What are you reading?

LUCY BURDETTE: I have to admit, my reading has been sliding, sliding the last 2 months--too much time on Facebook and also writing! But I'm happily in the middle of Deb's THE SOUND OF BROKEN GLASS. Trying not to read too fast to make it last. Also in my Hemingway kick, I enjoyed HEMINGWAY'S GIRL by Erica Robuck. In my TBR pile, which is teetering, I have Kristan Higgins's new romance, THE BEST MAN, Jennifer McMahon's THE ONE I LEFT BEHIND (Hallie and I will be traveling with Jennifer in May,) and Paul Hendrickson's HEMINGWAY'S BOAT. That last weighs in at a whopping 665 pages, so I've got to save it for when I've finished my own manuscript!

What are you all reading? 

HALLIE EPHRON: Not War and Peace.

Not War and Peace. 

For Christmas I bought my husband all three collections of "Cul de Sac" comics by the wonderful Richard Thompson who sadly, for health reason, has to put down his pen.  They are so sweet and wackadoodle, and feature my two favorite cartoon characters, Alice (who dances on the manhole cover) and Petey Otterloop (the ultimate picky eater), along with Miss Bliss and her boyfriend the banjo-playing Timmy Fretwork. I treat myself to ten pages of comics when I've finished my requisite writing for the day.

For comic relief, I'm in the middle of a somewhat terrifying piece in the New Yorker about the rise of Purell.


HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Well, I just finished judging a contest so I have read SO MANY BOOKS that now my brain is fried. (So interesting how the winners emerge! Lots of bads, lots of  so-so's, some possibles..and then: TA DAH! Well, you know. It's always faascinating and instructive.) 

To recover, I am giving myself a treat of reading Lisa Gardner's book TOUCH AND GO. She is so incredibly talented....the book just takes off from moment one.

Of course Debs' book, I'm loving it! And I just finished RAGE AGAINST THE DYING by Becky Masterman...her main character is a retired FBI agent--a woman!-- and it's so terrific. 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: This is going to sound like a pile-on, but I'm also reading THE SOUND OF BROKEN GLASS (the advance reader copy. I suspect Hank and I were judges in different sections of the same contest, because I, too, have been burnt out on mysteries/thrillers and am just now getting back to reading them after a few months hiatus.

I just finished 12-21 by Dustin Thomason (you can tell how long some of the books in my TBR pile have been waiting if I'm just now getting to the Mayan apocalypse thriller.) It's a great medical thriller with a plausible and scary set-up, and shouldn't be left on the shelf just because the world didn't end with the last Long Count. 

 

And for non-mystery fun, I'm reading THE HOT FLASH CLUB by Nancy Meyer. Sometimes you just want to read about the trials and triumphs of women in - ahem - our age group. I love her books.

ROSEMARY HARRIS: I just finished One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonathan Tropper (which I loved) and I'm in the middle of about 12 books as research for my next novel. Two of my faves..rereading The Glitter and The Gold, a bio of Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan, and Abundant Beauty, a bio of botanical artist Marianne North - two extraordinary women who lived at the turn of the last century.

What are you reading Jungle Reds?

What are you reading?

LUCY BURDETTE: I'm a little disgusted with myself this month because it feels like I'm reading at a snail's pace. Blame it on too much work or socializing or my very late discovery of Downton Abbey, but I've got a towering stack on my nightstand and I've barely made a dent. Right this minute, I'm devouring a book my friend Pat Kennedy loaned me called MY KOREAN DELI by Ben Ryder Howe. It's a story about his Korean wife and in-laws buying a deli in Brooklyn--he's a very, very funny and beautiful writer. And I'm also looking forward to Diana Abu-Jaber's newish novel, BIRDS OF PARADISE, along with Vanessa Diffenbaugh's THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS, our own Deborah Crombie's NO MARK UPON HER, and more books by Cleo Coyle, Miranda James, Avery Aames, and Diane Mott Davidson.

What are you reading and loving?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I'm so honored to a the moderator of the MWA symposium--so right now I'm reading all the nominees for Best First Novel! (That's a fun task, right?)
I must recommend DEFENDING JACOB, by William Landay. it's extraordinary. They're calling him the new Scott Turow, and I have to agree. And the amazing Carolyn Hart just sent me her new one, DEATH COMES SILENTLY. Whoo hoo.
Jonathan is reading Lisa Gardner's CATCH ME, and I can't even get his attention, he's so into it!

HALLIE EPHRON: I've been so flat out writing I've had no time to read. Once I turn it in, I shall luxuriate in other people's pages. I did read one book I loved -- same as Hank's, DEFENDING JACOB. And I loved the article in last week's New Yorker about training police dogs. (Roberta - did you read it??)

JAN BROGAN - I'm afraid my reading is all research-related. I am reading Captain Ahab Had a Wife by Lisa Norling and A Very Social Time (about antebellum New England) by Karen W. Hansen. They are both insightful and full of fascinating details, but not what you call page turners unless you are like me and totally fascinated with the era.

RHYS BOWEN: Like Hallie and Jan I'm in the throes of writing and find it impossible to read much when I'm working on a book. I've also had several books to blurb, which has taken up any reading time I have, but I've just picked up Oscar Wilde and a Game Called Murder and I'm really enjoying it. The writer has written a biography of Wilde and his wit sounds so genuine. AND it's in the right time period for the Molly book I'm writing.

