Friday, May 31, 2013

What is Derek B. Miller reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Derek Miller, author of Norwegian by Night.

His entry begins:
I am a solitary reader. I enjoy this solitude so much that I generally avoid reading book reviews, getting into long discussions about books, or otherwise socializing the experience.

I just finished the first draft of my new novel, and while writing it I was reading — one might say studying — a fabulous edited volume from Andrew Delbanco called Writing New England: An Anthology from the Puritans to the Present. I've been especially interested in the way New England has been portrayed in fiction and in early American religious and philosophical writing. Boston was founded in 1635, and is almost a hundred and fifty years older than America itself, so New England writing is rich and formative for the American experience as a whole. Delbanco's anthology both explained and presented that beautifully.

I used that book as a spring-board to delve more deeply into some other writers going as far back as the mid-1600s. Cotton Mather, in particular, got a lot of my attention. Later, I turned to...[read on]
About Norwegian by Night, from the publisher:
A luminous novel, a police thriller, and the funniest book about war crimes and dementia you are likely to read

Sheldon Horowitz—widowed, impatient, impertinent—has grudgingly agreed to leave New York and move in with his granddaughter, Rhea, and her new husband, Lars, in Norway: a country of blue and ice with one thousand Jews, not one of them a former Marine sniper in the Korean War turned watch repairman, who failed his only son by sending him to Vietnam to die. Not until now, anyway.

Home alone one morning, Sheldon witnesses a dispute between the woman who lives upstairs and an aggressive stranger. When events turn dire, Sheldon seizes and shields the neighbor’s young son from the violence, and they flee the scene. But old age and circumstances are altering Sheldon’s experience of time and memory. He is haunted by dreams of his son Saul’s life and by guilt over his death. As Sheldon and the boy look for a haven in an alien world, reality and fantasy, past and present, weave together, forcing them ever forward to a wrenching moment of truth.

Norwegian by Night introduces an ensemble of unforgettable characters—Sheldon and the boy, Rhea and Lars, a Balkan war criminal named Enver, and Sigrid and Petter, the brilliantly dry-witted investigating officers—as they chase one another, and their own demons, through the wilderness at the end of the world.
Follow Derek Miller on Twitter.

Writers Read: Derek Miller.

--Marshal Zeringue

Free book: "The Possibility Dogs"

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Campaign for the American Reader are giving away a copy of the new book, The Possibility Dogs: What a Handful of "Unadoptables" Taught Me About Service, Hope, and Healing by Susannah Charleson.

HOW TO ENTER: (1) send an email to this address:

(2) In the subject line, type: Reader: Possibility Dogs.

(3) Include your name (or alias or whatever you wish to be called if I email you to tell you you've won the book) in the body of the email.

[I will not sell or share your email address; nor will I be in touch with you unless it is to tell you you have won the book.  I promise.]

Contest closes on Sunday, June 9th.

Only one entry per person, please. [We believe in second chances: you may also register for a copy of the book at Coffee with a Canine. Note that there's a different entry code.]

Winner must have a US mailing address.

Learn more about The Possibility Dogs at Susannah Charleson's website.

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Susannah Charleson and Puzzle (July 2010).

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Robert C. Fuller's "The Body of Faith"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: The Body of Faith: A Biological History of Religion in America by Robert C. Fuller.

About the book, from the publisher:
The postmodern view that human experience is constructed by language and culture has informed historical narratives for decades. Yet newly emerging information about the biological body now makes it possible to supplement traditional scholarly models with insights about the bodily sources of human thought and experience.

The Body of Faith is the first account of American religious history to highlight the biological body. Robert C. Fuller brings a crucial new perspective to the study of American religion, showing that knowledge about the biological body deeply enriches how we explain dramatic episodes in American religious life. Fuller shows that the body’s genetically evolved systems—pain responses, sexual passion, and emotions like shame and fear—have persistently shaped the ways that Americans forge relationships with nature, to society, and to God.

The first new work to appear in the Chicago History of American Religion series in decades, The Body of Faith offers a truly interdisciplinary framework for explaining the richness, diversity, and endless creativity of American religious life.
Learn more about The Body of Faith at the University of Chicago Press website.

The Page 99 Test: The Body of Faith.

--Marshal Zeringue

A.X. Ahmad's "The Caretaker," the movie

Now showing at My Book, The Movie: The Caretaker by A.X. Ahmad.

The entry begins:
Readers say that my thriller, The Caretaker would make a great movie.

It is the first mainstream thriller set in America with an Indian protagonist. It moves between a gray, snowy winter in Martha’s Vineyard, and a backstory set in vibrant India. It features both a love story and an explosive political plot. If you like multicultural, brainy thrillers, with real characters, then this would be the movie for you.

But when my literary agent approached some movie folks, they balked.

“How can there an Indian action hero?” they said. “Indians can be computer programmers or doctors. Even terrorists. But not the star of a thriller.”

Since I’m already doomed, imagining my book as a movie is a purely academic exercise. But what the hell, an Indian can dream, can’t he?

The director of course would be Mira Nair (The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Monsoon Wedding).

Ranjit Singh, the protagonist of my book, was once an elite soldier, but in America he is now essentially a servant. To play this proud, broken man, I’d choose...[read on]
Learn more about the book and author at A.X. Ahmad's website and Facebook page.

The Page 69 Test: The Caretaker.

Writers Read: A.X. Ahmad.

My Book, The Movie: The Caretaker.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten top utopias

The Wu Ming Foundation is a collective of novelists based in Italy. They are the authors of several novels. As of springtime 2013, four of them are available in English: Q, 54, Manituana and Altai.

