Top twenty books they tried to ban

At the Telegraph Felicity Capon and Catherine Scott tagged twenty top famously banned books, including:

The Satanic Verses
by Salman Rushdie

Rushdie's notorious book, inspired in part by the life of the Prophet Mohammed, famously resulted in Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini placing a fatwa (death sentence) on Rushdie for "insulting Islam". Violent demonstrations erupted against Rushdie around the world and several UK bookshops were firebombed for stocking the book. Most shockingly, Rushdie’s Japanese translator was murdered, his Italian translator wounded in a knife attack and his Norwegian publisher was shot and injured.

Read about another book on the list.

The Satanic Verses is among Seth Satterlee's top six famously banned books, Diarmaid MacCulloch's five best books about blasphemy, Atul Gawande's favorite books, and Karl O. Knausgaard's top ten angel books.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Stephanie Feldman reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Stephanie Feldman, author of The Angel of Losses.

Her entry begins:

I read lots of contemporary fiction. This summer I read and loved Rene Denfeld's The Enchanted, Alexi Zentner's The Lobster Kings, and J.M. Ledgard's Submergence, and I'm excited to finally have my copy of David Mitchell's The Bone Clocks. But I’ll tell you about a few books I discovered this summer that are not literary novels.

I just finished Brain on Fire, Susannah Cahalan's memoir about the rare neurological disease that struck her when she was 24. I love popular science, and I'm fascinated by medical culture, but beyond that, the book is a harrowing and very human account of disease and identity. It's...[read on]

About The Angel of Losses, from the publisher:

The Tiger’s Wife meets A History of Love in this inventive, lushly imagined debut novel that explores the intersections of family secrets, Jewish myths, the legacy of war and history, and the bonds between sisters.

When Eli Burke dies, he leaves behind a mysterious notebook full of stories about a magical figure named The White Rebbe, a miracle worker in league with the enigmatic Angel of Losses, protector of things gone astray, and guardian of the lost letter of the alphabet, which completes the secret name of God.

When his granddaughter, Marjorie, discovers Eli’s notebook, everything she thought she knew about her grandfather—and her family—comes undone. To find the truth about Eli’s origins and unlock the secrets he kept, she embarks on an odyssey that takes her deep into the past, from 18th century Europe to Nazi-occupied Lithuania, and back to the present, to New York City and her estranged sister Holly, whom she must save from the consequences of Eli’s past.

Interweaving history, theology, and both real and imagined Jewish folktales, The Angel of Losses is a family story of what lasts, and of what we can—and cannot—escape.

Visit Stephanie Feldman's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

The Angel of Losses made Nicole Hill's list of five of the best new girl-powered sci-fi and fantasy novels.

The Page 69 Test: The Angel of Losses.

Writers Read: Stephanie Feldman.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Elena Mauli Shapiro's "In the Red"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: In the Red: A Novel by Elena Mauli Shapiro.

About the book, from the publisher:

A darkly erotic novel about a good girl gone bad.

When Irina--Romanian by birth but brought up by American parents who have never understood her-arrives at college she quickly abandons ordinary student life for an affair with an older, mysterious Romanian man named Andrei.

Andrei awakens a powerful sensuality in Irina. And he has money - lots of it. For the first time, Irina feels free. But the longer she stays with Andrei, the more she is certain that she can't leave, and that may be complicit in Andrei's work - whatever that "work" might be. Then an unexpected friendship with a young Russian bride opens the door to escape, and also revenge.

A tantalizing, edgy exploration of women and love, power and money-interwoven with potent, unusual, and nervy Romanian fairy tales-In the Red asks what the legacy of love is, and who will be left unscathed.

Visit Elena Mauli Shapiro's website.

The Page 69 Test: In the Red.

--Marshal Zeringue

Interview: Jason McGraw

Author and professor Cara Caddoo interviewed the historian Jason McGraw about his new book, The Work of Recognition: Caribbean Colombia and the Postemancipation Struggle for Citizenship.

From the Q & A:

What led you to this topic (Afro-Colombians, Colombia, this era)? I was thinking of a question that gets to your personal story if you are comfortable with that. Did you say you backpacked around South America during college?

That’s right, I traveled across northern South America and Central America in the 1990s, mainly to see places my family had lived. But I was very wary of going through Colombia, since those years were the height of the conflict there, and as a typical person from the States with limited knowledge of the place, all I could think about was drugs, guns, bombings, and kidnappings. But I did go through the country (instead of around it). And it was incredible. I fell for the place.

The Caribbean coast of Colombia was particularly fascinating. It has some of the oldest European and African settlements in the Americas, and it is still home to some of the first peoples to make contact with Europeans after 1492. As I began to do research in Colombia, I found a lot of information about former slaves of African descent. That was a history I knew about from other places, and I was in school to study that subject. Yet despite Afro-Colombians make up about one-quarter of the population, there was little written that described what happened after slavery ended in 1852. So I thought to myself, “Job security!”

What I found in Colombia was a version of what happened in many countries after they freed their slaves. The time after slave emancipation was...[read on]

Learn more about The Work of Recognition at The University of North Carolina Press website.

The Page 99 Test: The Work of Recognition.

--Marshal Zeringue

Neil Sagebiel's "Draw in the Dunes," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Draw in the Dunes: The 1969 Ryder Cup and the Finish That Shocked the World by Neil Sagebiel.

