An impeccably edited crime novel—I hope!
This takes him back to his youthful past as a small-time cocaine dealer, and naturally he can't remember how he got all this money, a fine house and sports car, and a beautiful girlfriend—or why someone wants him dead. This is a thriller, a kind of time-travel book, a story about the sometimes humorous confrontation between selves, a bit of a satire of adverting.
Professional ethics prevent me from reviewing the book formally, but I hope that it reads well, that it has few or no typographical errors, and that its punctuation is impeccable.
***
In a Heartbeat is published by Hersilia Press, specialists in English translations of Italian crime fiction. Hersilia earlier published Giorgio Scerbanenco's A Private Venus, the event of the year in translated crime writing.© Peter Rozovsky 2012
Labels: Hersilia Press, Italy, Sandrone Dazieri
posted by Peter Rozovsky at 11:07 PM
20 Comments:
This sounds very intriguing and will surely be high on my TBR list.
I love your comment about impeccable punctuation. I think we both realize that proper punctuation is a moving target, one that is changing through the years (and, for example, through the English-speaking countries, which is exemplified by the fuss over the Oxford comma). Just as spelling and grammar constantly evolve, punctuation changes; our rules are different from our great-great grandparents' rules, and those rules were different from . . . well, you get the idea. If you doubt the mutability of punctuation, you should read some of my students end-of-term essays.
CORRECTION: Make that "students'" rather than "students" -- which was, of course, typical of a student error.
Sean, that press issues some interesting books. Put the book high on your to-buy-yourself-for-Christmas list.
R.T., I didn't know the Oxford comma had a name. My newspaper has recently gone over to it for lack of anything better to do.
I occasionally wish for a punctuation mark intermediate in effect between a semicolon and a comma. And I know punctuation is mutable. Mediocre writers' annoying passion for semicolons has gradually yielded to an annoying passing for em dashes.
Ah, those pesky dashes and semicolons. Yes, semicolons are an epidemic, especially in student writing; when some students first discovers the semicolon's utility, those students embrace the semicolon with a fervor that borders on pathological attachment. As for the dash, I blame Emily Dickinson--and I have nothing more to say on that issue. Parentheses are also too frequently used (especially by lazy writers who can think of no other way to include nonrestrictive clauses that should have been distinguished by commas at the borders).
A punctuation mark is not a toy, dammit!
Yikes, have I offended?
Ha! No, I agree with you completely. The message is one your students and my reporters need to get!
So, here is a question for you: How is it you work as a copy editor (right?) and still have so much time for blogging activity? Until this week, I have been spending so much time in classrooms and in my office (later grading papers) that I am envious of your flexibility. I note also that some professional writers--who will remain nameless here--also seem to spend a lot of time in the blogging world, which makes me wonder when they have time for writing their next novels.
Hey, I'm just wondering.
And, before anyone quibbles about either my punctuation or my syntax, please be advised that I am very careless as a writer on blog sites. My students would enjoy the irony--if they understood irony.
I neglect domestic responsibilites, take sick days when I am not really ill...that kind of thing.
No, what I do is simply blog during my spare time, even in cafes and bars.
I have a colleague who teaches a journalism course at a local university. He spends his dinner hours at work grading papers while I write this blog.
With respect to crime fiction from countries other the America, I ask you a small (large?) favor: Tell me your "top ten" list of "must read" titles. My "beyond borders" reading is limited, and I am eager to expand my reading experiences. I am familiar with Camilleri and a few of the Scandinavians (with Indridason my favorite), but there are plenty of holes in my list. Perhaps your other readers/followers will also weigh in with recommendations, and I already have seen Adrian McKinty's essential Irish list. In fact, Stuart Neville's newest is on its way to me.
CORRECTION (Again!) -- "other than America" rather than "other the America."
R.T., several books on Adrian's Irish crime fiction super group list would be on mine, too. I might add Declan Burke's Slaughter's Hound, published since the list appeared, and a book or two by McKinty himself, probably Dead I Well May Be and The Cold Cold Ground. Also, since you say you like Arnaldur, I don't need to include him. In some of these cases, other books by the authors are about as good.
Death of a Red Heroine, Qiu Xiaolong (China)
He Who Fears the Wolf, Karin Fossum (Norway)
Roseanna, Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö (Sweden)
Lorraine Connection, Dominique Manotti (France)
The Prone Gunman, Jean-Patrick Manchette (France)
Day of the Owl, Leonardo Sciascia (Sicily)
Havoc, in its Third Year, Ronan Bennett
Collusion. Stuart Neville
The White Trilogy, Ken Bruen
Thumbprint, Friedrich Glauser (Switzerland)
The Song Dog. James McClure (South Africa)
Wake Up Dead, Roger Smith (South Africa)
Peter Temple's Jack Irish novels (Australia)
Oh, and the early and middle books of Bill James' Harpur and Iles series, Books 7 through 16. He's Welsh, and the books are set in an unidentified British city smaller than London and Manchester.
What a wonderful, generous response. Thank you!!! Now, I'm off to my library's website.
My pleasure. I love writing and talking about this stuff.
Oh, and put John McFetridge on your list, too.
R.T., a correction on my Bill James recommendation. Books 7-16 are what I consider the middle books of the series, not the "early and middle" books.
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