One of ten top utopias they named for the Guardian:
Mountains of the Mind by Robert Macfarlane

This is one of the best books on mountaineering ever written. It's the book that explicitly deals with the utopian impulse that drives men and women to suffer cold and fatigue, defy altitude sickness, risk death at every moment, only to see the world from the peak of a mountain, little more than a quick glance before going back down. Until the 18th century, no utopian impulse was associated with mountains. People were not interested in climbing them, reaching their peaks was not yet an expression of the primary metaphor up = good/down = bad. Macfarlane tells the story of how humans became interested in mountains, and turned them into a realm of utopia.
Read about another utopia on the list.

Mountains of the Mind is a book that made a difference to Gillian Anderson.

--Marshal Zeringue

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Three novels that concern food but aren't in love with food

Jessica Soffer earned her MFA at Hunter College. Her work has appeared in Granta, the New York Times, and Vogue, among other publications. She teaches fiction at Connecticut College and lives in New York City.

Soffer's new novel, her debut, is Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots.

For NPR she tagged three books that concern food but aren't in love with food, including:
The Middlesteins by Jami Attenberg.

At the heart of this novel is the sad truth that relationships with food, complicated and all-consuming as they can be, can wreak havoc on a marriage, a family and, of course, on a body. Edie Middlestein, our protagonist, is 5 years old and already 62 pounds when the novel begins, and upward of 332 as an adult when it ends. In between, she eats and eats and eats, and we learn the ways in which her eating has damaged her daughter, her husband, and even her relationship with her grandchildren. Food runs and ruins the lives of everyone in this book. Toward the end of the novel, we are given a food scene that smacks vaguely of deliciousness, of lust, of more traditional foodie fiction, and we're enticed — but only momentarily, as it's just a foil, a segue to the book's most heartbreaking moment, and perhaps its most inevitable.
Read about another book on the list.

Visit Jessica Soffer's website and learn about ten of her favorite endings in books.

Writers Read: Jessica Soffer.

My Book, The Movie: Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Meg Donohue reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Meg Donohue, author of All the Summer Girls.

Her entry begins:
I just finished reading Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. I found it to be devastatingly sad and beautiful. The characters in the book are so fully realized it seems almost impossible to believe that they’re not real people. And Atkinson is a master at...[read on]
About All the Summer Girls, from the publisher:
In Philadelphia, good girl Kate is dumped by her fiancé the day she learns she is pregnant with his child. In New York City, beautiful stay-at-home mom Vanessa finds herself obsessively searching the Internet for news of an old flame. And in San Francisco, Dani, an aspiring writer who can't seem to put down a book—or a cocktail—long enough to open her laptop, has just been fired ... again.

In an effort to regroup, Kate, Vanessa, and Dani retreat to the New Jersey beach town where they once spent their summers. Emboldened by the seductive cadences of the shore, the women begin to realize just how much their lives, and friendships, have been shaped by the choices they made one fateful night on the beach eight years earlier—and the secrets that now threaten to surface.
Learn more about the book and author at Meg Donohue's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: How to Eat a Cupcake.

Writers Read: Meg Donohue (April 2012).

My Book, The Movie: How to Eat a Cupcake.

The Page 69 Test: All the Summer Girls.

Writers Read: Meg Donohue.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Rhonda Riley's "The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope by Rhonda Riley.

About the book, from the publisher:
In the waning months of World War II, young Evelyn Roe's life is transformed when she finds what she takes to be a badly burned soldier, all but completely buried in the heavy red-clay soil on her family's farm in North Carolina. When Evelyn rescues the stranger, it quickly becomes clear he is not a simple man. As innocent as a newborn, he recovers at an unnatural speed, and then begins to change—first into Evelyn's mirror image, and then into her complement, a man she comes to know as Adam.

Evelyn and Adam fall in love, sharing a connection that reaches to the essence of Evelyn's being. But the small town where they live is not ready to accept the likes of Adam, and his unusual origin becomes the secret at the center of their seemingly normal marriage.

Adam proves gifted with horses, and together he and Evelyn establish a horse-training business. They raise five daughters, each of whom possesses something of Adam's supernatural gifts. Then a tragic accident strikes the family, and Adam, in his grief, reveals his extraordinary character to the local community. Evelyn and Adam must flee to Florida with their daughters to avoid ostracism and prying doctors. Adrift in their new surroundings, they soon realize that the difference between Adam and other men is greater than they ever imagined.

Intensely moving and unforgettable, The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope captures the beauty of the natural world, and explores the power of abiding love and otherness in all its guises. It illuminates the magic in ordinary life and makes us believe in the extraordinary.
Learn more about the book and author at Rhonda Riley's website and Facebook page.

The Page 69 Test: The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Lisa Breglia's "Living with Oil"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Living with Oil: Promises, Peaks, and Declines on Mexico’s Gulf Coast by Lisa Breglia.

About the book, from the publisher:
For decades, Mexico has been one of the world’s top non-OPEC oil exporters, but since the 2004 peak and subsequent decline of the massive offshore oilfield—Cantarell—the prospects for the country have worsened. Living with Oil takes a unique look at the cultural and economic dilemmas in this locale, focusing on residents in the fishing community of Isla Aguada, Campeche, who experienced the long-term repercussions of a 1979 oil spill that at its height poured out 30,000 barrels a day, a blowout eerily similar to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster.

