Five Faves: Thrillers

FIVE FAVE THRILLERS

I always like a good thriller, my escapist genre of choice.  Thrillers I distinguish from mysteries in a fuzzy, overlapping sort of way.  Thrillers involve chasing a known bad guy, not figuring out who committed a crime.  Thrillers move faster and are usually more exciting than a mystery.  But I could make the argument that any of the books on this list could be called a mystery rather than a thriller, by my guidelines or any others.

My list includes only one by a particular author, so I can't say these are my all-time top thrillers, just five that I really liked.

• Cathedral by Nelson DeMille (I really do think this is the best of the genre)

• The Killing Floor by Lee Child (this is his first and still my favorite)

• Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett (I screamed when I read the book)

• State of Fear by Micheal Crichton (or a couple of his others)

• The Pelican Brief by John Grisham (I preferred this to The Firm)

What are some of your favorite thrillers?

FIVE FAVES

There are times when a full-sized book list is just too much; when the Top 100, a Big Read, or all the Prize winners seem like too daunting an effort. That's when a short little list of books grouped by theme may be just the ticket.

Inspired by Nancy Pearl's "Companion Reads" chapter in Book Lust – themed clusters of books on subjects as diverse as Bigfoot and Vietnam – I decided to start occasionally posting lists of five books grouped by topic or theme. I call these posts my Five Faves.

Feel free to grab the button and play along. Use today's theme or come up with your own. If you post about it, please link back to here and leave the link to your post in a comment. If you want to participate but don't have a blog or don't feel like posting, please share your list in a comment.

Teaser Tuesday: Food Lover's Guide to Portland, 2nd Edition, by Liz Crain

I get the jitters just thinking of the volume of coffee regularly imbibed in Portland – hipster baristas grind and pull thousands of shots a day from locally roasted beans. Portland coffee is spectacular and to be quite honest, the sheer selection can be intimidating.

– Food Lover's Guide to Portland, 2nd Edition, by Liz Crain.

This indispensable guide to the producers and purveyors who make Portland such a foodie Mecca is a must have for locals and visitors alike. Crain's updated directory of bakeries, cheese makers and mongers, chocolatiers, ethnic markets, brewers, coffee roasters, distillers, cooking classes, farmers markets, and much, much more features over 20 new full-length listings, 150 new businesses, and special sections on Portland's food carts and Hispanic markets.

You can order directly from Hawthorne Books, where regular shipping is free, or from Powell's Books, where they may have signed editions available.

Here is my review of the original edition of Food Lover's Guide to Portland, and my original author interview of Liz Crain.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Mailbox Monday: Under False Flags by Steve Anderson

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event. Mailbox Monday has now returned to its permanent home where you can link to your MM post.

I got one book last week, and I am very excited to read it:



Under False Flags by Steve Anderson, also available in a Kindle edition and an audio edition.  This is the latest WWII novel from a terrific author whose loyal following grows with every new book.

My review of The Losing Role, one of Anderson's earlier novels, is here. My 2010 interview is here.

Book Beginning: Food Lover's Guide to Portland, 2nd Edition, by Liz Crain

THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.

EARLY BIRDS & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I try to follow all Book  Beginnings participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



MY BOOK BEGINNING

I moved to Portland in 2002 with a small amount of money and a big appetite.

– from the author's Introduction to Food Lover's Guide to Portland, 2nd Edition, by Liz Crain.

Before researching and writing this book, I knew that Portland was blessed by bread – I just didn't know how blessed.

– from the first chapter, Bakeries.

Food Lover's Guide to Portland is the indispensable guide the producers and purveyors who make Portland such a foodie Mecca. Crain's updated directory of bakeries, cheese makers and mongers, chocolatiers, ethnic markets, brewers, coffee roasters, distillers, cooking classes, farmers markets, and much, much more is a must have for locals and visitors alike. The new edition features over 20 new full-length listings, 150 new businesses, and special sections on Portland's food carts and Hispanic markets.

You can order directly from Hawthorne Books, where regular shipping is free, or from Powell's Books, where they may have signed editions available.

Here is my review of the original edition of Food Lover's Guide to Portland, and my original author interview of Liz Crain.

