Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds, page 24

The Universal Language of Books by Eric Beetner

I love reading books from other cultures. Sadly, I’m not fluent in any other languages to read in the original, but I adore the art of translation. I’ve read French novels, Japanese, Icelandic, Italian and Spanish. Here are a few of my favorites:

A Dog In Water and Shield Of Straw by Kazuhiro Kiuchi. From what I can tell these are the only two books of Kiuchi’s translated into English, which is a shame because I love both of them. There have been several Japanese novels to break through to Americ...

O the Horror, O the Writer

 

 

It’s Halloween week. Do you read horror? Haveyou written any? Why or why are you not a fan?

 

I don’tread the genre as much as I did. Like the child Cole Sears in The Sixth Sense, I see horroreverywhere.

 

We livein a world where images are manipulated and some graphics are done so well thatyou don’t know whether they are real or not. An ‘alleged’ example of thisphenomenon are the moon landing photos. There are some among us who believe StanleyKubrick created th...

The Secret War of Julia Child

 Diana Chambers is a world traveler and a member of Sisters in Crime Norcal. She worked on this book idea for years and it's great it's now been published! So, here goes with her fascinating guest post.

THE SECRET WAR OF JULIA CHILD AND ME

By Diana R. Chambers

 

[image error]

 

In my university days, I used to be intrigued to discover connections between seemingly unrelated ideas and concepts, people and places. About ten years ago, I had such a light-bulb moment when I read that Julia Child had served with the OS...

You Can't Beat The Classics - By Harini Nagendra

Wekeep writing new books, but there are so many classics out there. What are thecrime fiction classics you think every writer should read?

Like most mystery/crime fiction authors, I started writing my series because I fell in love with this genre when I was very young. Here, in semi-chronological order were the books and authors I loved reading, and still find myself returning to - despite the anachronisms that make me cringe (for some of them).

1. Enid Blyton, Five Find Outers series - The Myst...

Did the Ancient Romans Have Posh British Accents? From James W. Ziskin

Do books get lost in translation? What are some non-English novels you love and are there any that didn’t work over the cultural divide? 

I’ll veer slightly off topic this week since I don’t read a lot of works in translation. I did, however, do my graduate work in Romance languages, which means that I read a lot of novels in the original French, Italian, and Spanish. Everything from Elsa Morante to Manzoni to Stendhal and Sartre. And while I have read many European books in translation, I wouldn...

The Top Shelf

We keep writing new books, but there are so many classics out there. What are the crime fiction classics you think every writer should read?

by Dietrich

I think it’s subjective, and we’ve all got our own favorites, but there are crime-fiction classics that I’ve enjoyed reading, then rereading and some of these novels remain among my favorites. While some of the authors are long gone — Elmore Leonard, George V Higgins, Charles Willeford, and James Crumley, Sue Grafton and Agatha Christie — their...

Not Lost in Translation

Do books get lost in translation? What are some non-English novels you love and are there any that didn’t work over the cultural divide?

Brenda here

This week's question has me thinking. I'm certain that I've read many non-English, translated novels over my lifetime, but the first ones that come to mind are Swedish or Scandinavian mysteries. I've read most of Liza Marklund's Annika Bengtzon series, and Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series, amongst others. I've judged some transla...

10 Books Every Crime Writer Needs to Read, or a Quick Guide to Hard Boiled, by Josh Stallings

Q: We keep writing new books, but there are so many classics out there. What are the crime fiction classics you think every writer should read?

A: The longer I’m on this planet, the less I get what is and isn’t a classic. Dylan enjoys listening to Classic Rock when we’re driving, I do too. My problem is, when they play a band from 2014. I think Classic? Really. A classic car show featured a DeLorean. The Go-Go’s are a staple of classic rock radio. I love the Go-Go’s, but their music is only two ...

Six of One and Half a Dozen of the Other, by Catriona

 Name crime-fictionclassics/authors you think everybody should read.

I will, I will. But first I'm going to name six crime-fiction authors I've never read. It's good for the soul. Ahem. I have never read a single word of:

Edgar Alan Poe (unless we read a short story at school and I've forotten)Dashiel HammettWilkie CollinsPatricia HighsmithGeorges SimenonRex Stout (in fact, for a long time I wasn't sure if he was the author or the character)

Right then. I think - although given what I've just reve...

Does how influence what? by Eric Beetner

 As fall arrives it brings visions of sitting in a cozy corner with a hot cocoa reading in quiet solitude. Most of us don’t have that luxury of time to sit and read for hours uninterrupted. Does how you read (where, length of time) affect what you read? 

I’ve long wondered if how I read makes an impact on what I like to read. I do think the short snatches of time I have to read makes a difference. There is a reason, beyond my own impatience, that I don’t do well with 1000 page doorstop books. I d...