Tracing the interplay of the global energy market and the struggle it creates between citizens, the state, and multinational corporations, this study also provides lessons in the tug-of-war between environmentalism and the lure of profits. In Mexico, oil has held status as a symbol of nationalist pride as well as a key economic asset that supports the state’s everyday operations. Capturing these dilemmas in a country now facing a national security crisis at the hands of violent drug traffickers, cultural anthropologist Lisa Breglia covers issues of sovereignty, security, and stability in Mexico’s post-peak future.

The first in-depth account of the local effects of peak oil in Mexico, emphasizing the everyday lives and livelihoods of coastal Campeche residents, Living with Oil demonstrates important aspects of the political economy of energy while showing vivid links between the global energy marketplace and the individual lives it affects.
Learn more about Living with Oil at the University of Texas Press website and Lisa Breglia's Facebook page.

The Page 99 Test: Living with Oil.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five of the best books on golf

One title on the Barnes & Noble Review's list of five top books on golf:
The Back Nine by Billy Mott.

Mott didn't start writing until age 36, but his long experience as a caddy pays off with this tough, mesmerizing, and cliché-free debut novel. A former golf phenom who stopped playing due to a freak accident slowly discovers -- 20 years later -- that he can somehow still swing a club competitively.
Read about another book on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Michael Stanley's "Deadly Harvest," the movie

Now showing at My Book, The Movie: Deadly Harvest by Michael Stanley.

The entry begins:
Our main character, Assistant Superintendent David “Kubu” Bengu of the Botswana Criminal Investigation Department (CID), is a large man. It’s no accident that his nickname “Kubu” means hippopotamus in the local language, Setswana.

James Earl Jones would be a wonderful Kubu. He has the perfect balance of gravity and levity, as well as an imposing presence and size. The only problem is that Kubu is in his thirties and Jones is in his eighties. That wouldn’t work.

Fortunately, there is another actor who would fill Kubu’s shoes. That is Forest Whitaker, who played Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland. He too has what it takes to dominate a scene, as well as the ability to blend humor and chilling intensity. In reality, of course, the movie makers would choose whomever they wanted – just look at...[read on]
Learn more about the book and authors at Michael Stanley's website.

Read: Michael Stanley's top ten African crime novels.

The Page 69 Test: Deadly Harvest.

My Book, The Movie: Deadly Harvest.

--Marshal Zeringue

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Three top books on Nigeria

At the Guardian, Pushpinder Khaneka named three of the best books on Nigeria. One title on the list:
Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Adichie's powerful second novel spans the decade to the end of the 1967-70 secessionist Biafran war, which tore Nigeria apart and took millions of lives.

The intelligent, compassionate story weaves together the lives and different worlds of five protagonists, among them a charismatic, revolutionary academic, his beautiful partner, and their houseboy, who develops a fierce loyalty to his employers.

As the conflict deepens, the Igbo population in the region suffer as they are sucked into hunger, squalor and violence. Personal and private struggles take centre stage as friendships and loyalties are severely tested, but the story encompasses wider themes such as postcolonialism, ethnic loyalties and race.

The pain and poignancy of the time are beautifully evoked as the new nation's hopes and dreams – represented by the half of a yellow sun emblem that appears on Biafra's flag – flower briefly, before being brutally crushed.

One of the characters in the novel is writing a book titled The World Was Silent When We Died. As if in response, Half of a Yellow Sun provides a searing history lesson that brings a distant war up close, and works as a powerful antidote to forgetting.
Read about another book on the list.

Half of a Yellow Sun is one of Lorraine Adams's six best books.

Learn about the book that changed Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's life.

Also see Helon Habila's list of three books that will help readers better understand Nigeria.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is A.X. Ahmad reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: A.X. Ahmad, author of The Caretaker.

His entry begins:
Imagine a great literary author who starts writing mysteries. Added to his gorgeous prose a clever plot, and the dank, gray setting of Dublin in the 1950s.

John Banville won the Booker Prize for The Sea, and that seemed to have loosened him up. Since then he’s been writing a series of mysteries under the pen name ‘Benjamin Black’, featuring a detective named Quirke, and they are stunners. I’ve...[read on]
About The Caretaker, from the publisher:
Who is the caretaker hiding in the shadows of the Martha’s Vineyard mansions he tends?

Back in India, Ranjit Singh commanded an elite army squad. But that was years ago, before his Army career ended in dishonor, shattering his reputation. Driven from his homeland, he is now a caretaker on the exclusive resort island of Martha’s Vineyard, looking after the vacation homes of the rich and powerful. One harsh winter, faced with no other choice, he secretly moves his family into the house of one of his clients, an African-American Senator. Here, his wife and daughter are happy, and he feels safe for the first time in ages. But Ranjit’s idyll is shattered when mysterious men break into the house. Pursued and hunted, Ranjit is forced to enter the Senator’s shadowy world, and his only ally is Anna, the Senator’s beautiful wife, who has secrets of her own. Together, they uncover a trail of deception that leads from the calm shores of the Vineyard to countries half a world away. And when his investigation stirs up long forgotten events, the caretaker must finally face the one careless decision that ruined his life- and forced him to leave India.

A gripping tale of hidden histories, political intrigue and dangerous attractions, A. X. Ahmad's The Caretaker introduces a new hero for our times: an immigrant caught between two worlds and a man caught between two loves.
Learn more about the book and author at A.X. Ahmad's website and Facebook page.

The Page 69 Test: The Caretaker.

Writers Read: A.X. Ahmad.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Daphne Kalotay's "Sight Reading"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: Sight Reading: A Novel by Daphne Kalotay.

