The CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award 2010
Filed under: About books, CWA Dagger Award, Fiction, Prize winning novel, recommendation
The Steel Dagger is awarded for the best thriller published in the UK. So what is a thriller? A thriller, according to my dictionary, is an exciting, suspenseful play or story, such as a mystery story. So even though award this is sponsored by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, which most likely is an organization related to the author of the James Bond books, it is not limited to and does not even give preference to spy thrillers. This is strange, but of course something which the sponsor decides.
And, indeed, the definition used is very broad, according to CWA:
“include, but are not limited to, spy fiction and/or action/ adventure stories. Ian Fleming said there was one essential criterion for a good thriller – that ‘one simply has to turn the page’; this is one of the main characteristics that the judges were looking for.” — The CWA Dagger
To me it looks a little bit odd and untidy – almost like the Steel Dagger is a little brother award. In order to avoid that appearance, I think CWA needs to distinguish much more clearly (e.g. by genre) among its various awards. At least, I would like to suggest they look into this.
Be that as it may, here are the shortlists for the 2010 CWA Steel Dagger:
- 61 Hours
- A Loyal Spy
, Simon Conway
- Gone
, Mo Hayder
- Slow Horses
- The Dying Light
, Henry Porter
- Innocent
, Scott Turow
- The Gentlemen’s Hour, Don Winslow
My sentimental favorite is The Gentlemen’s Hour by Don Winslow – simply because it is such a wonderful read and such a neat, well-written and smart book. I like his surfer detective and the laid-back plegmatic style of his book.
(See also review of Gone by Mo Hayder.)
This Quiet Dust, and Other Writings, by William Styron
Filed under: Fiction, Short stories, William Styron, book review
There is no doubt that 
William Styron is one of America’s greatest contemporary writers. He wonderful writing can also be witnessed in this collection of short pieces; even though it is perhaps a little stiffer than usual in his writings. The stories cover a wide range of topics and contain his views and reflections, his observations on the state of the world and the ways of the world as he sees it.
This interesting collection includes considerations of Scott Fitzgerald, Faulkner, and others, as well as a re-evaluation of Thomas Wolfe, a review of Malcolm Cowley’s ”A Second Flowering”, as well as a piece on James Jones. It also contains articles about the battlefields of Vietnam and about Auschwitz. A wide range of writings written by a man with a wide range of interests, and who is engaged in the world he lives in and has spent a lot of time pondering a range of diverse topics. Styron was a writer who was willing to confront significant moral questions.
This is a collection you should read if you are interested in learning more about William Styron and his views. It is not a book you should start with if you have not read any of Styron’s novels yet. In that case, I would rather recommend The Confessions of Nat Turner or the magnificent Sophie’s Choice.
Praise for This Quiet Dust:
“Styron is pre-eminent…in his instinct for tragedy and in his respect for the sheer force of human feeling.” — Alfred Kazin
“[Styron is] the most accomplished craftsman, and one of the most penetrating witnesses of our life.” — Associated Press — Review
, 
, and 
.The Eleventh Commandment, by Jeffrey Archer
Filed under: Fiction, Jeffrey Archer, New York Times bestseller, Thriller, bestseller, book review
Connor Fitzgerald works for the CIA. Nobody knows of his double life, 
Actually, Connor is being sent on a bogus mission, set up by the director of the CIA, presumably with the permission of the White House. The job ploy is to eliminate Connor, who has, in the Director’s view, become a threat to her job.
The Eleventh Commandment is another Jeffrey Archer-tale with a lot of twists in the tale, and clearly with some references to the goings on of the real world. Well worth an intensive weekend of reading!
, 
, and Babette’s Feast, by Isak Dinesen / Karen Blixen – DVD
- Actors: Stéphane Audran, Bodil Kjer, Birgitte Federspiel,
Jarl Kulle, Jean-Philippe Lafont
- Director: Gabriel Axel
- Writers: Gabriel Axel, Karen Blixen
- Producers: Benni Korzen, Bo Christensen, Just Betzer, Pernille Siesbye
- Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
- Language: French (Dolby Digital 2.0), English (Dolby Digital 1.0), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), Danish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
- Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
- Region: Region 1 U.S. and Canada only.
- Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Rating: G (General Audience)
- DVD Release Date: January 23, 2001
- Run Time: 102 minutes
- 4.7 out of 5 stars at Amazon.com
Babette’s Feast – Description
Babette’s Feast is just a marvelous, fantastic and delicious story, based on the writings of Karen Blixen: Artistic, sensual and full of sacred passions. In Babette’s Feast, a woman flees the French civil war and lands in a small seacoast village in Denmark, where she comes to work for two spinsters, Martina and Philippa, devout daughters of a puritan minister. Both girls sacrifice youthful passion to faith and duty, and even many years after their father’s death; they keep his austere teachings alive among the townspeople.
After many years, Babette unexpectedly wins a lottery, and decides to create a real French dinner–which leads the sisters to fear for their souls. Joining them for the meal will be a Danish general who, as a young soldier, courted one of the sisters, but she turned him away because of her religion. The village elders all resolve not to enjoy the meal, but can their moral fiber resist the sensual pleasure of Babette’s cooking? A truly outrageous French gourmet meal?
Babette’s Feast deservedly won the 1987 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. This lovely movie is impeccably simple, yet its slender narrative contains a wealth of humor, melancholy, and hope.
The film is written and directed by Gabriel Axel, from a short story by Out of Africa’s Isak Dinesen. This Oscar-winning film offers “an irresistible mixture of dry wit and robust humanity” (Newsweek).
, 
Brida, by Paulo Coelho
Filed under: Fiction, International bestseller, New York Times bestseller, Paulo Coelho, bestseller, book review, recommendation
Paulo Coelho is one of the most gifted and beloved story tellers of our time. As well, he has a mind where, seemingly, fantasy is allowed to roam free of constraints. Thus 
The relatively short and delightful tale of Brida O’Fem is definitely such a book – a well crafted mind stretcher! Young, cute Brida is an Irish lass wishing to become a witch. Her tale, set in Ireland during the mid-80s, is fantastic, compelling and vividly told. In its own right, it’s an epic.
Like the main characters in other Coelho books, she goes searching for the wisdom and crafts she will need. But is it magic she wants? Or love? Or wisdom? Does she really know? She meets people of great wisdom. She is taught about the other, spiritual world. She is taught to see and listen. She learns to overcome fears. She learns to hear the music of the world, and to dance to it. She learns to pray to the moon. She encounters the concept of the soul mate.
But where in the multitude of options in the many planed universe lies her destiny? And what is it? How and where is fulfillment to be found – in love, passion, mystery, witchcraft? And what is it she is learning on her strange journey – more, I think, self-discovery and self-acceptance than anything else.
Brida is a book which transforms the reading experience into a journey of its own. A travel alongside Brida into the depths of the readers’ minds. Beautifully worded, marvelously told, stirring the senses and raising a desire to reach that which must be there, at the end of the journey. A mind-teaser of a book!
Review of The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Command, by Julian Stockwin
Filed under: Fiction, Julian Stockwin, Thomas Kydd, book review, historical fiction, naval fiction
Command is the seventh book of the Kydd series. Very unexpectedly, Thomas Kydd is appointed Commander and master of his own brig-sloop Teazer (16-gun). However, the sloop is
Kydd feels the elation and weight of command as he, and he alone, is responsible for the successes and failures aboard his command. However, Kydd, as we have come to expect, rises to the challenge, his determination and resourcefulness coming to the fore. His is a leadership based entirely on his personal qualities, blessed with the common touch, and his competency as a blue water seaman.
We follow him on missions where he makes mistakes, but gradually learn and builds confidence. And, as well, he eventually succeeds in the course of a successful sea battle against La Fouine, an action which brings him revenge for an earlier exchange where the French ship almost had the better of him. Unfortunately, in the midst of this, peace “breaks out” and Kydd is sent ashore without a ship or job.
Kydd is then faced with desperate times as he faces the loss of his livelihood and his best friend. To make ends meet, he agrees to transport convicts to Australia. Little does he know that his friend Renzi, weakened by illness and embittered with the service, is also bound for that colony as a settler. There they will be forced to face their deepest fears and prove themselves against all odds.
Command is another great novel in the “Kydd” series. It is exciting and interesting. The turnaround in the relationship between Kydd and Renzi is very interesting and intriguing.