The entry begins:

Draw in the Dunes is about golf, and golf movies are tough to pull off. That's usually because the actors playing golfers are unconvincing.

Glenn Ford played Ben Hogan in Follow the Sun, the first Hollywood movie about a golfer. While the 1951 movie was a success at the box office, Hogan, a technical adviser on the film, was displeased with Ford because the leading man was so ungolferlike in his movements.

There are exceptions. Stephen Dillane was wonderful as Harry Vardon in The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005).

I would cast charismatic athletic men for the roles of American Jack Nicklaus and Englishman Tony Jacklin, the stars of my new book about the 1969 Ryder Cup.

A young Sean Connery would be a solid choice for Tony Jacklin. Connery was a good golfer. Interestingly, Connery and Jacklin were also good friends.

For Jack Nicklaus, I might cast...[read on]

Visit Neil Sagebiel's blog and follow him on Twitter.

My Book, The Movie: Draw in the Dunes.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Harry Brighouse & Adam Swift's "Family Values"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Family Values: The Ethics of Parent-Child Relationships by Harry Brighouse and Adam Swift.

About the book, from the publisher:

The family is hotly contested ideological terrain. Some defend the traditional two-parent heterosexual family while others welcome its demise. Opinions vary about how much control parents should have over their children’s upbringing. Family Values provides a major new theoretical account of the morality and politics of the family, telling us why the family is valuable, who has the right to parent, and what rights parents should—and should not—have over their children.

Harry Brighouse and Adam Swift argue that parent-child relationships produce the “familial relationship goods” that people need to flourish. Children’s healthy development depends on intimate relationships with authoritative adults, while the distinctive joys and challenges of parenting are part of a fulfilling life for adults. Yet the relationships that make these goods possible have little to do with biology, and do not require the extensive rights that parents currently enjoy. Challenging some of our most commonly held beliefs about the family, Brighouse and Swift explain why a child’s interest in autonomy severely limits parents’ right to shape their children’s values, and why parents have no fundamental right to confer wealth or advantage on their children.

Family Values reaffirms the vital importance of the family as a social institution while challenging its role in the reproduction of social inequality and carefully balancing the interests of parents and children.

Learn more about Family Values at the Princeton University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Family Values.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Stephanie Feldman's "The Angel of Losses"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Angel of Losses: A Novel by Stephanie Feldman.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Tiger’s Wife meets A History of Love in this inventive, lushly imagined debut novel that explores the intersections of family secrets, Jewish myths, the legacy of war and history, and the bonds between sisters.

When Eli Burke dies, he leaves behind a mysterious notebook full of stories about a magical figure named The White Rebbe, a miracle worker in league with the enigmatic Angel of Losses, protector of things gone astray, and guardian of the lost letter of the alphabet, which completes the secret name of God.

When his granddaughter, Marjorie, discovers Eli’s notebook, everything she thought she knew about her grandfather—and her family—comes undone. To find the truth about Eli’s origins and unlock the secrets he kept, she embarks on an odyssey that takes her deep into the past, from 18th century Europe to Nazi-occupied Lithuania, and back to the present, to New York City and her estranged sister Holly, whom she must save from the consequences of Eli’s past.

Interweaving history, theology, and both real and imagined Jewish folktales, The Angel of Losses is a family story of what lasts, and of what we can—and cannot—escape.

Visit Stephanie Feldman's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

The Angel of Losses made Nicole Hill's list of five of the best new girl-powered sci-fi and fantasy novels.

The Page 69 Test: The Angel of Losses.

--Marshal Zeringue

Thirteen notable, sometimes-banned, YA novels

At The Barnes & Noble Book Blog, Shaun Byron Fitzpatrick tagged thirteen favorite, occasionally-banned, YA novels, including:

The Giver, by Lois Lowry

This award-winning dystopian novel is frequently challenged for being “violent” and “unsuitable for its age group.” Hey, parents and teachers, why not give your students a little credit and at least consider the idea that they can handle a book that’s a little dark and makes them think?

Read about another entry on the list.

The Giver made Guy Lodge's list of ten of the best dystopias in fiction, film, art, and television, Joel Cunningham's list of six great young adult book series for fans of The Hunger Games, and Lauren Davis's top ten list of science fiction’s most depressing futuristic retirement scenarios.

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Lois Lowry & Alfie.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Annie Barrows reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Annie Barrows, author of Magic in the Mix.

Her entry begins:

I am currently reading Casanova’s Chinese Restaurant, which is the fifth of the twelve volumes that make up Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell. Everyone always compares Dance to Proust, specifically to The Guermantes Way, but I came to it via Knausgaard’s Struggle, with which it shares a preoccupation with loss and recurrence, as well as an instinct for social titration. Also, like Knausgaard, Powell is extremely funny, which you can’t say about Proust. “Proust—good for a few yuks!” That’s something you just never hear.

Even though I am perfectly happy reading Casanova’s Chinese Restaurant, I have to give it up on...[read on]

About Magic in the Mix, from the publisher:

Molly and Miri Gill are twins. They look the same, act the same, sometimes even think the same. But they weren't always twins. . . . Molly used to live in 1935, until Miri traveled back in time to save her from the clutches of Molly's evil adoptive family. Only they know about the magic, and its power to set things right. So when home repairs unleash more unexpected magic from their very special . . . very magical old house, the girls set off on another time-traveling adventure to the Civil War where they race against the clock to save two unusual soldiers and come to terms with the truth about Molly's real past.

