I’m in the Denver airport, checking e-mail and a woman comes over and says, “I hate to ask you this, but are you Laura Lippman?”
And her daughter, a 4-year-old cutie that I had noticed while we were in the ticket line is named . . . Tess. Yes, that Tess. We just had our photo taken together and her mother, a lovely woman named Angie, claims it will be their Christmas card.
Oh man, that is so cool! Can’t be the first time that’s ever happened, though, right? BTW, just wanted to say that your new photo is really good (even though I liked the old one, too).
Wow… just… *wow*…
Laura roolz!
And may I say that Angie has excellent taste?
I wonder what a “nuanced” character would act like. Anyone? Anyone know anybody particularly nuanced?
I dunno, but i feel like an ignorant slug girl not knowing what exactly that means. That these are characters with deep inner lives? That they know obscure Italian film makers? It just leaves me feeling like I should be scratching myself going “huh?, wha?” when i read snarky lines like that.
Where can i go to get some nuance?
The highest compliment! Good for you! And Tess is such a pretty name.
MORE NUANCE!
<font size=”5″>MORE NUANCE!!!!!</font>
Nuanced? Did they read WTDK? I couldn’t stand Dave when he was first introduced…then I began to understand his character more…and eventually empathized with him.
…and that’s just one character from one book.
WTF?
It continually strikes me that some critics and reviewers are more concerned about appearing superior than in simply doing their jobs.
I am SO doing the Laura Lippman Christmas Card this year. Don’t be surprised if I show up with a Santa hat for you to wear.
They were big guys, my seatmates, but they were actually pretty good about not invading my personal space, all things considered.
I wrote, I read (The Post-Birthday World, still loving it) and watched the movie, Stranger Than Fiction. Should be mandatory for all series writers.
coolest thing ever –
a mom likes Ms. Monaghan:
her daughter’s named Tess!
—
nuance danced within
reviewer’s own <a href=”http://www.timeout.com/newyork/Details.do?page=1&xyurl=xyl://TONYWebArticles1/599/books/what_the_dead_know.xml” target=”_blank”>lexicon</a>?
she may need brush up.
You know, I’m not really knocking the reviewer. Hey, I clearly want my characters to be nuanced — I’m still mulling “original,” as I don’t know a lot of original folks — but she called it like she saw it.
Translated — to steal a phrase from another first-timer on the April 1 NY Times list — no one can harsh my mellow today. Free drinks for someone who can explain that reference. (And, as Diane attested, I totally deliver on this promise.)
<i>(Don’t) harsh my mellow</i> is slang that roughly translates* don’t treat me badly or get on my nerves.
* <a href=”http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-har2.htm” target=”_blank”>World Wide Words</a> … plus a <a href=”http://www.bbspot.com/Images/comics/fuzzy_logic/2004/20040427.jpg” target=”_blank”>cartoon</a>
(Thanks for not cutting out <i>Googling</i> this time, Laura!
I think your character Kay in WTDK is great! An original and nuanced woman, for sure. I think you could market the pins: I’m Not Gay, I Just Like To Read. I’d buy three.
Okay, Beeg — but what does the term have to do with the New York Times bestseller list, as it will appear on April 1?
Some more hints: It’s a historical novel. The author’s first novel was futuristic — but only by a few years.
Did you rescue a mafia leprechaun’s daughter from brigands or something?
I’m just saying, a certain someone had got to be getting concerned about his mainstream hierarchy RIGHT ABOUT NOW….
Just remind him you won’t stop making that chicken, whatever happens.
Well, a best selling book and children being named for your characters… I believe you’ve made it!
Well, just to keep me on level ground, I also read a largely positive review (Time Out New York) that notes my characters aren’t particularly “nuanced or original.”
In my own defense, many of them are Baltimoreans . . .
Get used to it. I’m sure it will be happening more and more in the future now that you’ve hit the big time.
It appears that the threads connecting your thoughts, Laura, and those connecting the Old Beeg’s aren’t going to intersect for this puzzler.
Beeg, definitely feeling on the old side this AM.
I’ll spill: I’m thinking of HEYDAY by Kurt Anderson. I am a big fan of TURN OF THE CENTURY, a book that pretty much nailed the coming of reality television before it happened. One of the main characters was given to saying: “Don’t harsh my mellow.”
That IS the coolest thing ever!