The Piano Teacher, by Janice Y K Lee
Filed under: Fiction, International bestseller, Janice Lee, book review, recommendation
The Piano Teacher tells a complicated, convoluted story of adaptation, love, betrayal and responses to changing circumstances. The story is set in war-torn Hong Kong,
A focal point in the novel is Will Truesdale, an Englishman who arrived in Hong Kong in 1942. In most ways he is an ordinary, self doubting man. However, having arrived, he more or less immediately falls headlong into a passionate relationship with the extremely attractive, intriguing and beautiful Eurasian socialite Trudy Liang.
As the war in Asia spreads, Hong Kong too is captured. Will, being English, is forced into an internment camp. Trudy, on the other hand, is Eurasian and is able to remain outside. And while they struggle to retain their affair even after they have been separated, it soon becomes apparent that their opportunities and outlooks develop in quite different directions.
Will tries his best to contribute to the collective of the prison camp, and is increasingly shaped by the events, obligations and bonds there. Trudy, on the other hand, seeks to preserve her high society lifestyle, and involves herself with the Japanese. She soon gets involved in affairs far beyond her control. Her desperate attempts to locate a priceless collection of Chinese art on behalf of her Japanese lover leads to a chain of terrible betrayals, involving several pillars of society.
Ten years later, Claire Pendleton comes to Hong Kong and is hired by the wealthy Chen family as their daughter’s piano teacher. She meets Will, is attracted to him, and becomes his mistress. Again, a love affair of Will’s takes on an importance much larger than the affair itself. And as Claire begins to understand the intricacies and multiple conflicts of the world she has entered, long-buried secrets are brought to the fore. And now Claire’s whole life changes as a consequences of the revelations that are unleashed.
Janice Y. K. Lee’s first novel, The Piano Teacher, is beautiful and written in a spare and understated form, where only the tips of huge icebergs of events are visible up to the very end. None of her characters are particularly endearing, but they are complex, interesting, often disagreeable, and very authentic. The whole book is full of intrigue. And even though the novel raises many more questions than it answers, the answers that are provided are very satisfactory. I strongly recommend it!
Praise:
“Evocative, poignant and skillfully crafted, The Piano Teacher is more than an epic tale of war and a tangled, tortured love story. It is the kind of novel one consumes in great, greedy gulps, pausing (grudgingly) only when absolutely necessary.” — Chicago Tribune
Seaflower, by Julian Stockwin
Filed under: Fiction, Julian Stockwin, naval fiction
This is the third book in Stockwin’s series (it follows Artemis)about Thomas Paine Kydd and his friend Nicholas Renzi. Both Kydd and Renzi are now wiser and more seasoned seadogs than before.
This tale moves quickly from the grim 
Seaflower provides a good and detailed account of shipboard life in the late 18th century from the point of view of the common sailor. It’s all here – the cramped conditions, the disgusting food, the undeserved punishment and cruelty of some of the officers, and unremitting toil – and well described as well!
There is a lot of action in this book – both on land and sea. And there is romance, sea battles, tales of cynical exploitation of seamen as well as a breathless episode set in a wild hurricane. The fast action and a good plot, along with the fact that Stockwin’s writing is improving with each new book, all help to make Seaflower the best Kydd novel yet. Very promising for the series, and a nice and entertaining tale!
Read more reviews of Julian Stockwin‘s books!
Praise for Julian Stockwin’s books:
‘I was soon turning over the pages almost indecently fast … Roll on, the promised adventures of Kydd and Renzi.’ (Independent)
‘The vantage point of the common sailor gives the nautical novel a fresh twist. In Stockwin’s hands the sea story will continue to entrance readers across the world.’ (Guardian)
Water for Elephants: A Novel (Paperback)
Filed under: Fiction, International bestseller, Prize winning novel, book review
Sura Gruen’s novel is among my absolute favorites. It is a beautiful story, well researched, full of compassion, and deeply touching. It make me cry, it made me laugh, and it made me want to read more of this amazing, highly talented storyteller. Fascinating! Glued me to the chair! And, also, it has, of course, been an international bestseller acros a number of countries ofr a long time. Deservedly so!