Brimming with lovable characters and spine-tingling magic, this long-awaited sequel will bring a whole new batch of readers to Annie Barrows' highly acclaimed, wonderfully popular world of twin-inspired magic.

Visit Annie Barrows' website and blog.

Writers Read: Annie Barrows (December 2008).

Writers Read: Annie Barrows.

--Marshal Zeringue

Russ Castronovo's "Propaganda 1776," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Propaganda 1776: Secrets, Leaks, and Revolutionary Communications in Early America by Russ Castronovo.

The entry begins:

The first casting agent for the movie version of Propaganda 1776 had to be fired. His problem was that he couldn’t get beyond seeing propaganda in negative terms. Ever since World War I, propaganda has been reduced to deceit and dishonesty in ways that impoverish the concept. This first casting agent kept thinking that Voldermort, as the embodiment of evil, would be perfect for the role of an American propagandist. If not Voldermort, then Don Draper was the next choice since his philandering and deceptions, not the least of which are his own self-deceptions, would make him ideal for the part of an oily flimflam man.

But, as I said, the casting agent’s assumptions didn’t match the story of Propaganda 1776. By looking at the colonial network of pamphleteers, letter writers, printers and poets, this book shows how propaganda can be integral to democratic practice. Prior to the twentieth century, men and women of the eighteenth-century Atlantic world used an array of rhetorical devices—satire, barbed attacks, plagiarism, and the theft of confidential documents—to communicate unofficial truths.

The most important scenes in the movie don’t focus on principal actors but on ink-stained printers, crowds clamoring for the latest issue of the Massachusetts Spy, and riotous taverns where Common Sense is being passed around along with pints of rum. So casting extras is going to crucial for this movie. Hopefully the director will ensure that this historical picture won’t be marred as is Spartacus (1960) where tennis shoes and wristwatches can be spotted among the legions of Greek soldiers.

Indeed, Propaganda 1776 shows how effective revolutionaries occupy the shadows and keep their identities submerged beneath the flood of print. What was important to eighteenth-century democracy in America was not the individual actor but the unregulated flow of information. So the trick for casting Propaganda 1776 will be to find actors who will fit into—as opposed to stand out from—the raucous world of inflammatory pamphlets and accusatory broadsides.

Ben Franklin: Although he is celebrated today as an exemplary American, Franklin studiously resisted occupying center stage to ensure that the sources of secret information could remain secret. Either Paul Giamatti or...[read on]

Learn more about Propaganda 1776 at the Oxford University Press website.

My Book, The Movie: Propaganda 1776.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Mary Miley's "Silent Murders"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Silent Murders: A Roaring Twenties Mystery by Mary Miley.

About the book, from the publisher:

Vaudeville actress Leah Randall took on her most daring role ever when she impersonated missing heiress Jessie Carr in order to claim Jessie’s inheritance in The Impersonator. Now that the dust has settled around that tumultuous time in her life, Leah has adopted Jessie’s name as her own and moved to Hollywood, where she's taken a modest but steady job in the silent film industry.

Jessie’s thrilled when Bruno Heilmann, a movie studio bigwig, invites her to a party. She’s even more delighted to run into a face from her past at that party. But the following day, Jessie learns that sometime in the wee hours of the morning both her old friend and Bruno Heilmann were brutally murdered. She’s devastated, but with her skill as an actress, access to the wardrobes and resources of a film studio, and a face not yet famous enough to be recognized, Jessie is uniquely positioned to dig into the circumstances surrounding these deaths. But will doing so put her own life directly in the path of a murderer?

With Silent Murders, MB/MWA First Crime Novel Competition winner Mary Miley has crafted another terrifically fun mystery, this time set in the dizzying, dazzling heart of jazz-age Hollywood.

Learn more about the book and author at Mary Miley's website, blog, and Facebook page.

The Page 69 Test: The Impersonator.

Writers Read: Mary Miley.

The Page 69 Test: Silent Murders.

--Marshal Zeringue

Four recent books to celebrate National Dog Day

It's not too late to honor National Dog Day (August 26, 2014). At The Barnes & Noble Book Blog Ellen Wehle tagged four recent books for the occasion, including:

Off the Leash: A Year at the Dog Park, by Matthew Gilbert

Matthew Gilbert used to be, in his own words, “that guy who rolled his eyes at people who treat their dogs like children.” A Boston writer and natural-born hermit, he kept the world at arm’s length, preferring to interact by cell phone. But that was before he fell in love, first with a human, then with a yellow Lab puppy named Toby. Off the Leash is Gilbert’s laugh-out-loud funny account of the personalities he encountered at his local park, where the real trick, as any dog lover knows, is making nice with the other owners. As Gilbert drolly points out, it’s not just the pups that get aggressive. Ordinary canine behaviors like humping or snarling can easily lead to human shouting matches, and the park comes complete with a bully: the badly trained whippet whose owner is in denial. Despite it all, this mismatched group of people, with nothing in common but their squeaky toys, inspires Gilbert to open up as he never has before.

Read about another book on the list.

Visit Matthew Gilbert's website and Twitter perch.

Coffee with a Canine: Matthew Gilbert & Toby.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Colin Adams's "Zombies & Calculus"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Zombies and Calculus by Colin Adams.