About the book, from the publisher:
The critically acclaimed author of Russian Winter turns her "sure and suspenseful artistry" (Boston Globe) to the lives of three colleagues and lovers in the world of classical music.

On a Boston street one warm spring day, Hazel and Remy spot each other for the first time in years. Although their brief meeting may seem insignificant, behind them lie two decades in which their life paths have crisscrossed, diverged, and ultimately interlaced. Remy, a gifted violinist, is married to the composer Nicholas Elko—once the love of Hazel's life.

It has been twenty years since Remy, an ambitious conservatory student; Nicholas, a wunderkind launching an international career; and his wife, the beautiful and fragile Hazel, first came together, tipping their collective world on its axis. As their story unfolds from 1987 to 2007, from Europe to America, from conservatory life to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, each discovers the surprising ways in which the quest to create something real and true—be it a work of art or one's own life—can lead to the most personal of revelations.

Lyrical and evocative, Sight Reading explores the role of art and beauty in everyday life, while unspooling a transporting story of marriage, family, and the secrets we keep, even from ourselves.
Learn more about the book and author at Daphne Kalotay's website.

The Page 69 Test: Sight Reading.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Sabine Heinlein's "Among Murderers"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Among Murderers: Life after Prison by Sabine Heinlein.

About the book, from the publisher:
What is it like for a convicted murderer who has spent decades behind bars to suddenly find himself released into a world he barely recognizes? What is it like to start over from nothing? To answer these questions Sabine Heinlein followed the everyday lives and emotional struggles of Angel Ramos and his friends Bruce and Adam—three men convicted of some of society’s most heinous crimes—as they return to the free world.

Heinlein spent more than two years at the Castle, a prominent halfway house in West Harlem, shadowing her protagonists as they painstakingly learn how to master their freedom. Having lived most of their lives behind bars, the men struggle to cross the street, choose a dish at a restaurant, and withdraw money from an ATM. Her empathetic first-person narrative gives a visceral sense of the men’s inner lives and of the institutions they encounter on their odyssey to redemption. Heinlein follows the men as they navigate the subway, visit the barber shop, venture on stage, celebrate Halloween, and loop through the maze of New York’s reentry programs. She asks what constitutes successful rehabilitation and how one faces the guilt and shame of having taken someone’s life.

With more than 700,000 people being released from prisons each year to a society largely unprepared—and unwilling—to receive them, this book provides an incomparable perspective on a pressing public policy issue. It offers a poignant view into a rarely seen social setting and into the hearts and minds of three unforgettable individuals who struggle with some of life’s harshest challenges.
Learn more about the book and author at Sabine Heinlein's website.

The Page 99 Test: Among Murderers.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top 10 books on Burma

Rory MacLean's books include Under the Dragon: A Journey Through Burma. He has won the Yorkshire Post Best First Work prize and an Arts Council Writers' Award, was twice shortlisted for the Thomas Cook/Daily Telegraph Travel Book Prize and was nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary award. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a regular contributor to BBC Radio 3 and 4.

One of his top ten books on Burma, as told to the Guardian:
The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma by Thant Myint-U

For 200 years, Thant Myint-U's forefathers served Burma's royalty. His grandfather rose to become UN secretary-general. This remarkable family story is woven into Burma's history in a work that is moving, lyrical, shocking – and essential for anyone wishing to understand the country emerging today.
Read about another entry on the list.

Note: In 1989, the military government officially changed the English translations of many names dating back to Burma's colonial period, including that of the country itself: "Burma" became "Myanmar". The renaming remains a contested issue.

--Marshal Zeringue

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Free book: "The Possibility Dogs"

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Campaign for the American Reader are giving away a copy of the new book, The Possibility Dogs: What a Handful of "Unadoptables" Taught Me About Service, Hope, and Healing by Susannah Charleson.

HOW TO ENTER: (1) send an email to this address:

(2) In the subject line, type: Reader: Possibility Dogs.

(3) Include your name (or alias or whatever you wish to be called if I email you to tell you you've won the book) in the body of the email.

[I will not sell or share your email address; nor will I be in touch with you unless it is to tell you you have won the book.  I promise.]

Contest closes on Sunday, June 9th.

Only one entry per person, please. [We believe in second chances: you may also register for a copy of the book at Coffee with a Canine. Note that there's a different entry code.]

Winner must have a US mailing address.

Learn more about The Possibility Dogs at Susannah Charleson's website.

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Susannah Charleson and Puzzle (July 2010).

--Marshal Zeringue

Patrick Bishop's "The Hunt for Hitler’s Warship," the movie

Now showing at My Book, The Movie: The Hunt for Hitler’s Warship by Patrick Bishop.

The entry begins:
The outstanding character in The Hunt for Hitler’s Warship is Wing Commander James ‘Willie’ Tait, the man who landed the bomb on the battleship Tirpitz that finally sent her to the bottom. He was such an unusual character that it is hard to think of a bygone actor to play him, let alone a contemporary one. Tait was the commander of 617 Squadron, The ‘Dam Busters’ who were formed specially to destroy the great dams of the Ruhr valley, the heartland of Germany’s war industry. Mission accomplished, they went on to perform many other extraordinary feats. Tait was their third real leader. The first was Guy Gibson who led the Dams raid. Gibson [played by Richard Todd in the 1955 movie, The Dam Busters] was brash and vain but also rather troubled and insecure. When taken off operational flying to make propaganda tours of Britain and the U.S. he became depressed, begged to return and was shot down and killed on his first raid. After a stop-gap appointment he was replaced by Leonard Cheshire. Cheshire was an equally great warrior but had a completely different personality...[read on]
Learn more about the book and author at Patrick Bishop's website.