Amazon.com Review
Jacob Jankowski says: “I am ninety. Or ninety-three. One or the other.” At the beginning of Water for Elephants, he is living out his days in a nursing home, hating every second of it. His life wasn’t always like this, however, because Jacob ran away and joined the circus when he was twenty-one. It wasn’t a romantic, carefree decision, to be sure. His parents were killed in an auto accident one week before he was to sit for his veterinary medicine exams at Cornell. He buried his parents, learned that they left him nothing because they had mortgaged everything to pay his tuition, returned to school, went to the exams, and didn’t write a single word. He walked out without completing the test and wound up on a circus train. The circus he joins, in Depression-era America, is second-rate at best. With Ringling Brothers as the standard, Benzini Brothers is far down the scale and pale by comparison. Water for Elephants is the story of Jacob’s life (more…)
The Fire, by Katherine Neville
Filed under: Fiction, Thriller, book review, crime book
This is the sequel to the super-hit 
The Fire starts out in 2003, in Colorado, where Alexandra Solarin is summoned home to her family’s ancestral Rocky Mountain hideaway for her mother’s birthday. When Alexandra arrives at her mother’s retreat, she finds that she must solve a puzzle to get into the deserted house. It is the first of many puzzles in a danger-crammed, picaresque narrative involving a legendary chess set.
Many characters from The Eight reappear, but the focus now is on Xie, a 12-year-old chess prodigy who has lost a pivotal game due to Amaurosis Scacchistica, or chess blindness.
En route to a rematch that could make her the youngest grandmaster ever, she and her father encounter even greater dangers: evidence that one of those long-buried pieces may have been unearthed, a discovery that leads to her father’s murder. Ten years later, Xie, now forbidden by her mother to play chess, is summoned to Colorado for her mother’s birthday party, but her mother seems to have vanished, leaving behind a series of clues, among them a chessboard laid out with Xie’s last game. Soon other guests arrive, including both the opponent to whom Xie lost that game and a group of neighbors with surprising ties to the world of chess. There are eight people in all, of course. And The Game is on again.
The Game is a quest for a mystical chess service that once belonged to Charlemagne, it spans two centuries and three continents, and intertwines historic and modern plots, archaeological treasure hunts, esoteric riddles, and puzzles encrypted with clues from the ancient past.
It is a book I think many of the fans of The Eight, like me, will want to read. However, it is not a book that captures the same way as The Eight did. For sure, The Fire is written with elegance and sophistication. But the characters don’t catch me the same way. As a literary thriller, this is not quite in the upper echelons of the genre, even though it is good I think I will only recommend this book to people who are already Katherine Neville fans. For others, I am not so sure, but I think it may be a disappointment.
-
The World of Books- The Devil’s Alternative, by Frederick Forsyth
- A Golden Age for Norwegian Crime Fiction?
- Brilliant surfer crime fiction: The Gentlemen’s Hour by Don Winslow
- A Time in Xanadu, by Lars Gustafsson
- The Confessions of Nat Turner, by William Styron
- Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
- Pandora’s Star, by Peter F. Hamilton – The Commonwealth Saga
- Excellent spy thriller: The Defector, by Daniel Silva
- Little Birds, by Anias Nin
- Shadow, by Karin Alvtegen
- BookGazette
- Great crime fiction: Gone by Mo Hayder
- U-859, by Arthur Baudzus
- Things We Lost in the Fire (DVD)
- Finnish crime fiction – wasting an opportunity?
- New cyber-thriller: Storm by Dave Pearson
- Excellent thriller: The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva
- Lie Down in Darkness, by William Styron
- The Best Vietnam War Novel Ever? Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes
- The Gentlemen’s Hour, by Don Winslow
- To Steal Her Love, by Matti Joensuu
- Euro bookblog
- Are The Scandinavian Crime Writers Associations Soundly Asleep?
- The Intruders, by Stephen Coonts
- Sophie’s Choice, by William Styron
- Eaters of the Dead, by Michael Crichton
- The Chairman, by Stephen Frey
- South by Java Head, by Alistair Maclean
- Wyatt’s Hurricane, by Desmond Bagley
- Our Lives, Our Fortunes, by J. E. Fender
- The Man with the Iron Heart, by Harry Turtledove
- HMS Saracen, by Douglas Reeman