About the book, from the publisher:

How can calculus help you survive the zombie apocalypse? Colin Adams, humor columnist for the Mathematical Intelligencer and one of today's most outlandish and entertaining popular math writers, demonstrates how in this zombie adventure novel.

Zombies and Calculus is the account of Craig Williams, a math professor at a small liberal arts college in New England, who, in the middle of a calculus class, finds himself suddenly confronted by a late-arriving student whose hunger is not for knowledge. As the zombie virus spreads and civilization crumbles, Williams uses calculus to help his small band of survivors defeat the hordes of the undead. Along the way, readers learn how to avoid being eaten by taking advantage of the fact that zombies always point their tangent vector toward their target, and how to use exponential growth to determine the rate at which the virus is spreading. Williams also covers topics such as logistic growth, gravitational acceleration, predator-prey models, pursuit problems, the physics of combat, and more. With the aid of his story, you too can survive the zombie onslaught.

Featuring easy-to-use appendixes that explain the mathematics necessary to enjoy the book, Zombies and Calculus is suitable for recent converts to calculus as well as more advanced readers familiar with multivariable calculus.

Learn more about the book and author at Colin Adams's website and the Princeton University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Zombies and Calculus.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight top heroines in all of banned literature

At The Barnes & Noble Book Blog, Shaun Byron Fitzpatrick tagged eight of the most badass ladies in all of banned literature, including:

Offred, The Handmaid’s Tale

We all agree that The Handmaid’s Tale is a terrifying book, right? So any lady that manages to live through that dystopia has to be one tough cookie. Offred is forced to face the probable murder of her husband and the loss of her daughter, and still finds the strength to fight against an oppressive regime that attempts to take away the rights of all women. Offred, you go, girl.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Handmaid's Tale made Guy Lodge's list of ten of the best dystopias in fiction, art, film, and television, Bethan Roberts's top ten list of novels about childbirth, Rachel Cantor's list of the ten worst jobs in books, Charlie Jane Anders and Kelly Faircloth's list of the best and worst childbirth scenes in science fiction and fantasy, Lisa Tuttle's critic's chart of the top Arthur C. Clarke Award winners, and PopCrunch's list of the sixteen best dystopian books of all time.

--Marshal Zeringue

Celine Kiernan's "Into the Grey," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Into the Grey by Celine Kiernan.

The entry begins:

I’m never too great at casting my own books because the characters are too strongly visualised in my head, so in the past I’ve left it up to my readers (as you can see in this illustration of all the fan selections for the 2010 Moorehawke Casting Competition.

Into the Grey is a particularly tough one for me. I think the thing that makes casting it so difficult is the fact that its set in 1974. No-one these days looks the way we did in 1974. Everyone now is so shiny and neat when compared to then – everyone has such wonderful hair! Nevertheless, I’ve done my best with all the main peripheral characters and I hope you like my choices.

This is an all Irish cast, by the way, which I think is perfectly appropriate to a film set in Ireland.

OK. So, here is the fantasy casting:

Pat and Dom: (had we a time machine) The wonderful Robert Sheehan.

I found it impossible to cast the main characters of 15 year old identical twins Dom and Pat. I think we might have to go with an unknown actor for this very demanding role. I have included a nice photo of a very young Robert Sheehan though, had he been young enough he would have been physically perfect to play the boys with his dark curly hair and slim build (not to mention his Dublin accent!) He would have to...[read on]

Visit Celine Kiernan's website.

The Page 69 Test: Into the Grey.

My Book, The Movie: Into the Grey.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Mindy McGinnis's "In a Handful of Dust"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: In a Handful of Dust by Mindy McGinnis.

About the book, from the publisher:

Fans of classic frontier survival stories as well as readers of dystopian literature will enjoy this futuristic story about an epic cross-country journey. In a Handful of Dust is set ten years after the first novel, Not a Drop to Drink, as a dangerous disease strikes the community where teenage Lucy lives. When her adoptive mother, Lynn, takes Lucy away from their home and friends in order to protect her, Lucy struggles to figure out what home means. During their journey west to find a new life, the two face nature's challenges, including hunger, mountains, and deserts.

Learn more about the book and author at Mindy McGinnis's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: Not a Drop to Drink.

The Page 69 Test: In a Handful of Dust.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jason Segel's 6 favorite books

Actor Jason Segel's screenplays include Forgetting Sarah Marshall and 2011's The Muppets.

One of his six favorite books, as shared at The Week magazine:

The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle

The story unfolds in a mental institution that may be haunted by the devil — or at least its patients think so. An entertaining read that also raises thought-provoking questions about the nature of institutions of all kinds.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Emily Liebert reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Emily Liebert, author of When We Fall.

Her entry begins:

Since I’m currently working on three books in different stages and have two young kids, it’s not always easy to find time to read for pleasure! That said, I try to sneak it in whenever I can. Right now, I have three books on my nightstand:

All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner. I’ve been a longtime fan of Jennifer’s. I think she’s a masterful storyteller with a vivid imagination. She creates true-to-life characters who are flawed, yet you still end up rooting for them. I’ve never read a novel of hers I didn’t like, so I’m really...[read on]

About When We Fall, from the publisher:

LOVE LOST, LOVE FOUND

Ready for a fresh start, Allison Parker moves back to her hometown in the suburbs of New York. While she’d once savored the dynamic pace of city life, sadly, it lost its allure after her husband’s untimely death. Now, ready to focus on her art career accompanied by her ten-year-old son, Logan, Allison doesn’t anticipate that her past will resurface. When the wife of her husband’s best friend from summer camp takes her under her wing, things begin to spin out of control.

