Book News - Week of January 19-25

• Are you a mystery Fan? The 2009 Edgar Allan Poe Award nominees were recently released. The Edgars are an annual award by the Mystery Writers of America for excellence in mystery writing. Here are the nominees for best novel:

• Missing by Karin Alvtegen
• Blue Heaven by C.J. Box
  
• Sins of the Assassin by Robert Ferrigno
• The Price of Blood by Declan Hughes
  
• The Night Following by Morag Joss
  
• Curse of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz
  

• In other news . . . remember the episode of Seinfeld, where Jerry is tracked down by the NYPL’s Mr. Bookman over a long lost library book (episode 5, season 3 called “The Library”)? If only all the stories of missing library materials could be so funny: last week, a British man was sentenced to two years in jail after being found guilty on several charges stemming from stealing pages from rare books in the British Library and the Bodleian Library at Oxford. If this is a story that interests or intrigues you, you should check out the book The Island of Lost Maps by Harvey Miles, which is a true crime account of an American man who was caught committing similar crimes in the US in the ‘90s. Arresting reading for any book lover.

• And finally, there’s been much talk about the President Obama and his love of books in the press of late, but Canada has it’s own politician who’s a friend of the printed word: interim Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff. Ignatieff has a new book coming out: True Patriot Love is described as a travel memoir. As a former professor and journalist, you may not be surprised to know Ignatieff has penned several books on history and social issues, but did you know he’s also the author of three novels?