The Page 99 Test: The Hunt for Hitler’s Warship.

My Book, The Movie: The Hunt for Hitler’s Warship.

--Marshal Zeringue

13 post-apocalyptic stories that actually teach valuable lessons

At io9, Amanda Yesilbas, Katharine Trendacosta, and Annalee Newitz came up with thirteen post-apocalyptic stories that actually teach valuable lessons.

One book on the list:
Canticle for Lebowitz, by Walter Miller, Jr.

An even darker (and less whimsical) version of [Olaf Stapledon's] Last and First Men can be found in this horrifically depressing novel, where humanity is doomed to repeat its mistakes and obliterate itself in war over and over again. There is no hope for us to really evolve beyond where we are now — human civilization is always rising only to strangle itself.
Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Adam Mitzner reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Adam Mitzner, author of A Case of Redemption.

His entry begins:
I'm currently in the middle of three books, two of which involve my daughters. My nine year old and I are reading all of the Hunger Games books aloud to each other, and we're currently midway through Catching Fire. Last year we read all the Harry Potter books and it was the one of the greatest reading experiences of my life. Oh, and we read them wearing...[read on]
About the book, from the publisher:
Acclaimed thriller author Adam Mitzner returns with the gripping tale of a high-profile attorney recovering from a personal tragedy who’s drawn back into the courtroom—and a media firestorm— in the biggest murder trial in a decade.

Dan Sorensen was once a high-powered New York City defense attorney ... but that was before a horrifying accident killed the two people in his life who meant the most, plunging him into a downward spiral. As he approaches rock bottom, Dan is unexpectedly offered the opportunity of a lifetime: defend an up-and-coming rapper in a murder trial on the front page of every newspaper. Although his client swears he’s innocent of the brutal slaying of his pop star girlfriend, proving it will not be easy, especially because he’s suspected of bragging about the crime in one of the hottest songs in the country.

Unsure that he’s ready to handle such a high-stakes case, Dan realizes that this chance to save a man he believes has been falsely accused of murder just may be his last and only hope to put his own life back on track and achieve redemption for his past sins. But as Dan delves deeper and deeper into the case, he learns that atonement comes at a very steep price. A powerful and riveting new voice in fiction, Adam Mitzner pulls out all the stops in his follow-up to the highly acclaimed A Conflict of Interest. A Case of Redemption is a gritty, sophisticated thriller that will draw fans of Scott Turow and John Grisham into a world of relentless suspense.
Learn more about the book and author at Adam Mitzner's website.

The Page 69 Test: A Conflict of Interest.

Writers Read: Adam Mitzner (May 2011).

My Book, The Movie: A Conflict of Interest.

The Page 69 Test: A Case of Redemption.

My Book, The Movie: A Case of Redemption.

Writers Read: Adam Mitzner.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Meg Donohue's "All the Summer Girls"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: All the Summer Girls by Meg Donohue.

About the book, from the publisher:
In Philadelphia, good girl Kate is dumped by her fiancé the day she learns she is pregnant with his child. In New York City, beautiful stay-at-home mom Vanessa finds herself obsessively searching the Internet for news of an old flame. And in San Francisco, Dani, an aspiring writer who can't seem to put down a book—or a cocktail—long enough to open her laptop, has just been fired ... again.

In an effort to regroup, Kate, Vanessa, and Dani retreat to the New Jersey beach town where they once spent their summers. Emboldened by the seductive cadences of the shore, the women begin to realize just how much their lives, and friendships, have been shaped by the choices they made one fateful night on the beach eight years earlier—and the secrets that now threaten to surface.
Learn more about the book and author at Meg Donohue's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: How to Eat a Cupcake.

Writers Read: Meg Donohue (April 2012).

My Book, The Movie: How to Eat a Cupcake.

The Page 69 Test: All the Summer Girls.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Joseph S. Nye, Jr.'s "Presidential Leadership and the Creation of the American Era"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Presidential Leadership and the Creation of the American Era by Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

About the book, from the publisher:
This book examines the foreign policy decisions of the presidents who presided over the most critical phases of America's rise to world primacy in the twentieth century, and assesses the effectiveness and ethics of their choices. Joseph Nye, who was ranked as one of Foreign Policy magazine's 100 Top Global Thinkers, reveals how some presidents tried with varying success to forge a new international order while others sought to manage America's existing position. Taking readers from Theodore Roosevelt's bid to insert America into the global balance of power to George H. W. Bush's Gulf War in the early 1990s, Nye compares how Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson responded to America's growing power and failed in their attempts to create a new order. He looks at Franklin D. Roosevelt's efforts to escape isolationism before World War II, and at Harry Truman's successful transformation of Roosevelt's grand strategy into a permanent overseas presence of American troops at the dawn of the Cold War. He describes Dwight Eisenhower's crucial role in consolidating containment, and compares the roles of Ronald Reagan and Bush in ending the Cold War and establishing the unipolar world in which American power reached its zenith.

The book shows how transformational presidents like Wilson and Reagan changed how America sees the world, but argues that transactional presidents like Eisenhower and the elder Bush were sometimes more effective and ethical. It also draws important lessons for today's uncertain world, in which presidential decision making is more critical than ever.
Learn more about Presidential Leadership and the Creation of the American Era at the Princeton University Press website.

Also see: Joseph Nye's top 5 books on global power.