At one time, Charlotte Crane thought she had it all—a devoted husband, a beautiful little girl, and enough financial security to never have to worry. But behind her “perfect” facade lie a strained marriage and a fractured relationship with her sister. When “new girl” Allison arrives in Wincourt, Charlotte welcomes the chance to build a friendship. Before long, Charlotte begins to see her life through Allison’s eyes, and the cracks in her seemingly flawless existence become impossible to ignore.

As Allison heals from the loss of her husband—even wondering if she might be ready to date again—Charlotte feels more distant from her loved ones than ever before. The emerging friendship between the two women appears to be just the antidote both of them so desperately need…until everything falls apart.

Learn more about the book and author at Emily Liebert's website.

The Page 69 Test: When We Fall.

Writers Read: Emily Liebert.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Adrienne Mayor's "The Amazons"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World by Adrienne Mayor.

About the book, from the publisher:

Amazons--fierce warrior women dwelling on the fringes of the known world--were the mythic archenemies of the ancient Greeks. Heracles and Achilles displayed their valor in duels with Amazon queens, and the Athenians reveled in their victory over a powerful Amazon army. In historical times, Cyrus of Persia, Alexander the Great, and the Roman general Pompey tangled with Amazons.

But just who were these bold barbarian archers on horseback who gloried in fighting, hunting, and sexual freedom? Were Amazons real? In this deeply researched, wide-ranging, and lavishly illustrated book, National Book Award finalist Adrienne Mayor presents the Amazons as they have never been seen before. This is the first comprehensive account of warrior women in myth and history across the ancient world, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Great Wall of China.

Mayor tells how amazing new archaeological discoveries of battle-scarred female skeletons buried with their weapons prove that women warriors were not merely figments of the Greek imagination. Combining classical myth and art, nomad traditions, and scientific archaeology, she reveals intimate, surprising details and original insights about the lives and legends of the women known as Amazons. Provocatively arguing that a timeless search for a balance between the sexes explains the allure of the Amazons, Mayor reminds us that there were as many Amazon love stories as there were war stories. The Greeks were not the only people enchanted by Amazons--Mayor shows that warlike women of nomadic cultures inspired exciting tales in ancient Egypt, Persia, India, Central Asia, and China.

Driven by a detective's curiosity, Mayor unearths long-buried evidence and sifts fact from fiction to show how flesh-and-blood women of the Eurasian steppes were mythologized as Amazons, the equals of men. The result is likely to become a classic.

Learn more about The Amazons at the Princeton University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: The Amazons.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten top adaptations

One of ten top adaptations tagged by Guardian and Observer critics:

The Long Goodbye

Robert Altman developed his version of The Long Goodbye as the story of "Rip van Marlowe" – what happens when the 1940s private dick is dropped into a 1970s Los Angeles he would barely recognize as home. Instead of Humphrey Bogart of The Big Sleep, he's now the unbuttoned, floppy-haired Elliott Gould. Instead of dealing with sharp-tongued women in pin curls and shoulder pads, he's working for a Malibu housewife in a big sun-dress and bare feet. By updating Marlowe's environment but not his personality, Altman reinvents the man for the 1970s, a detective whose wit and skills can't be diminished by a world far more corrupt than he.

Altman and screenwriter Leigh Brackett take immense liberties with Raymond Chandler's source novel, inventing entire characters (like the vicious Marty Augustine) and eliminating major ones, like Sylvia Lennox's billionaire father. Though Altman and Brackett borrow the basic structure of the novel, The Long Goodbye is essentially a riff on Chandler's entire work and his influence on film. It's a revisionist noir that manages to bring one of the genre's biggest icons in on its scheme, both thumbing its nose at and revering the beloved private detective.

Marlowe is hilariously out of step with his surroundings here, shuffling around his space-age apartment building and muttering at the hippie chicks doing yoga next door. But he's still the hero, the only man who cares enough to give Terry Lennox the justice he deserves, the guy who shrugs off a violent gangster to keep looking for his missing cat. The world has gone madder than Chandler ever imagined, but Marlowe proves he can stand the most difficult test of time – and he never has to give up his cigarettes or his 1948 Lincoln Continental to do it.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Long Goodbye is among Benjamin Black's five favorite works of noir, Melissa Albert's top four books that will drive all but the staunchest teetotaler to the nearest cocktail shaker, some Guardian readers' ten best writers in novels, David Nobbs's top five faked deaths in fiction, Malcolm Jones's ten favorite crime novels, David Nicholls' ten favorite film adaptations, and John Mullan's list of ten of the best fake deaths in fiction.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jennifer Longo's "Six Feet Over It," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Six Feet Over It by Jennifer Longo.

The entry begins:

Six Feet Over It is a contemporary story set in a cemetery in Northern California. The story is fiction with a bunch of my own childhood memories mixed in (as so many debuts are) so the characters are mostly composites of fictional characters and people I grew up with. I’m a playwright first, and Six Feet Over It began as a grad school play script, so I imagine it as a play with fabulous stage actors no one knows. My daughter is helping me cast the movie, she’s eleven and has the best taste!

Leigh, the pained main character: A 15 year-old Ellen Page
Dario, the gravedigger: Jay Hernandez (from that jacked movie Hostel)
Emily, the Best Friend: A thirteen year old Lily...[read on]

Learn more about the book and author at Jennifer Longo's website.