Author Interview: Susan Winkler

Susan Winkler had the enviable job of writing, and updating, The Paris Shopping Companion: A Personal Guide to Shopping in Paris for Every Pocketbook. How great would that be?

Now, expanding on her Francophile sensibilities and drawing on a little family history, Susan has written a captivating novel about love and art and Paris and Nazis.  With war-torn lovers, a family saga plot, and a stolen Matisse, Portrait of a Woman in White is a terrific historical novel.  Each copy should come with a "Perfect for Book Club" sticker on the cover!

The is a busy week for Susan, with the official launch of Portrait today, at Powell's City of Books in Portland (see details below).  But Susan was gracious enough to answer some questions for Rose City Reader.

What is your background? How did it lead you to write Portrait of a Woman in White?

I fell in love with France when I saw the movie Gigi as a young girl. I studied french literature in college and in grad school, and in Paris, then worked as a journalist in New York and for The Oregonian. I was very fortunate to be asked to write a guidebook to Paris (The Paris Shopping Companion) which required regular updates that allowed me to travel to and explore my favorite city ever since.

Years before writing this novel, I had read a groundbreaking expose about how the Nazi's looted art from French collections during WW2 (The Lost Museum by Hector Feliciano) and I wanted to illustrate that history as fiction . . . the story of a single made-up family and what could have happened to them. But I was busy with the Paris guidebooks. One day I heard a moving memoir told by an old woman about having to leave her first young love in Europe when her family escaped to America during WW2. These threads of tales I found intriguing wove together to become my story.

What did you learn from writing your book – either about the subject of the book or the writing process – that most surprised you?

I had never written fiction, and I knew that I would have to come up with characters, dialogue and a lot more plot. So I started by reading all I could about Nazis and their art looting, figuring I would need very bit of that information to carry my story. What I didn't realize was that my fictional family would develop lives and relationships of their own and become even more interesting than those notorious Nazis. The fictional characters turned out to be the "real" characters who drive the book.

Who are your three (or four or five) favorite authors? Is your own writing influenced by who you read? What are you reading now?

Most fiction I read is set in Europe, and I always look for something that will teach me about good writing. Currently I'm reading All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, a great sensually descriptive book. I just read Kate Atkinson's Life After Life, which has a special writerly interest in the way it plays with plot. I loved The Goldfinch (Donna Tartt), mostly because of a character, and everything by Eric Maria Remarque, the German WW1 writer because he has a way with dialogue. The Great Gatsby, while set in America, is a fave because of point-of-view and simply great writing.

What kind of books do you like to read? Do you have a favorite genre? And guilty pleasures?

I don't read much genre fiction. I download "samples"of new books on my kindle to read for style, and keep up with short stories in The New Yorker.

What is the most valuable advice you’ve been given as an author?

By far the most valuable advice was given to me at a New Year's Day party shortly after I got my first book contract (for The Paris Shopping Companion). It was simple: Get a daily writing schedule on your calendar a month in advance, and keep to it. That solves half the problem. It's been my New Year's resolution ever since.

What is the best thing about being a writer?

Once you are far enough into your work, it can provide endless fascination. You are trying to solve a huge puzzle: to create an entire intricate world that works in the end, like the mechanism of an old clock.

What do you do to promote your books? Do you use social networking sites or other internet resources?

I have a publicist, Mary Bisbee-Beek, who works wonders. The book has a new Facebook page, and a presence on twitter and pinterest.

Do you have any events coming up to promote Portrait of a Woman in White?

I have a book talk at Powell's Books on Burnside, in Portland tonight, September 10, at 7:30 pm. This is the official book launch and author reading for Portrait of a Woman in White. The event is sponsored by Alliance Française de Portland.

Other events are in the works, including:

• Book talk at Book Passage in Corte Madera, CA on Saturday, September 13, at 4:00 pm

• Reading at Beach Books in Seaside, OR on Thursday, October 30, at 11:30 am

• Signing at Annie Bloom's Books, Portland, OR on Tuesday, November 4, at 7:00 pm

What’s next? Are you working on your next book?

Yes, I'm thinking about it. Hmmmm . . . it will take place in France . . .

THANKS SUSAN! PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN IN WHITE IS AVAILABLE AT POWELL'S, ON KINDLE, AND FROM OTHER BOOKSELLERS, OR ASK YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE TO ORDER IT!