September 5, 2014 “Perfidia” by James Ellroy Reviewed by Mark LindquistSpecial to the Seattle Times James Ellroy can be ornery. “I hate hipsters, I hate liberals, I hate rock ’n’ rollers, I hate the counterculture, I hate movie people,” he said in an interview promoting his new novel, “Perfidia.” He Read more…
Sun is shining, weather is warmer, so I’m posting the summer blog entry early. I hope you’re enjoying this surprisingly bright spring and taking time to read. Books and Authors God bless anybody who spends the time to write a book, especially someone starting a new career. I am impressed Read more…
Happy New Year “You can always begin again.” Both Buddha and Bono said this so it must be true. For the Lindquist family, it’s been a year of new beginnings, interesting firsts, and good stories. And, as I like to say, person who dies with the most stories wins. New Read more…
I’m grateful to be writing this from Bali. I’m taking a brief and beautiful break from one of my aviation cases in Indonesia. There is something Zen about the vibe here, which made me think it was a fitting time to post Chapter One of my Zen Lawyer column from Read more…
On September 21 my iPhone started buzzing with text messages from friends, some of whom I hadn’t heard from in years or even decades. Willie Garson’s death was tweeted by The New York Times as “Breaking News” and it echoed across the country. “Amazing how much love he’s getting nationally,” Read more…
August 3, 2014 “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” by David Shafer Reviewed by Mark LindquistSpecial to The Seattle Times Literary fiction rarely seems edgy or even fun these days. One theory is that most of the smart, ambitious and talented writers started migrating to movies and television back in the 1980s. Go Read more…
Today, January 31, is the last day I greet people with “Happy New Year!” I am always enthused about starting a new year. I’m extra enthused this year. We sent out our New Year e-card with a Lindquist family update on New Year’s Day. If you’re not already on our Read more…
October 4, 2015 “Bream Gives Me Hiccups and Other Stories” by Jesse Eisenberg Reviewed by Mark LindquistSpecial to the Seattle Times Depending on your taste, Jesse Eisenberg is either the funny, awkward guy who shot Bill Murray in “Zombieland,” or the funny, awkward guy who played Mark Zuckerberg in “The Read more…
What’s “the best live rock album ever” according to music critic Nik Cohn at The New York Times? Hint: it features a 15-minute version of “My Generation.” Yes, “Live at Leeds.” The Who. There are only six tracks on the original LP, while the CD has 14 songs. Both versions Read more…
May 30, 2008 “My Liar” by Rachel Cline Reviewed by Mark LindquistSpecial to The Seattle Times Hollywood novels have a natural allure. Rachel Cline, a screenwriter and author of a previous novel, “What to Keep,” uses the Tinseltown setting to good advantage in her new work, “My Liar.” An unassertive Read more…
Chelsea and I went fully digital with our New Year card this year. If you missed it, lament not, it’s still online. We appreciate all of you who stay in contact with us through the email list, thank you. In case you don’t recognize the giant Adirondack chair in the Read more…
I hope you enjoyed Independence Day. For the first time in a decade, I skipped the bands and the salmon bakes and the parades and escaped to our family beach place. It was awesome. Sloane loved hanging out with her cousins, taking boat rides, and playing on the beach. Seaside Read more…
Some news is fake, but it’s still cool to wake up in Jakarta and see your case on the front page of The New York Times next to a teaser about an old friend and fine writer, Bret Ellis. After reading the interview, which was more profile than dialogue, I Read more…
Miscellaneous Mischief Mark Lindquist’s Blog Freedom Theme Happy Independence Day! I wish you all a safe, sane, star-spangled Fourth of July. As we celebrate our freedom, I’ll toast Albert Einstein who said, “Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.” Einstein, Read more…
Thanks to German novelist Alice Winter for this cool spring shot of the German edition of Carnival Desires. The English version is available on Kindle. Vanity Fair called it a “witty, minimalist epic.” Details magazine said it was “great postmodern literature.” Published in 1990, it chronicles the adventures of a group of Read more…
Happy new year! “And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been, full of work that has never been done.” Here is my 2018 year-end list of books and movies. These are not necessarily the best. Read more…
Wherever I go I feel at home when I see my books or my friends’ books on the shelves. Books are the best gifts and that’s what I’m buying this holiday season. My recommendations include anything by Ryan Holiday, particularly The Obstacle is the Way and Trust Me, I’m Lying, Read more…
Happy Thanksgiving and Mahalo! As Maya Angelou said, “Be present in all things and grateful for all things.” Back from a holiday in Hawaii, the Lindquists are feeling the Mahalo spirit. You can see more pictures on my Instagram. I’ve updated my Medium page and included a review of Carnival Read more…
In June of 1992, Atlantic Monthly Press published my second novel, Carnival Desires. Details magazine called it, “Great postmodern literature. Romantic and cynical, true and original, full of modern ideas and seductive moments … ” Vanity Fair called it, “a witty minimalist epic.” Now I’m older and it’s available on Read more…
Happy new year! “Tomorrow is the first page of a 365 page book. Write a good one.” Brad Paisley, a country music star, wrote this. My musical taste generally runs a different direction, but I like this line. I wrapped up my “Zen Lawyer” column for Pierce County Lawyer this year. Read more…
