This weekend I finally had a little time to do some catching up on blog reading. It's always nice to clean out the saved posts in my Google Reader, though I must admit many of them were so old it almost seemed too late to leave comments. I didn't get to quite everything I wanted to, but it's a start. I always find the most interesting things when I'm out and about reading, so I have a mishmash of things to share here today. I have to say that it is quite dangerous for me when I'm playing catch up as I end up adding books to my wishlist and find far too many distractions that get in the way of my own reading pile.
Karen at Bookbath and Tamara at Thyme for Tea are hosting a Paris in July readalong. I shy away from readalongs as I usually have so many other plans of my own, but I am very tempted to squeeze one in as I have a number of books in my reading pile that would fit perfectly! I have an ARE by Catherine Delors that has languished far, far too long, or I could finally read one of Fred Vargas's crime novels with a Paris setting. I wouldn't mind picking up one of Carol Drinkwater's books on Provence. So it wouldn't be too much of a reading detour (even though I'm spending most of my summer in Italy).
Kim at Reading Matters was lucky enough to be invited on a London tour led by author Imogen Robertson, who has written several mystery novels featuring Harriet Westerman in a late 18th-century England. Her first book, Instruments of Darkness, has been recently published here in the US, and I've been unsuccessful in reading it--only because the line at the library is so long. I have it out again but I think I've again not allowed myself enough time so am contemplating breaking down and buying the UK edition which is out in paper. The tour was specific to her second book, Anatomy of a Murder. Do click on over as Kim has inserted a video into her post of Robertson speaking about some of the locations appearing in her book.
The Crime Writer's Association has announced shortlists for a number of their awards. I'm particularly interested in the CWA International Dagger (and later will be curious to see which books make the lists for the 2011 Gold and Steel Daggers). By chance I've read one of the books on the list, Domingo Villar's Death on the Galician Shore, which I thought was very well done. I'm planning on reading a few more of the books which made the list but may not manage to do so before the winner is announced July 22. Maxine at Petrona gives a run down (with links to reviews on the titles she's read) on the nominees with a few predictions.
I'm excited to see that Zen (as in Italian investigator Aurelio Zen) is going to air on PBS's Masterpiece Theatre beginning July 17. I've only read a few of Michael Dibdin's standalone novels and none of the Zen mysteries, but I do have a few on hand so might try and read them before I watch the adaptation. I found an interesting interview with Rufus Sewell who is playing Zen about his interpretation of the role in the Guardian--see the video here. Dibdin passed away in 2007, but he had been interviewed in 2003 and talks about his inspiration writing the character, also via the Guardian.
This is going to be a short work week for me as I'm planning on taking Friday as a vacation day in order to extend the long weekend just a tad bit more. Hopefully that will mean more reading time. And it'll be the unofficial start to summer. I need to stop wishing for it to be Friday as I am wishing the year away it seems.