The Page 69 Test: Six Feet Over It.

My Book, The Movie: Six Feet Over It.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five lovable misfits from YA-lit

At The Barnes & Noble Book Blog, Dahlia Adler tagged five lovable misfits from Young Adult literature, including:

Gabe (Beautiful Music for Ugly Children, by Kirstin Cronn-Mills)

A teenage boy born into a girl’s body, it’s impossible for Gabe to feel like he fits in when the way he appears to everyone else feels like a lie. But he manages to translate that outsider feeling into a radio show for others who feel like they don’t fit in, and creates a beautiful fan club of misfits, united by the very things that make them different. One of my favorite must-read LGBT YA titles, and winner of the 2014 Stonewall Book Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: D.E. Ireland's "Wouldn't It Be Deadly"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Wouldn't It Be Deadly: An Eliza Doolittle & Henry Higgins Mystery by D.E. Ireland.

About the book, from the publisher:

Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins make an incomparable pair of sleuths in the start of a delightful new series

Following her successful appearance at an Embassy Ball—where Eliza Doolittle won Professor Henry Higgins’ bet that he could pass off a Cockney flower girl as a duchess—Eliza becomes an assistant to his chief rival Emil Nepommuck. After Nepommuck publicly takes credit for transforming Eliza into a lady, an enraged Higgins submits proof to a London newspaper that Nepommuck is a fraud. When Nepommuck is found with a dagger in his back, Henry Higgins becomes Scotland Yard’s prime suspect. However, Eliza learns that most of Nepommuck’s pupils had a reason to murder their blackmailing teacher. As another suspect turns up dead and evidence goes missing, Eliza and Higgins realize the only way to clear the Professor’s name is to discover which of Nepommuck’s many enemies is the real killer. When all the suspects attend a performance of Hamlet at Drury Lane, Eliza and Higgins don their theatre best and race to upstage a murderer.

This reimagining of George Bernard Shaw’s beloved characters is sheer pleasure. Wouldn’t It Be Deadly transports readers to Edwardian London, from the aristocratic environs of Mayfair to the dangerous back alleys of the East End. Eliza and Henry steal the show in this charming traditional mystery.

Learn more about the book and author at D. E. Ireland's website.

The Page 69 Test: Wouldn't It Be Deadly.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five 19th century adventure books & series

Jeff Somers is the author of Lifers, the Avery Cates series from Orbit Books, Chum from Tyrus Books, and We Are Not Good People from Pocket/Gallery. He has published over thirty short stories as well.

At The Barnes & Noble Book Blog he tagged five books and series for old-fashioned adventure in the 19th century, including:

The Sharpe Novels, by Bernard Cornwell

Ideal For: Anyone who gets sick and tired, sometimes, of every hero in a historical adventure being of the officer or aristocratic class.

Richard Sharpe is, at the beginning of his lengthy story, a hardscrabble survivor in a rough army serving in an even rougher time period. From a poor orphan to the sort of desperate soldier wearing a threadbare uniform and constantly at the mercy of superiors who purchased their commissions and know much less about war than he does, he approaches all of his adventures with the sincerity of the desperate, and you kind of love him for it.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Mary Miley reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Mary Miley, author of Silent Murders: A Roaring Twenties Mystery.

Her entry begins:

The books I read for fun are quite different from the ones I read for work-related research. During the day, I’m generally reading for work—not that that’s torture, mind you; I usually enjoy those books very much. But I’m also usually taking notes, so it feels like homework. After dinner, I like to go early to bed and read for pleasure, mostly historical novels. I probably average two books a week.

So, in the past month, my bedtime reading has included Endless Night, a book that a friend told me was her favorite Agatha Christie. I enjoy Christie’s books and found this one quite different from her usual Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot fare. Any comment I make will spoil the ending, so I won’t. After that, I read The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard, a gripping historical mystery set at the military academy at West Point, where I was born...[read on]

About Silent Murders, from the publisher:

Vaudeville actress Leah Randall took on her most daring role ever when she impersonated missing heiress Jessie Carr in order to claim Jessie’s inheritance in The Impersonator. Now that the dust has settled around that tumultuous time in her life, Leah has adopted Jessie’s name as her own and moved to Hollywood, where she's taken a modest but steady job in the silent film industry.

Jessie’s thrilled when Bruno Heilmann, a movie studio bigwig, invites her to a party. She’s even more delighted to run into a face from her past at that party. But the following day, Jessie learns that sometime in the wee hours of the morning both her old friend and Bruno Heilmann were brutally murdered. She’s devastated, but with her skill as an actress, access to the wardrobes and resources of a film studio, and a face not yet famous enough to be recognized, Jessie is uniquely positioned to dig into the circumstances surrounding these deaths. But will doing so put her own life directly in the path of a murderer?

With Silent Murders, MB/MWA First Crime Novel Competition winner Mary Miley has crafted another terrifically fun mystery, this time set in the dizzying, dazzling heart of jazz-age Hollywood.

Learn more about the book and author at Mary Miley's website, blog, and Facebook page.

Writers Read: Mary Miley (September 2013).

The Page 69 Test: The Impersonator.

Writers Read: Mary Miley.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Emily Liebert's "When We Fall"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: When We Fall by Emily Liebert.