Please join us November 17, 2016, at Kings Books in Tacoma, 7pm, for our 8th Annual Signed Books and Spirits Auction. #KeepOurProsecutor Guest star auctioneers will be auctioning off signed books from Governor Jay Inslee, U.S. Representative Denny Heck, and, of course, me. New York Times bestselling authors Maria Semple Read more…
Highlight of 2016 — so far — was playing guitar with Peter Buck of R.E.M. and the Beatniks at our summer celebration. A great time was had by hundreds. You can find pics and vids at www.marklindquist.org or my Facebook page. Our next event will be the 8th Annual Signed Book and Read more…
My Instagram account just went public. Zen Lawyer, chapter 10, features a crash course on one-minute meditation. Try it. I continue to write book reviews for the Seattle Times, including, most recently, “Breem Gives Me Hiccups & Other Stories” by Jesse Eisenberg, star of “The Social Network.” In the never Read more…
Entertainment & the Arts: Sunday, July 17, 1994 ”Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness” by Peggy Noonan Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times Seventy-three percent of Americans believe the United States is in “moral decline,” this decline a national obsession, according to Newsweek. Peggy Noonan, a Read more…
October 11, 1998 “Love is a Racket” by John Ridley Reviewed by Mark Lindquist New York Times Book Review John Ridley’s crime-noir first novel, ”Stray Dogs,” was made into the Oliver Stone movie ”U-Turn.” This may explain why Ridley’s second novel, “Love is a Racket” (Knopf, $24), blends elements of Read more…
Entertainment News: Thursday, May 20, 1999 “Music for Torching” by A.M. Homes Reviewed by Mark LindquistSpecial to The Seattle Times A.M. Homes’ fifth book is daring, original, smart and artful, yet does not quite work as a novel. Paul and Elaine, the lead couple, were first featured in Homes’ short Read more…
Sunday, January 2, 2000 “Lo’s Diary” by Pia Pera Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times The legal issues raised by the retelling of Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lolita” from the pubescent child’s point of view are, unfortunately, more interesting than this first novel by Italian journalist and short-story writer Read more…
Entertainment News: Sunday, January 16, 2002 Miss Wyoming by Douglas Coupland Reviewed by Mark LindquistSpecial to The Seattle Times Douglas Coupland’s first novel, “Generation X: Tales of an Accelerated Culture,” was published in 1991. “Miss Wyoming” is his eighth book in nine years. Coupland also works as a designer and Read more…
Arts & Entertainment: Sunday, October 1, 2000 “Love Hexagon” by William Sutcliffe Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times A United Kingdom best seller, this satirical sex farce has a clear target audience: twentysomething Londoners. Comparisons to Evelyn Waugh are inevitable, at least the Waugh of the “Bright Read more…
Entertainment & the Arts, Sunday, October 6, 2002 “Lullaby” by Chuck Palahniuk Reviewed by Mark LindquistSpecial to The Seattle Times Ranting against consumerism and all the noise of the material world may seem passe, but what doesn’t these days? Chuck Palahniuk’s novels are here to say that alienation and despair Read more…
Entertainment & the Arts, October 17, 2002 “Porno” by Irvine Welsh Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times Irvine Welsh’s first novel, “Trainspotting,” was an international best seller and a cult-classic movie. His witty twisted take on the youth culture of Edinburgh was daring and original. Sales have Read more…
Entertainment & the Arts: Sunday, March 28, 2004 “Little Children” by Tom Perotta Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times Tom Perrotta has carved out an impressive career writing about adolescents in “Bad Haircut: Stories of the Seventies,” “The Wishbones,” “Election” and “Joe College.” Though not all of Read more…
Entertainment & the Arts: Friday, June 09, 2006 “JPod” by Douglas Coupland By Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times “I think people in the year 2020 are going to be nostalgic for the sensation of cluelessness.” “I’ve come to the conclusion that documents are thirty-four percent more boring when Read more…
August 18, 2006 “Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs” by Irvine Welsh Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times Drunks have long been a comedy staple, and Irvine Welsh, the Scottish author of “Trainspotting,” spices up their drunkenness with drugs for an extra comic kick. With his eighth Read more…
Vanity Fair, 1990 “Look Back in Angler” by Angela Janklow Though a big fish in New York’s Atlantic Monthly Press pond (his first novel, “Sad Movies,” was their best-selling fiction paperback in 1987), Seattle-born writer, Mark Lindquist is firmly anchored in the Pacific, where he maneuvers his six-foot-six-inch frame around his Read more…
Reconstruction Of The Fables: The Dynamic Interplay Of Music And Literature By MARK LINDQUIST & PETER BUCK for the HARTFORD COURANT October 14, 2001 The poster has moved with me now for 15 years. It’s part of a series for America’s public libraries, featuring a very young-looking R.E.M., with Peter Read more…
“When it Happens to You,” Molly Ringwald’s “novel in stories,” is out in paperback. I interviewed Molly for The Oregonian. We talked music, books, and the Bad Old Days. Speaking of the Bad Old Days, in 2001 I interviewed Peter Buck for the Hartford Courant. We talked music, books, and the Read more…
New Novel King of Methlehem Never Mind Nirvana Carnival Desires Sad Movies New Novel King of Methlehem Never Mind Nirvana Carnival Desires Sad Movies Books Mark Lindquist is the author of four novels, The King of Methlehem, published by Simon & Schuster in 2007, Never Mind Nirvana, published by Random Read more…