Saturday, May 05, 2012

What is Mariah Fredericks reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Mariah Fredericks, author of The Girl in the Park.

Her entry begins:
Like a lot of readers, I usually have a fiction and a nonfiction book going at the same time. I'm both a history nut and a celebrity junkie; I tend to like books about Big Lives.

I was drawn to Manning Marable's Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention because Malcolm X is an iconic figure in American history. And like other iconic figures—Washington, Lincoln—he can feel remote, almost mythological. I knew his face, I knew his quotes, I didn't really feel I knew him, and I wanted to. Marable's book is a triumph of reporting. He really digs into the facts behind the public personas—both the one Malcolm created for himself and the one his detractors created for him. I was fascinated by the history of Malcolm X's parents, who were Garveyite activists in their own right. The book also shows you the inner workings of the Nation of Islam, revealing how an organization with...[read on]
About The Girl in the Park, from the publisher:
When Wendy Geller's body is found in Central Park after the night of a rager, newspaper headlines scream,"Death in the Park: Party Girl Found Strangled." But shy Rain, once Wendy's best friend, knows there was more to Wendy than just "party girl." As she struggles to separate the friend she knew from the tangle of gossip and headlines, Rain becomes determined to discover the truth about the murder. Written in a voice at once immediate, riveting, and utterly convincing, Mariah Frederick's mystery brilliantly exposes the cracks in this exclusive New York City world and the teenagers that move within it.
Learn more about the book and author at Mariah Fredericks's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Girl in the Park.

Writers Read: Mariah Fredericks.

--Marshal Zeringue