With less than two months to go until movie Part 1 of the last book in the Harry Potter series is released, a new trailer has come out that shows some great new scenes. I especially liked the snapshot of everyone transformed into Harry for their escape from the Dursley’s house at the beginning of the book. The scene of the wedding was also particularly haunting. Can’t wait for November 19th!
National Book Festival is this Weekend!
The National Book Festival is this coming Saturday on the National Mall. Sadly I will not be around to check it out, but for all those in the DC area, there will be lots of great authors there (including Diana Gabaldon & Suzanne Collins – two of my favorites). The festival runs from 10AM to 5:30PM.
Out – Natsuo Kirino September 13, 2010
I picked up this book at a bookstore in San Francisco on a table of Asian fiction. I am slowly planning a trip to Japan (hopefully early next year) so my next two book reviews concern Japanese writers/stories. Out is translated from the original Japanese so I was expecting it to be a bit disjointed (lit in translation is never as good as the original). Fortunately, I think the English translation actually added to the curt, matter of fact, impersonal writing that characterizes crime fiction (and Japanese fiction in general).
Out reminded me of a Japanese version of the Maltese Falcon/The Big Sleep and I ended up absolutely loving it. The story focuses on 4 women, all in very different situations, who come together to work the night shift at a boxed lunch factory. A murder brings them together and the story is characterized by violence and the seedy yakuza (Japanese gangsters) that inhabit the underbelly of Japanese society. One of the reasons I enjoyed it so much is that the story could easily have taken place in any factory outside any US city.
This book is incredibly violent, so skip this one if you have a weak stomach. For some reason, I have an easier time reading about violence then seeing it (one of my favorite books to this day is Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, if you haven’t read it, get a copy!). I have no problem reading the gory parts of the Sookie Stackhouse series but have not yet been able to get through the first episode of the series True Blood (based on Charlaine Harris’s books). I guess the violence I picture in my head is more of a cartoon version than the violence depicted on TV.
While on my Japan book binge I also purchased Japanland which I will hopefully be writing a review about soon.
*Image taken from the Rice Cracker Review*
Suzanne Collins Book Signing in DC!
Suzanne Collins will be visiting Politics & Prose to sign copies of her newest book in the Hunger Games trilogy (Mockingjay – review to be posted soon) the afternoon of September 23rd. I am a huge Suzanne Collins fan but sadly have to work from 3-4:30 on Thursdays so I will be missing this book signing.
Also think it is a little strange that she suffers from hand strain and thus will be stamping the books instead of signing them…. I guess when your books are as good as hers are you can get away with ridiculousness like that.
Flourish & Blotts Book News 