Writers Read: Joseph S. Nye (August 2007).

The Page 99 Test: Presidential Leadership and the Creation of the American Era.

--Marshal Zeringue

Monday, May 27, 2013

Free book: "Lighthouse Bay"

Touchstone and the Campaign for the American Reader are giving away a copy of Lighthouse Bay: A Novel By Kimberley Freeman.

HOW TO ENTER: (1) send an email to this address:

(2) In the subject line, type "Lighthouse Bay".

(3) Include your name (or alias or whatever you wish to be called if I email you to tell you you've won the book) in the body of the email.

[I will not sell or share your email address; nor will I be in touch with you unless it is to tell you you have won the book.  I promise.]

Contest closes on Friday, May 31th.

Only one entry per person, please.

Winner must have a US mailing address.

Learn more about the book and author at Kimberley Freeman's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Kathleen Tessaro's "The Perfume Collector," the movie

Now showing at My Book, The Movie: The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro.

The entry begins:
If The Perfume Collector were made into a movie, I'd be extremely lucky and pleased under any conditions. There are many young actresses I'd be thrilled to see play the roles of both Eva and Grace, among them, Marion Cotillard and Claire Foy come to mind. Marion Cotillard is capable of transforming so fluidly; her sensuality and intelligence radiate in each movement and she's the kind of woman who looks as if she would smell incredible. Claire Foy on the other hand brings fragile restraint and combines it with a huge underlying vulnerability. She's distinctly English in many ways; a lovely contrast to Marion. I'd love to see Michael...[read on]
Learn more about the book and author at Kathleen Tessaro's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Perfume Collector.

--Marshal Zeringue

Omid Djalili's six best books

Omid Djalili is a British Iranian stand-up comedian and actor. He appeared in Gladiator as a slave trader and was Cairo prison warden Gad Hassan in The Mummy.

One of his six best books, as told to the Daily Express:
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

I remember refusing to put this down even as I walked through airport security.

It's a tremendously moving account of communist-ruled Afghanistan in the Eighties and opens you up to the horrors of that but you also empathise with the characters. Wonderful.
Read about another book on the list.

The Kite Runner is among Ramin Karimloo's six favorite books and Roger Moore's six best books.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Darden North reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Darden North, author of Wiggle Room.

His entry begins:
I am reading The Rook, Steven James’ second thriller with protagonist Patrick Bowers. Bowers is an FBI criminologist left to parent his late wife’s pierced and soon-to-be tattooed teenage daughter while drawn into an arson investigation in San Diego. James gets away with a smooth mix of writing in both first and third person, confining each to separate chapters or long scenes as we share Bowers’ complicated life. The agent deals with grief over his wife’s cancer death while the truly nasty antagonist Creighton Melice is busy torturing and murdering women. Of course, there’s the expected corporate greed and government corruption and an emerging...[read on]
About Darden North's Wiggle Room:
Brad Cummins is an Air Force surgeon who returns from overseas deployment after serving four months at the height of the Iraq War, during which he fails to save an injured soldier but mends the GI’s attacker. He endures rigid criticism from his peers, yet survives the medical tribunal’s investigation. Back in Jackson, Mississippi, still blaming himself for returning the insurgent to the killing fields, Cummins discovers his look-alike brother shot to death and is certain that he was the intended target. Both the police and Brad’s fiancée discount his fears as paranoia, forcing Brad to consult a psychiatrist. Then his fiancée is found murdered in his apartment. Now there is no doubt in his mind that he is marked for murder. But who will believe him?
Learn more about the book and author at Darden North's website and blog.

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Darden North & Valerie and Foxy.

Writers Read: Darden North.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Kit Reed's "Son of Destruction" and "The Story Until Now"

The current features at the Page 69 Test: Son of Destruction and The Story Until Now: A Great Big Book of Stories by Kit Reed.

Learn more about the author and her work at Kit Reed's website.

My Book, The Movie: Son of Destruction and The Story Until Now.

Writers Read: Kit Reed.

The Page 69 Test: Son of Destruction.

The Page 69 Test: The Story Until Now.

--Marshal Zeringue

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Pg. 99: Patrick Bishop's "The Hunt for Hitler’s Warship"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: The Hunt for Hitler’s Warship by Patrick Bishop.

About the book, from the publisher:
Winston Churchill called “the Beast.” It was said to be unsinkable. More than thirty military operations failed to destroy it. Eliminating the Tirpitz, Hitler’s mightiest warship, a 52,000-ton behemoth, became an Allied obsession.

In The Hunt for Hitler’s Warship, Patrick Bishop tells the epic story of the two men who would not rest until the Tirpitz lay at the bottom of the sea. In November of 1944, with the threat to Russian supply lines increasing and Allied forces needing reinforcements in the Pacific, a raid as audacious as any Royal Air Force operation of the war was launched, under the command of one of Britain’s greatest but least-known war heroes, Wig Commander Willie Tait.

Bishop draws on decades of experience as a foreign war correspondent to paint a vivid picture of this historic clash of the Royal Air Force’s Davids versus Hitler’s Goliath of naval engineering. Readers will not be able to put down this account of one of World War II’s most dramatic showdowns.
Learn more about the book and author at Patrick Bishop's website.

The Page 99 Test: The Hunt for Hitler’s Warship.

--Marshal Zeringue

Free book: "The Possibility Dogs"

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Campaign for the American Reader are giving away a copy of the new book, The Possibility Dogs: What a Handful of "Unadoptables" Taught Me About Service, Hope, and Healing by Susannah Charleson.

