Hi everybody! For Book Blogger Appreciation Week, I've got an interview with Jen of Jen's Book Thoughts for you. I really meant to snazz this up more to do Jen and her fantastic blog justice - but life has really come down hard this month, so here she is - largely unedited and unfortunately unsnazzed. Luckily she's fascinating even without my help!
First off, congratulations on your BBAW nominations!
Thank you. I was actually pretty surprised by all the nominations I ended up with. I encouraged my readers to vote, but didn’t think five nominations would come for ME!
For your Mystery nomination, what posts did you send in? Which of your reviews are you particularly proud of? Any post that didn't make the cut, but you wish you could have sent?
For my Mystery nomination I wanted to include as much variety as I could in my submissions. So, I included my review of Craig Johnson’s ANOTHER MAN’S MOCCASINS because not only am I proud of that review, but it’s also a review of an audio book. I read print books but also listen to quite a few audio books.
So that was a look at my reviewing of not only a book but a reader as well. I also included the events I attended for Michael Koryta recently. I oscillated between my recap of the L.A. Times Book Festival and Michael’s event. I thought I probably did a better job of writing on Michael’s event, so I ended up with that one. I also have two series posts that I do: Monday Mystery Backlist and You Have the Right to Six Words. So, I included one post from each of those.
The Monday Mystery Backlist post is actually written by my friend Kaye Barley as a guest spot. I have been trying to encourage readers to submit their titles for Monday Mystery Backlist so I’ll have a much more diverse offering of backlist mysteries – not just what I prefer. Then “You Have the Right to Six Words” is an incredibly popular post each week. It was hard to pick just one for my Mystery nomination but I ended up with Week 3. The author combination was especially popular with folks. But, how can you go wrong with Ken Bruen and Michael Connelly? ;)
And the fifth post I chose was one of my author interviews. I recently interviewed Gregg Hurwitz, who is not only an incredibly talented thriller writer, but he’s also a super nice person. His interview came out great, but the credit really has to go to him. He’s fun; he’s fascinating; and he was completely open to any of the questions I sent. That interview practically wrote itself. It was a popular one.
And yes, there were quite a few I wish I could have sent as well. I syndicate my blog through BlogBurst, and another of my reviews of Craig Johnson’s books, DEATH WITHOUT COMPANY, was picked up by three newspaper sites. I would have liked to include that one. My reviews of BREATHING WATER, DOUBLE EXPOSURE, KILLER KEEPSAKES are all reviews I’m especially proud of and that received a lot of attention when they were posted. There were also several other interviews that I would have enjoyed sharing with the committee. Simon Lewis I think is absolutely fascinating and I enjoyed that interview. Alafair Burke is a great writer and a fun person. Her interview was one of my favorites, too. I’ve grown a lot with my interviews since hers – she was one of my first – but it will probably always be one of my sentimental favorites. Yikes. I guess I probably gave you a little more than you actually wanted to know on that question, huh? (Actually, I thought it was great :) )
I saw that you were nominated for your "You Have the Right to Six Words" feature (which is very cool). How did you come up with the idea? How do you get all these well-known authors to participate? What's your favorite Six Word Memoir so far?
The six-word memoirs have really become my baby. The idea actually started with my interviews. I had read the book NOT QUITE WHAT I WAS PLANNING: SIX-WORD MEMOIRS OF WRITERS FAMOUS AND OBSCURE. And it was interesting what people came up with. So, then I would always ask people in my interviews what they thought their six-word memoir should be. Authors being interviewed and the readers both liked the question so much I decided to do something special with it and that’s how “You Have the Right to Six Words” was born.
As far as getting the authors to participate, I am still a bit stunned at the responses I’ve received. I simply started sending out emails. If the author had a direct contact email on his/her website, I sent the request there. If not, I tried contacting PR folks, publishers, whatever info I had for the author. I had quite a few not respond at all. Only three actually said “no.” But the rest were very receptive to the idea. I’ve had great feedback from many of them. And really the project has just been fun. People of the crime fiction community are great people all in all. And I’m working on a scrapbook version of everyone’s memoirs to take to Bouchercon so the authors can sign their memoir page. We’ll see how that part of the idea turns out!
My favorite – oh, that’s a hard one to answer. Ken Bruen’s “I acted like I understood life” is so vivid. As is Adrian McKinty’s “stillness, iceberg, crash, listing, sinking, stillness.” I think Tom Shreck’s is so apropos, but since his hasn’t been posted yet, I can’t reveal it. Really, almost all of them have been incredibly insightful and revealing. I had a lot of people say, “I didn’t know that about him” when Michael Connelly said “I wanted to be a detective.” And James Lee Burke’s “I never ran out of stories” was the one that made me say “awww.” And Marcus Sakey’s, which you’ll have to visit the blog to read, was very energetic and got a lot of great feedback. You just have to love Sophie Littlefield’s spunk with “Ain’t gonna be who I’m not.” So, I guess each one is a favorite in its own unique way.
