Hi, Zirza! You’ve been participating in CBR for TEN YEARS! That’s amazing. Please tell us a little bit about where your screen name came from.
I always used to use mythological names, and Circe was a favourite of mine (turning men into pigs; one can relate). I think that one was taken on Pajiba, so I changed it to Zirza. I don’t know where the A at the end came from, though.
Paging through your reviews, it became evident that you have an affinity for works involving crime and/or true crime. What’s your favorite book in the genre? Or a favorite author? What is it that appeals to you about them?
I think many a psychologist has poured over the question of why people like to read about violent crime, and the answer still seems to be “we don’t know.” I can’t really add much to that. I will say, though, that I majored in English (ESL/EFL) and read many great works of literature. I’ve always been thankful for that experience: being able to read these books, but also receiving instruction on how to possibly interpret them. Now that I’m out of university and have to juggle a job, a family and a very demanding cat, my attention span has dropped a bit. There have been years where I barely read at all because I just couldn’t focus. Crime fiction is easier to engage with. I tried romance and fantasy too, but they’re just not really my cup of tea. There are a few authors that I like. Kate Atkinson is wonderful and writes original, thoughtful crime fiction that doesn’t rely on gore or shock factor. I love Tana French, who seems to have an eye for what makes people tick (and a supremely bleak outlook on life). Karin Slaughter is one author I keep returning to. She’s not my usual fare; too gory, too over the top, too melodramatic, but she’s great at writing characters. I’ve spent so much time with Will, Lena, Faith and Amanda by now that I feel invested, so I always buy her books on their release date. Sara Linton can still jump off a cliff for all I care, though.
Many crime/true crime enthusiasts have favorite podcasts. Do you have one you like to recommend? What makes that one special?
I’m not really a Podcast kind of gal, but I do like Behind the Bastards. I’m not sure why I like it, except that far too many podcast hosts annoy the shit out of me (thanks but I really don’t want to listen to you joke around with your friends for 20 minutes or listen to you read your grocery list before you get to the actual subject) and this doesn’t. There’s a couple of Dutch-language podcasts that I like; one is about juvenile offenders, the other is about lawyers discussing the most memorable case in their career.
Your CBR bio states, “I lack the attention span for good books and the tolerance for bad ones.” Please share one of each that has been added to your TBR pile. Do you think you’ll ever go back and finish them, or are you going to take advantage of the CBR Review Amnesty and just let them go?
Well, I try to finish what I start, but that does mean I tend to be very critical of what goes onto my TBR pile.
A book that I’ve added to my TBR pile recently is AS Byatt’s Possession. I’ve never wanted to read it because two decades ago, I read an interview with Byatt in which she wrote a scathing review of the Harry Potter books. At the time, it seemed like a petty Boomer essay. In retrospect, she may have had a point. I’ve also added two pretty hefty tomes: A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, and I still plan to read Gravity’s Rainbow one day, but for now I’m putting them off.
As for bad books: I love to hate MJ Arlidge. He’s not on my TBR pile; I just end up picking up his books whenever I’m at the library. I don’t know why; they’re pretty terrible but they also require zero brain input. My library only carries him in Dutch and the translation makes it so much worse. Never underestimate how much that matters!
Plus, writing scathing reviews is fun.
Do you have an amusing and/or favorite anecdote that you can share from your years of teaching?
Too many to mention! It’s amazing how often students mix up the words ‘organism’ and ‘orgasm’, which makes for interesting essays. And there was this one time that a student wanted to know if the mummies at the British Museum were still alive.
I also used to have a running gag in which I pretended to have a blinding hatred for hamsters, and my students kept emailing me pictures of hamsters. Teaching is fun!
You have to investigate a murder – which fictional detective are you partnering with and which fictional character is the murderer?
Lena Adams, from Karin Slaughter’s Grant County series. She’s still Karin Slaughter’s most interesting character, but Slaughter hasn’t written about her in a while. Also, she’s smart, tough, dedicated and underappreciated. She gets shit done!
The murderers would probably be those guys from In the Name of the Rose for no other reason than that I couldn’t get through that book and yet everyone keeps telling me try again, which is annoying.
And, closing out your time with QQ, we’re going to play Kiss, Marry, Kill with the cast of the BBC’s Sherlock. Which character would you choose for which and why?
Can I kill all of them? I used to like that show, but Moffat has a way to make you reconsider ever liking anything he’s done.
No? Fine.
Kiss: Irene Adler. She has the experience.
Marry: Lestrade. He seems relatively sane and normal.
Kill: Sherlock. BBC Sherlock is impossible.
Now that you’ve learned all about Zirza, head over and see what she’s been reading lately. Or meet other Cannonballers we’ve interviewed recently.
