A Historical & Thematic Study by Frankie Y. Bailey (McFarland)
Hard-Boiled Sentimentality: The Secret History of American Crime Stories by Leonard Cassuto (Columbia Univ.)
How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries by Kathy Lynn Emerson (Perseverance Press)
Scene of the Crime: The Importance of Place in Crime and Mystery Fiction by David Geherin (McFarland)
Edgar Allan Poe : An Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories by Harry Lee Poe (Metro)
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective by Kate Summerscale (Walker)

Best Mystery Short Story

"The Night Things Changed" by Dana Cameron (Wolfsbane & Mistletoe, ed. by Harris & Kelner, Penguin)
"A Sleep Not Unlike Death" by Sean Chercover (Hardcore Hardboiled, ed. by Todd Robinson, Kensington)
"Keeping Watch Over His Flock" by Toni L. P. Kelner (Wolfsbane & Mistletoe, ed. by Harris & Kelner, Penguin)
"Scratch a Woman" by Laura Lippman (Hardly Knew Her, Wm. Morrow)
"Between the Dark and the Daylight" by Tom Piccirilli (EQMM, Sep/Oct 2008)

Sue Feder Memorial Historical Mystery

A Royal Pain by Rhys Bowen (Berkley)
Stealing Trinity by Ward Larsen (Oceanview)
The Whiskey Rebels by David Liss (Thorndike/ Random House UK)
Veil of Lies by Jeri Westerson (Minotaur)
Company of Liars by Karen Maitland (Michael Joseph/ Delacorte)
Nox Dormienda by Kelli Stanley (Five Star)

Awards will be presented in October at the Bouchercon conference in Indianapolis.
For information, contact Janet Rudolph, Editor, Mystery Readers Journal
email: janet@mysteryreaders.org

Heartfelt Award

Thanks to Tea Norman of Summer Travel and Read for the Heartfelt Award. I love getting awards from blogger readers and friends. Thanks much, Tea.

And thanks to Michael of A Few Minutes With Michael for the Let's Be Friends award! Love the colors in this award!

Update: Sept. 9 and 10

Thanks to Tea again and to Vicki of Reading at the Beach for the Who Loves You Baby award!

Japanese Literature Challenge 3

Wish I had more time to read contemporary Japanese writers. Now is my chance. Join me in the third challenge to read books of Japanese origin. You will have from July 30, 2009 to Jan. 30, 2010. The rules are from Dolce Bellezza, who sponsors the challenge.

"All you have to do is read one work of Japanese origin. It can be literature of course, but don’t feel confined to that. You may choose to read poetry, biographies, short stories or even manga. If you are willing to read one such piece, you’ve met the challenge. If you read more, all the better."

Please check her website, Japanese Literature Challenge 3 for the details, and the list of very nice prizes!

Here is a review of The Housekeeper and the Professor by Ogawa and a review of After Dark, a favorite of mine by Haruki Murakami.

I plan to read:
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: A Novel by Haruki Murakami, literary fiction
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami, literary fiction
The Devil's Whisper by Miyuki Miyabe, a mystery
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto, literary fiction

(Challenge photo is by Tanabata from In Spring It is the Dawn)

Women Read More Than Men: Research Report for Book Industry

Bowker Publishes First Consumer-Focused Research Report for Book Industry

The article in Earth Times gives us a brief summary of the report: women read more than men, though men were catching up in 2008. Mystery books are most popular with book clubs.

An excerpt from the Earth Times article:

"According to Gallagher, some of the detailed insights contained in the new report include the following:


-- 57% of book buyers are women yet women purchase 65% of the books sold
in the U.S.
-- Mystery books are the most popular genre for book club sales, with 17%
of all purchases of mystery books coming directly from book clubs
-- Generation X consumers buy more books online than any other
demographic group, with 30% of them buying their books through the Internet
-- 21% of book buyers said they became aware of a book through some sort
of online promotion or ad
-- Women made the majority of the purchases in the paperback, hardcover
and audio-book segments, but men accounted for 55% of e-book purchases"

Evidently the report, "2008 U.S. Book Consumer Demographics and Buying Behaviors Annual Report," for those of us who might think of buying it, costs $999.00, with a 10% discount for orders made by July 31.

Interesting comments on this report by blogger: Straight From Hel

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Not even a "Woof"? Or would that be a Bleet?

Tuesday Teaser: Hell Hath No Curry by Tamar Myers

TEASER TUESDAYS is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading. Choose two sentences from your current read, and add the author and title for readers. Anyone can join in.

"Again I looked at my image in the mirror, this time with open eyes - well, one open eye. 'Oh, my heavens, oh, my stars,' I said, feeling faint."

from Hell Hath No Curry by Tamar Myers.

Who and where am I?
Magdalena Yoder owns a Mennonite inn in Pennsylvania. She solves crimes (and writes recipes) in all the books she is in. Hell Hath No Curry is the 15th in the comedy-mystery series by Tamar Myers.

Lost in Translation 2009 Reading Challenge: Update

Lost in Translation Book Challenge was hosted by Nonesuch Book.

Click on the titles below to see my reviews:

1. Tokyo Fiancee by Amelie Nothomb, translated from the French.

2. Real World by Natsuo Kirino, translated from the Japanese.

3. Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, translated from the Spanish.

4. Andean Express, translated from the Spanish.

5. The Housekeeper and the Professor, translated from the Japanese.


6. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, translated from the French.

7.Tao Te Ching translated from the Chinese.

I hope to finish up with The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Murakami, translated from the Japanese.