I normally write my Sunday Salon post while sipping coffee at a nearby cafe after my Sunday walk but this week I seem to have made it to Sunday evening without stopping to write my post. How is it that some days disappear without you even noticing?

Books Then and Now

This week I finished Frozen Tracks by Åke Edwardson, Tilt A Whirl by Chris Grabenstein and Born Standing Up by Steve Martin. I enjoyed them all for different reasons although I found Martin reading his own biography on audio book surprisingly disappointing. His delivery was very flat.

I’m currently reading The Trojan Dog by Dorothy Johnston (an Australian book not much talked about that I don’t quite know what to make of yet) and next on my print pile is another new to me author: Tania Carver’s The Surrogate. Before I head off to work tomorrow I have to decide between listening to Sandra Brown’s The Chill Factor or Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express read by David Suchet. Choices Choices Choices.

Arrivals and Departures

There’s no way I can twist this to make it sound good. I acquired seven books this week while disposing of only a single book via bookmooch! I swear I will start my own 12 step program if I can’t stop this madness soon. A person with an entire year’s worth of reading on her TBR shelves does not need to be bringing more books into the house but I can’t seem to control myself. The good news is I only paid for three of them (and they were all on special) but still.

Link Fest

Again I’ve spent a limited amount of time online this week. Who’s got time for dithering about on the internet when Australian TV finally started showing one of my favourite shows (previously only available from channel bit torrent) QI? I may have mentioned my adoration of Stephen Fry before (I’d be shocked if I hadn’t) and am delighted I can finally watch this show legally.

Anyway, I did manage to draw myself away from repeated viewings of legal Mr Fry and find a few things of interest

  • An article from the UK’s Guardian newspaper that discusses crime fiction reviewer Jessica Mann’s decision to stop reading and reviewing the plethora of crime fiction which depicts women being tortured and brutalised. The article quotes award-winning crime fiction author Val McDermid as saying

There has been a general desensitisation among readers, who are upping the ante by demanding ever more sensationalist and gratuitous plot lines

I’d love to know who exactly is demanding all this extra violence. I read crime fiction and i’m not demanding it. Not a single one of the crime fiction devotees I know is demanding it either. In fact many of us are more likely to join Ms Mann’s boycott of the sub genre than any group demanding more blood, rape and victimisation.