It looks like your blog focuses mainly on mysteries and thrillers - what are some of your favorite subgenres?
I tend to favor the hardboiled crime fiction most. I love police procedurals and PI fiction. I also enjoy the forensic science books. About the only thing in crime fiction I shy away from is the real wacky, off-the-wall stuff. I don’t tend to like the bumbling idiot protagonist who inadvertently stumbles on the answers the police couldn’t come up with. I also haven’t really found any spy thrillers that truly hook me. I think it has more to do with my need for realism, and the bumbling idiot and secret spy require you to let go of your grip on reality.
What really draws you into a mystery?
The same thing that draws me into any other book: character! I am a fan of character. I need to connect with the characters in the book in some way. It’s one of the reasons I enjoy a series so much. I have the opportunity to see a character grow and change and develop. If you don’t have a dimensional character, he/she will never make it in a series.
And what are your 'turnoffs' when it comes to plots? Characters?
I guess I kind of answered that earlier, huh? I don’t click with books that require me to let go of reality. Time travel, paranormal, anything that would have me saying, “like that would really happen.” I don’t know intricate details about weapons and procedures and whatnot, so I’d never pick up on things that are incorrect there, but if I can’t imagine it happening and the author hasn’t written it so I’m convinced it could happen – it’s a turnoff. I don’t like detailed sex scenes and gruesome horror. And I am also a critic when it comes to a lot of fluff. I prefer a tight plot that doesn’t pad the pages with unnecessary detail or subplots. If it doesn’t advance the plot, it doesn’t need to be there.
Do you post reviews for every book you read? Just the ones you liked/loved?
So far this year I’ve posted reviews for all but two books, I think. I have five waiting for their reviews to be written – got a little behind. I didn’t review the two because of time factors. They weren’t awe-inspiring, but I didn’t not like them. I just needed to get caught up. Once in awhile if I get behind on my audiobook reviews I may review a couple together and shorten the reviews, but I try to review everything that I finish.
My blog's pretty eclectic, but of the mysteries/thrillers I've read, most of them tie into other interests of mine (authors as sleuths, art, strong romance subplots) - anything you'd recommend to those of us with a more romantic persuasion looking to cross over to the mystery side of things?
Well, there’s actually a bit of a subgenre that does cross the mystery/romance realm. Some of the authors I would recommend there are Hank Phillipi Ryan and Toni McGee Causey. I don’t necessarily think I’d lump it in with romance by you might enjoy Jane Cleland’s Antique Mystery Series. The relationships in the book are magnificent and the main character, Josie, owns an antiques auction house. You might also like a series that Karen Olsen started with a book called THE MISSING INK. It’s about a tattoo artist in Las Vegas. It’s quirky and fun. People (including myself) are speaking very highly of it. There is a thriller by Gregg Hurwitz called THE CRIME WRITER. It’s written in first person and the narrator is a crime fiction writer. If
you haven’t read that one, you may enjoy it. It’s very fast-paced and incredibly well-written.
Ooh! I see you have two
dogs! Tell me about them! Any particularly fun antics?
You don’t even know the land mine you just stepped on! ;) I can talk about my dogs for-EVER! I have two chocolate labs: Hershey, who is 8, and Nestle, who will be 6 at the end of October. Hershey I got as a puppy, and Nestle we adopted just before she turned 3. There isn’t a day that goes by that there aren’t some kind of antics going on with these two. They are typical labs, so we’re outside chasing toys constantly. Hershey does not like small tennis balls. Instead he has a full-size soccer ball and a full size football that he chases. Nestle chases a toy made from firehose. Labs are murder on toys; I’ve cleaned up more stuffing in their life times. They also like to get the little bladders out of the toys – the devices that make them squeak. So, I can’t leave them alone with stuffed toys or they start trying to get inside and find those bladders. They also like to play tug-of-war with their toys. If I don’t watch them they’ll pull all their toys apart. (I had a Doberman who used to do the same thing!) The coolest thing about these two is how much they adore each other. I don’t at all look forward to the day something happens to one of them and the other is left alone.
Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions, Jen! I loved to get to know your blog a little, and you've certainly added to my TBR pile! To the rest of you, please head over to
Jen's Book Thoughts to take a look at her features, reviews and an interview with yours truly!
*** 1/2 - This was definitely a different take on a pirate tale, and I enjoyed a great deal of it. But the book definitely hit one of my hot buttons - it simplified a complex issue and conflict (the U.S. Civil War) to the point of trivializing it. And in a book packed full of 'gray' moral and sexual choices, I found it jarring and insulting.
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