On Screen On Page: September 28, 2024

Sep 28, 2024

The Australian spring presents a sweet list of big hitting novels, some sublime, some wearisome. A few have already popped up on my radar but five more are worth a second look, indeed more than a look. First, William Boyd’s Gabriel’s Moon is another of his undoubtedly assured old-style thrillers, perhaps too old style right now.
Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson is the sixth in her offbeat detective series. I’ve read one.
I’ve also only read one of Australian novelist Malcolm Knox’s books, enjoyed it. Now there’s The First Friend, a departure since it’s a satire set in brutal Stalinist times.
Pam tells me Robbie Arnott writes beautifully but I’ve never tried him. What about Dusk, due out in ten days?
Even with all the accolades, I’ve always felt Markus Zusak’s novels would be too sentimental for me. This month’s memoir, Three Wild Dogs and the Truth, looks to be something different altogether.
Janice Hallett writes cozy mysteries of ingenious structure and ingenious bent. I really enjoyed her The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels. Her latest, The Examiner, was published a month ago.

Robert Harris novels always entertain and elucidate: Precipice was published a month ago but somehow this slipped by me.
I decided to skip venerable Rodney Hall’s novel, Vortex. A book club rams it back down my throat. Oh well…
Tim Goodman raves yet again about a strange Korean series, The Frog. This time I listen and start watching.
The New York Times Book Review podcast is always a highlight and their rundowns of upcoming books always thrills. Their anticipation of Fall releases (which in practice means all books published from now until Christmas) is stellar. It contains books already preordered (Richard Powers’s Playground, Malcolm Gladwell’s Revenge of the Tipping Point, and Jeff VanderMeer’s Absolution) and books I’ve rejected but retain some possible interest in (Rachel Kushner’s Creation Lake, Haruki Murakimi’s The City and Its Uncertain Walls, Alexei Navalny’s Patriot, Sally Rooney’s Intermezzo, and Richard Osman’s We Solve Murders). I got excited about The Sequel by Jean Hanff Korelitz until I remembered that I read The Plot (nifty titles, no? No) and hated it. Luckily, I strike gold. Joumana Khatib lauds Emmanuel Carrère as “one of the preeminent nonfiction writers we have working today in any language.” V13: Chronicle of a Trial (November) covers that horrific Paris terrorist in 2015 and is just what I need.

Andres Kabel / On Screen On Page