ROSEMARY HARRIS: Having delivered my latest masterpiece at the end of January I took the month of February to catch up on some reading - LOVED Gone by Mo Hayder, Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, The Confession by Charles Todd and The Saddlemaker's Wife by Earlene Fowler. Currently reading Swann's Last Song by Charles Salzberg and Catherine by Robert Massie.

I think I should retire and just read and garden from now on...
(PS It didn't hurt that I logged about 50 hours worth of flying time in
February!)

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Ro, you'd better not retire from writing! But the idea of having nothing to do but read is very appealing, I must admit.

At the moment I'm devouring Craig Ferguson's memoir, American on Purpose, which is just brilliant. Laugh-out-loud funny, scathingly honest, and very touching. And I guess I can say it's kinda/sorta research since I do have a Scottish character in my WIP... Just read Cara Black's Murder at the Lanterne Rouge, and The Confession by Charles Todd, both of which I loved. Oh, and my first Lauren Willig, The Orchid Affair--ditto. Huge fun!

Next up, Imperial Scandal by Teresa Grant, and Rhys Bowen's new Molly Murphy, Hush Now, Don't You Cry. Can't wait!

LUCY BURDETTE: Wowie, zowie, that's a list that could last us ten years. But tell us, what are you all reading these days? And why do you love it?

A Night to Remember!

Psst. What are you doing next Tuesday?

How'd you like to hang out with Lee Child?

Maybe swap stories wth Tess Gerritsen?

Have a beer with Joe Finder and William Martin?

Get Lisa Gardner to make you a character in her next book?

Get some writing tips from Gary Braver?

(And be one of the first to get me to sign my new DRIVE TIME?)

Well, sure, Hank, I hear you saying. That would be fantastic! But how do I get to do one of those?
Listen. To. This. You can do all of them.

And much, much more.

You can win Red Sox paraphernalia

Enjoy the best in blues and rock n' roll

Sample the best desserts in Boston

And support a wonderful cause at the same time.

What's more, the brains behind the whole glorious event belong to the force of nature and best-selling author you know as Michael Palmer.

Well, here. Let him tell you about it.

Michael Palmer here.

I’m pleased to announce that my fifteenth medical thriller, The Last Surgeon, is ready for its publish date this coming Tuesday, February 16th, 2010.

HANK: Well, congratulations! Most of us just have lovely launch parties at bookstores. But you are going all out!

MICHAEL: Definitely. To celebrate the book’s launch, we’re having the Home Base Books & Bands Event, a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Fundraiser at the Paradise Rock Club. The Home Base Project is an effort of the Red Sox Foundation and Mass General Hospital to support the thousands and thousands of vets and active servicemen suffering from PTSD. And everyone is invited!

HANK: What a terrific idea. So it's your launch day..and you're making it into a real extravaganza! All your pals will be there, which is pretty amazing. And it's a wonderful and important cause. When?

MICHAEL: It's also on February 16th, starting with a VIP reception at 6pm and then...well, check this site for all the particulars. It's really going to be fun, with famous authors, great bands, lots of books to have personalized, contests, drawings for Red Sox Gear and tickets, and the best desserts in Boston... You can even bid to have your name be a character in a bestselling novel by authors including Lee Child, Tess Gerritsen, Joseph Finder, Lisa Gardner, William Martin, Gary Braver, the wonderful Hank Phillippi Ryan, and me.

HANK: Aw, thanks. But why the PTSD fundraiser? What's the story behind it?

MICHAEL: Two years ago, I met a Marine veteran with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder on a brief flight from Boston to D.C. Although we did not stay in touch, I was very moved by our conversation, and not long after returning home I began thinking about weaving a story around this sad, frightening condition.

The result is The Last Surgeon—a terrifying tale of Army trauma surgeon Captain Nick Garrity, working on a mobile medical van caring for vets and the homeless in D.C. while he tries to conquer the fallout from the suicide bomber who killed everyone in Nick’s field hospital in Afghanistan except Nick and his best friend, Umberto. When Umberto, whose PTSD is even more virulent than Nick’s, disappears, Nick is brought into the crosshairs of brilliant psychopath Franz Koller, the remorseless master of the non kill—murder that does not look like murder.

I’m really excited for the book (I'm sure it's my best one yet)

HANK: :-)

MICHAEL: and the fundraiser event at the Paradise Rock Club. I encourage Boston folks to get tickets and attend the event and everyone else to check out The Last Surgeon, to be officially released on February 16th, 2010. And one more great thing--we'll be auctioning off character names! So you could be in my next book. Or Lee's. Or Lisa's. Or William Martin's. (Or Hank's!)

HANK: So here's the scoop. Click on the party website for all the details, and you can also

find out more by visiting Michael's website, which is a fun place to go no matter what the occasion. Will we see you at the party?

Questions? Who knows who will be here to answer them...watch this space for a special guest!

And we're giving two free tickets to the bash--courtesy of Jungle Red!--to a lucky commenter.

So just say--hi. Or hurray. Or just tell Michael you think he's a good guy.

MICHAEL: Thanks all for your time, and thank you Hank, for letting me contribute to your blog.

HANK: Hey! You're always welcome at Jungle Red. And see you Tuesday!