HOW TO ENTER: (1) send an email to this address:

(2) In the subject line, type: Reader: Possibility Dogs.

(3) Include your name (or alias or whatever you wish to be called if I email you to tell you you've won the book) in the body of the email.

[I will not sell or share your email address; nor will I be in touch with you unless it is to tell you you have won the book.  I promise.]

Contest closes on Sunday, June 9th.

Only one entry per person, please. [We believe in second chances: you may also register for a copy of the book at Coffee with a Canine. Note that there's a different entry code.]

Winner must have a US mailing address.

Learn more about The Possibility Dogs at Susannah Charleson's website.

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Susannah Charleson and Puzzle (July 2010).

--Marshal Zeringue

Three of the best books on Colombia

At the Guardian, Pushpinder Khaneka named three of the best books on Colombia. One title on the list:
One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez

In the best-known – and perhaps most dazzling – novel to come out of Latin America, Colombia's favourite son takes us on a magic carpet ride through his country's turbulent past.

Historical fact is liberally mixed with fantasy in a saga that spans six generations of the Buendia family. The Buendias have great strengths as well as fatal flaws, which play out in the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo in the South American jungle. Macondo, "an intricate stew of truth and mirages", bears more than a passing resemblance to the author's own home town of Aracataca on the Colombian coast.

In this sweep of history as seen through the eyes of a single family – all of whose males are named Arcadio or Aureliano – civil war rages, lives are lost, hearts break and dreams shatter. The looping chronology, along with generations of Buendias sharing names and characteristics, gives us history as a story of repetition and return. That keeps readers on their toes in this enthralling and highly comic novel.

With this book, the master of magic realism took a giant step towards winning the Nobel prize for literature in 1982.
Read about another book on the list.

One Hundred Years of Solitude made Michael Jacobs's list of the top ten Colombian stories, Simon Mason's top ten list of fictional families and Rebecca Stott's five best list of historical novels. It is one of Lynda Bellingham's six best books, Walter Mosley's five favorite books, Eric Kraft's five most important books, and James Patterson's five most important books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five notable books by and about obsessed artists

Patricia Volk is the author of the memoir Stuffed; the novels To My Dearest Friends and White Light; and two collections of short stories, All it Takes and The Yellow Banana.

Her new book is the memoir, Shocked: My Mother, Schiaparelli, and Me.

One of Volk's five favorite books by and about obsessed artists, as told to the Wall Street Journal:
Noa Noa
by Paul Gauguin (1900)

In 1891, Gauguin left his family in France and sailed for Tahiti. He was 43 and desperate to escape Parisian pretensions of civilization. And what does he find in Papeete? Despoiled by French colonialists, a culture as vapid as the one he'd left. Worse, because it's imitative. His back-to-nature rejuvenation fantasy leads him to a hut in the wilderness. But despite no shortage of women, Gauguin is profoundly lonely. Until, that is, he meets Tehura, his 13-year-old Eve. "I was permeated with her fragrance—noa noa." Over the next two years, Gauguin fills 66 of his most gorgeous, sun-drenched canvases. His journal covers this time, but unlike Dalí's, it rarely describes his technique. Instead the reader is plunged into an educated man's anthropological observations as he acclimates to what he assumed was a savage society. Gauguin's spare style echoes the directness of his paintings. You may not like him (Who could like someone so cruel to Van Gogh?), but after reading "Noa Noa," you will love his pictures more.
Read about another book on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Sally Cabot reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Sally Cabot, author of Benjamin Franklin's Bastard.

Her entry begins:
I’ve just finished reading the latest book by one of my favorite authors, Elinor Lipman, The View from Penthouse B. Ms. Lipman’s book are deceptively easy reads that leave one pondering the greater questions long after the cover is closed (or the “off” key is pressed), which is both a delight and a curse for a fellow writer. I can escape without undo strain to a new place, but sometimes I have...[read on]
About the book, from the publisher:
An absorbing and compelling work of literary historical fiction, set in colonial Philadelphia, that brings to life a little-known chapter of the American Revolution—the story of Benjamin Franklin and his bastard son, and the women who loved them

Sixteen-year-old Anne is an uneducated serving girl at the Penny Pot tavern when she first meets the commanding Benjamin Franklin. The time she spends with the brilliant young printer teases her curious mind, and the money he provides keeps her family from starving. But the ambitious Franklin is committed to someone else, a proper but infatuated woman named Deborah Read who becomes his common-law wife. At least Anne has William, her cherished infant son, to remind her of his father and to soften some of life's bleakness.

But growing up a bastard amid the squalor of Eades Alley isn't the life Anne wants for her only son. Acutely aware of the challenges facing them, she makes a heartbreaking sacrifice. She will give up William forever, allowing Benjamin and Deborah Franklin to raise him as their own.

Though she cannot be with him, Anne secretly watches out for her beloved child, daring to be close to him without revealing the truth about herself or his birth, and standing guard as Deborah Franklin struggles to accept her husband's bastard son as her own.

As the years pass, the bustling colonies grow and prosper, offering opportunities for wealth and power for a talented man like William's father. Benjamin's growing fame and connections as a scientist, writer, philosopher, businessman, and political genius open doors for the astute William as well, and eventually King George III appoints Benjamin's bastard son to the new position of Royal Governor of New Jersey. Anne's fortunes also rise. A shrewd woman of many talents, she builds a comfortable life of her own—yet nothing fills her with more joy or pride than her son's success and happiness.

