Alexander McCall Smith tells Newsweek about his favorite books. A man who lists Pride and Prejudice as one of his five favorites must have something going on in the upper story.

The blogger at The Rap Sheet “e-mailed invitations to more than 100 crime novelists, book critics, and bloggers from all over the English-speaking world, asking them to choose the one crime/mystery/thriller novel they thought had been ‘most unjustly overlooked, criminally forgotten, or underappreciated over the years.'” Here’s the compiled list of all the books that were suggested.
Fuse #8 has a list of best children’s novels you’ve never read. What is your favorite under-appreciated children’s novel or crime/mystery/thriller?

Tom Payne writes in The Telegraph about words and phrases reviewers overuse. I checked it out, and I’m not sophisticated enough to use many of these cliches. I have been guilty of “take one ****, mix in some ****, add a dash of ****, leave to simmer, and what do you have?” But I never actually required anyone to simmer any of my mixtures. Roger Sutton and his commenters take on overused words in reviews of children’s books. I don’t think I’m (over)using many of these either: feisty, endearing, compelling, quirky, spunky, kerfluffle, quotidian, romp, appealing, zany. I’m sure I have my own cliches and frequently used terms. What words do you see overused in blog reviews?