About the book, from the publisher:

LOVE LOST, LOVE FOUND

Ready for a fresh start, Allison Parker moves back to her hometown in the suburbs of New York. While she’d once savored the dynamic pace of city life, sadly, it lost its allure after her husband’s untimely death. Now, ready to focus on her art career accompanied by her ten-year-old son, Logan, Allison doesn’t anticipate that her past will resurface. When the wife of her husband’s best friend from summer camp takes her under her wing, things begin to spin out of control.

At one time, Charlotte Crane thought she had it all—a devoted husband, a beautiful little girl, and enough financial security to never have to worry. But behind her “perfect” facade lie a strained marriage and a fractured relationship with her sister. When “new girl” Allison arrives in Wincourt, Charlotte welcomes the chance to build a friendship. Before long, Charlotte begins to see her life through Allison’s eyes, and the cracks in her seemingly flawless existence become impossible to ignore.

As Allison heals from the loss of her husband—even wondering if she might be ready to date again—Charlotte feels more distant from her loved ones than ever before. The emerging friendship between the two women appears to be just the antidote both of them so desperately need…until everything falls apart.

Learn more about the book and author at Emily Liebert's website.

The Page 69 Test: When We Fall.

--Marshal Zeringue

Mark Powell's "The Sheltering," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: The Sheltering by Mark Powell.

The entry begins:

Few things expose one’s utter ignorance of pop culture like being asked who might play the movie roles from your novel, in my case, The Sheltering. The good news, for me, at least, is that the novel is sprawling, with a large cast of characters so perhaps any mistakes in casting can be overcome with sheer volume. The novel follows two plot lines that slowly intersect until each can only be understood in the light of the other. In the first, Luther Redding flies a drone over Afghanistan from deep within a Tampa Air Force Base. When he dies in a sudden flash of light, erased as quickly and irrevocably as any target, his wife Pamela and daughters Lucy and Katie are left to deal with the aftershocks. In the second plot line, two brothers, Bobby and Donny Rosen, set off on a nihilistic road trip, eight kilos of coke in tow.

At least casting Luther’s part allows me another opportunity to lament the passing of Philip Seymour Hoffman, without question, at least to my mind, the finest actor of his generation. But with Hoffman out of the question, I think I’ll turn to...[read on]

Learn more about The Sheltering at the University of South Carolina Press website.

The Page 69 Test: The Sheltering.

My Book, The Movie: The Sheltering.

--Marshal Zeringue

Twelve top authors' beards

One entry on the Telegraph's top twelve list of authors' beards:

Joseph Conrad was a Polish sailor who became one of our finest novelists.

Learn about another entry on the list.

Also see: John Mullan's list of ten of the best beards in literature.

Conrad's Heart of Darkness is on Michael Palin's six favorite books list, Robert Twigger's list of five of the best books about rivers, Robert McCrum's list of ten of the best closing lines of books, Mark Malloch-Brown's lis of six favorite novels of empire, John Mullan's list of ten of the best fogs in literature, Tim Butcher's list of the top 10 books about Congo, Martin Meredith's list of ten books to read on Africa, Thomas Perry's best books list, and is #9 on the 100 best last lines from novels list.

Nostromo is among Juan Gabriel Vásquez's five favorite novels about South America and Ben Ryder Howe's top ten novels featuring mythical countries.

Typhoon made a top ten list of books about hurricanes, and The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' is one of Herman Wouk's five top nautical yarns.

The Secret Agent is among Jason Burke's five books on Islamic militancy, Iain Sinclair's five novels on the spirit and history of London, Dan Vyleta's top ten books in second languages, Jessica Stern's five best books on who terrorists are, Adam Thorpe's top ten satires, and on John Mullan's list of ten of the best professors in literature.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: James Grehan's "Twilight of the Saints"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Twilight of the Saints: Everyday Religion in Ottoman Syria and Palestine by James Grehan.

About the book, from the publisher:

In this study of everyday religious culture in early modern Syria and Palestine, James Grehan offers a social history that looks beyond conventional ways of thinking about religion in the Middle East. The most common narratives about the region introduce us to the separate traditions of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, highlighting how each one has created its own distinctive traditions and communities. Twilight of the Saints offers a reinterpretation of religious and cultural history in a region which is today associated with division and violence. Exploring the religious habits of ordinary people, from the late seventeenth to the end of the nineteenth century, when the region was part of the Ottoman Empire, Grehan shows that members of different religious groups participated in a common, overarching religious culture that was still visible at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Most evident in the countryside, though present everywhere, this religious mainstream thrived in a society in which few people had access to formal religious teachings. This older, folk religious culture was steeped in notions and rituals that the modern world, with its mainly theological conception of religion, has utterly repudiated. Indeed, the people of Syria and Palestine today would hardly recognize religion as it was experienced in the not-so-distant past. Only by uncovering this lost lived religion, argues Grehan, can we appreciate the largely unacknowledged revolution in religion that has taken place in the region over the last century.

Learn more about Twilight of the Saints at the Oxford University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Twilight of the Saints.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Wayne Harrison reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Wayne Harrison, author of The Spark and the Drive.

