Good news on new books

The new William Boyd gets what initially appears to be a damning with faint praise review:

William Boyd's ninth novel doesn't have the laugh-out-loud comedy of Stars and Bars or quiet verisimilitude of An Ice-Cream War or the intense poignancy of Any Human Heart. But it's a good, rollicking read.

But the reviewer goes on to call it "one of the better books" you will read this year. So instead of faint praise, it is quailfied praise. I can accept that.

Hmm, now I am much more interested in Robert Harris's Imperium. This interview/review in the Guardian makes it look quite good. Much will be lost on American readers as it there will be many allusions to New Labor politics. The interview is great with explanations of why there is no sex is his books, how he builds his characters and how he became a novelists. Very good reading indeed.