Can a thriller be literary? by Adam LeBor from the London Financial Times.

“So what exactly is a thriller, and how does the genre differ from ordinary novels? The key word is conflict. The protagonist will confront a series of threats before the plot builds up to a climax, which is often violent. The hero will confront his inner demons along the way and be forced to make an impossible choice. All this should unfold in vivid scene-setting that takes the reader into a new and unknown world.”

What a great idea! Little (20 book) public lending libraries. I want one.
Little Free Library.

Literature-inspired sneakers and iPhone cases. I would want some of these if my favorite books were included. Maybe The Three Musketeers would be worth showing off.

I spent my TV watching time for the past couple of weeks with the first (and only) season of the program Commander in Chief, starring Geena Davis as the vice-president of the United States who is unexpectedly thrown into the job of president after the sudden death of the sitting president. It was a good series, 18 episodes about an independent woman acting as a credibly authoritative president. Unfortunately, the writers or somebody associated with the show couldn’t sustain the “political independent” part of the equation. The “bad guy” in the show is, of course, a nasty old Republican, played wonderfully by Donald Sutherland, and President Mackenzie Allen is supposed be an independent, neither fish nor fowl, neither Democrat or Republican, neither liberal nor conservative. So she supports an airline strike instead of ending it by presidential fiat, sends the FBI into Maryland to solve some crime without authorization, defends gay marriage, and finally, in fit of liberalism that can’t be denied, she resurrects the ERA and tries to get it ratified by three more states so that women can finally have the equal rights that have been so long denied to them. You may or may not agree with all of those policy decisions, but liberal Democrat is the only label that can be used meaningfully to describe a person who pursues those policies and others on the show.

And, yet, it was a well-acted, engaging TV show, and I’m not sure why it was cancelled after only one season. Wikipedia cites “declining ratings.”

I’ll be reading a lot more INSPY-nominated books, Cybils-nominated easy readers and early chapter books, twentieth century history, and anything else that takes my fancy. So expect review of those genres and books, coming up for your reading pleasure.

What are you reading, watching, and enjoying these days?