But all that her accomplished son has achieved is threatened when the colonies—led by influential men, including his own father—begin the fight for independence. A steadfast, loyal subject of the British Crown, William cannot accept his father's passionate defense of the patriots' cause, and the enduring bond they share fractures, a heart-wrenching break that will forever haunt them and those they love.

A poignant tale of passion, family, love, and war, Benjamin Franklin's Bastard skillfully brings into focus a cast of remarkable characters drawn from real life, and vividly re-creates one of the most remarkable and thrilling periods of history—the birth of the American nation.
Learn more about the author and her work at Sally Cabot's Facebook page.

My Book, The Movie: Benjamin Franklin's Bastard.

The Page 69 Test: Benjamin Franklin's Bastard.

Writers Read: Sally Cabot.

--Marshal Zeringue

Adam Mitzner's "A Case of Redemption," the movie

Now showing at My Book, The Movie: A Case of Redemption by Adam Mitzner.

The entry begins:
There are three main characters in A Case of Redemption: Dan Sorensen, who has just lost his wife and daughter and left his high powered New York City law firm; Nina Harrington, the beautiful, young lawyer who convinces him to take on the case of Legally Dead, and Legally Dead, the up and coming rapper accused of murdering his pop star girlfriend.

I don't cast the parts as I'm writing, but I do think about a type:

For Dan, the actor has to have some gravitas and be able to convey that he's suffering. I'm a huge Mad Men fan, and so Jon Hamm comes immediately to mind. He may be too conventionally handsome for the role, however, as I envision Dan being a notch or maybe two below Nina in looks. Although they are also easy on the eyes (or so the ladies tell me), I would prefer someone with less conventional good looks, and a little more of an edge. Two actors I admire who fit that bill are Alexander Skarsgård and Michael...[read on]
Learn more about the book and author at Adam Mitzner's website.

The Page 69 Test: A Conflict of Interest.

Writers Read: Adam Mitzner (May 2011).

My Book, The Movie: A Conflict of Interest.

The Page 69 Test: A Case of Redemption.

My Book, The Movie: A Case of Redemption.

--Marshal Zeringue

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Five notable books on the life and times of U.S. soldiers

One title on the Barnes & Noble Review's list of five top books on the life and times of U.S. soldiers:
Bunker Hill: A City, a Siege, a Revolution
by Nathaniel Philbrick

National Book Award winner Nathaniel Philbrick has garnered acclaim by upending myths about America's past, and his approach to the most famed - and violent - battle of the Revolutionary War is no exception. In her recent review, Barbara Spindel writes that "Philbrick is masterful when it comes to selecting rich details to give an epic story a human dimension." With humane regard for the grief of British troops -- saddened to wage war on their ex-countrymen -- and acknowledgment of the often brutal methods of the American patriots, Bunker Hill mounts a full-scale attack on what we know of this pivotal moment in U.S. history.
Read about another book on the list.

Learn about what piqued Philbrick's interest in Bunker Hill.

Also see: Five best books about war by authors who served.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: A .X. Ahmad's "The Caretaker"

This weekend's feature at the Page 69 Test: The Caretaker by A .X. Ahmad.

About the book, from the publisher:
Who is the caretaker hiding in the shadows of the Martha’s Vineyard mansions he tends?

Back in India, Ranjit Singh commanded an elite army squad. But that was years ago, before his Army career ended in dishonor, shattering his reputation. Driven from his homeland, he is now a caretaker on the exclusive resort island of Martha’s Vineyard, looking after the vacation homes of the rich and powerful. One harsh winter, faced with no other choice, he secretly moves his family into the house of one of his clients, an African-American Senator. Here, his wife and daughter are happy, and he feels safe for the first time in ages. But Ranjit’s idyll is shattered when mysterious men break into the house. Pursued and hunted, Ranjit is forced to enter the Senator’s shadowy world, and his only ally is Anna, the Senator’s beautiful wife, who has secrets of her own. Together, they uncover a trail of deception that leads from the calm shores of the Vineyard to countries half a world away. And when his investigation stirs up long forgotten events, the caretaker must finally face the one careless decision that ruined his life- and forced him to leave India.

A gripping tale of hidden histories, political intrigue and dangerous attractions, A. X. Ahmad's The Caretaker introduces a new hero for our times: an immigrant caught between two worlds and a man caught between two loves.
Learn more about the book and author at A.X. Ahmad's website and Facebook page.

The Page 69 Test: The Caretaker.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Kit Reed reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Kit Reed, author of Son of Destruction and The Story Until Now: A Great Big Book of Stories.

Her entry begins:
Right now I'm loving American Dream Machine by Matthew Specktor, a Tin House book that's so good that I have to save the last chapter until the house is empty which it isn't right now.

As to what...[read on]
About Son of Destruction, from the publisher:
A spellbinding American Southern Gothic thriller with a supernatural twist - a past secret has the power to destroy the future...

When Lucy Cartaret dies, her journalist son Dan returns to her hometown, Fort Jude, Florida, in search of his real father, claiming he's here to investigate the mysterious deaths of three elderly women. Spontaneous human combustion, experts say. But why? Surely it's more than coincidence - and what links these deaths to Dan's mother? It soon becomes clear that something terrible happened during his mother's last year in town, thirty years before. But the social elite of Fort Jude are tight-lipped. The families who run the town will do anything to protect their own - anything.
Learn more about the author and her work at Kit Reed's website.

My Book, The Movie: Son of Destruction and The Story Until Now.

Writers Read: Kit Reed.

--Marshal Zeringue