Permanent Press and that reading journey

I've just posted my fourth review of a book about to be released by The Permanent Press. I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion, based on these and others that I read a while ago, that I like all their books. I like their cockeyed pessimist blog too...

Anyway, the latest two books are Pretend All Your Life, by Joseph Mackin, and Drake's Bay by T. A. Roberts.

Drake's Bay is a fascinating mystery. It's easy to see why the author's already had two books become Edgar Award finalists. He knows how to craft a fine mystery, and a fine sea-sailing craft. There's a brilliant sea-chase to look forward to as the book progresses from houseboat life to crumbling mansion with historical books to murder, mayhem and Amsterdam. And the hero, a quiet history professor with a young, less than quiet girlfriend, slowly unravels clues with their roots touching Elizabethan times and a father's gentle detachment in days just gone by. Click here for my gather review of Drake's Bay.

Pretend All Your Life takes place in a short period of just six days. The concept reminded me of Ian McEwan's Saturday, and the book stands up well to the comparison. (I loved Saturday.) The protagonist is a plastic surgeon, and the story is beautifully constructed, building ideas from the sharp edges of reflections, cutting and changing, and setting the whole together in a different shape. It's set in post-9-11 New York, where terrorist's hands have torn a hole in the city and a void through people's lives. The artists sculpts. The child survives. And the father tries to understand how he should grieve. But changed shapes bring secrets to light that were hidden before, and the unthinkable becomes surprisingly possible in the light of new knowledge. Click here to read more of my gather review of Pretend All Your Life.

Meanwhile, for lighter reading, I enjoyed Susan May Warren's Double Trouble (gather review here). And proof-reading: I've just got the proofs of my next set of children's stories... HELP! I have proof-read Revelation! Easter to Pentecost in 100 words a day now though, and fixed all the Bible reference errors that crept in. "Only" 150 stories from psalms and 40 from Exodus to go...

And I'm still looking for a title: Genesis People, Exodus Tales, Joshua's Journeys, and Storyteller's Psalms? Psalmist's Tales? Psalms in Parables? Parable Psalms? Psalm Tales?...

Comments

Helen Ginger said…
"Joshua's Journeys" rolls off the tongue easily, I think.

Sheila, I gave you The Beautiful Blogger Award today.

Helen
Straight From Hel
March 21, 2010 at 7:30 AM
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