His entry begins:

Like many authors, or at least authors I know, I'm reading a couple of books at once. I like to juxtapose first person and third person point of views, as voice is what I pay most attention to in my own writing. I'm currently reading my friend and former fiction teacher Tim Parrish's evocative memoir Fear and What Follows, which describes his hardscrabble upbringing in working class Louisiana in the 1970s. It's a powerful and fascinating book that intelligently captures the persisting violence and racism of the south at that time. I love memoirs that...[read on]

About The Spark and the Drive, from the publisher:

By an award-winning writer of short fiction, a devastatingly powerful debut novel of hero-worship, first love, and betrayal

Justin Bailey is seventeen when he arrives at the shop of legendary muscle car mechanic Nick Campbell. Anguished and out of place among the students at his rural Connecticut high school, Justin finds in Nick, his captivating wife Mary Ann, and their world of miraculous machines the sense of family he has struggled to find at home.

But when Nick and Mary Ann’s lives are struck by tragedy, Justin’s own world is upended. Suddenly Nick, once celebrated for his mechanical genius, has lost his touch. Mary Ann, once tender and compassionate to her husband, has turned distant. As Justin tries to support his suffering mentor, he finds himself drawn toward the man’s grieving wife. Torn apart by feelings of betrayal, Justin must choose between the man he admires more than his own father and the woman he yearns for.

A poignant and fiercely original debut, with moments of fast-paced suspense, Wayne Harrison's The Spark and The Drive is the unforgettable story of a young man forced to make an impossible decision—no matter the consequences.

Visit Wayne Harrison's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Spark and the Drive.

Writers Read: Wayne Harrison.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Joe Gannon's "Night of the Jaguar"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Night of the Jaguar: A Novel by Joe Gannon.

About the book, from the publisher:

Sandinista Police Captain Ajax Montoya is six days sober and losing his mind. How else to explain his nights waking in bed, his hand wrapped around that bloody-minded stiletto from the old days, or the presence outside his window, a face with no eyes watching him?

How far the heroic have fallen. Ajax was once the gallant comandante guerrillero. A hero of the Nicaraguan revolutionaries in their long uprising against the Ogre and his hated National Guard. Back then he’d been the guy who got the bloody missions -- as a lowly grunt with that blade, or the commander of an entire front. Back then he knew what was what and who to trust. But as the clarity of war gave way to the hazy reality of peace, Ajax fared less well. And after he took the fall for an assassination he had no part of, he tumbled into a bottle, and maybe out of his mind.

Now he's a homicide investigator in Managua solving murders and sweating through the nightmares from his guerilla days. When he's called to investigate a robbery turned gruesome murder, Ajax recognizes the marks of a surprising enemy - the CIA mercenary army known as The Contra. This isn't just a random murder; this is an execution, a call to war. Or is it? And why does no one want to know but Ajax? As the bodies pile up and a red-headed gringa who should be his enemy enchants his thoughts, Ajax questions whether he can stay sober, sane, and alive long enough to figure it all out.

Visit Joe Gannon's website.

The Page 69 Test: Night of the Jaguar.

--Marshal Zeringue

Michelle Gagnon's "Don't Let Go," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Don't Let Go by Michelle Gagnon.

The entry begins:

NOA: There’s an amazing Australian film called, Tomorrow, When the War Began, (if you haven’t seen it yet, put it on your to-be-watched list immediately!) The lead actress in it was incredible; the whole time I was watching the movie, all I could think was that if you chopped her hair short and dyed it black, she’d be a perfect Noa. Her name is Caitlin Stasey, and I’d be shocked if we didn’t end up seeing a lot more of her in the future.

PETER: I really love Dylan Minnette, the actor who played the son in the (sadly) short-lived series Awake. He didn’t have much of a chance to display humor in that role, but he’s such a...[read on]

Learn more about the book and author at Michelle Gagnon's website.

The Page 69 Test: Don't Turn Around.

My Book, The Movie: Don't Turn Around.

The Page 69 Test: Don't Let Go.

My Book, The Movie: Don't Let Go.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten top stories of mothers and daughters

Meike Ziervogel is the author of the novellas Magda and Clara's Daughter.

One of her top ten stories of mother-daughter relationships, as shared at the Guardian:

A Sicilian Romance by Ann Radcliffe

A medieval Italian castle, two beautiful young women held captive by their authoritarian father and, from the vault underneath the floorboards, a mysterious knocking. A fantastic mother-daughter tale complete with a handsome lover and a happy end.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Coffee with a canine: Holly Menino & Keel

Featured at Coffee with a Canine: Holly Menino & Keel.

The author, on how Keel got her name:

Keel was named short and sweet by her breeder, who was under the impression the pup had...[read on]

About Menino's new novel, A Distance to Death, from the publisher:

Tink Elledge is back in the saddle—and in more danger than ever. The race is a hundred miles through the Sierra Nevada against a backdrop of Darwin, evolution, and intelligent design. Smart, deftly plotted, and tuned to ongoing debate, this mystery is perfect for fans of Dick Francis.

Tink Elledge is a woman who doesn’t take well to sitting still—not when it comes to husbands, not when it comes to looking after her stepson Stephen, and certainly not when it comes to horses. So when she gets the chance to ride in a competition again—even on a trail as grueling as the steep twists and turns of the legendary Tevis endurance trail ride—she jumps at it. In the Sierra mountain wilderness, she and her friend Isabel—an avid horsewoman and Darwin devotee--will race across one hundred miles of spectacular gorges and cross heart-stopping fords.


Meanwhile, Stephen and Tink’s husband, Charlie, are nearby working on a new partnership with the brilliant but secretive scientist James Grant-Worthington. When Grant-Worthington suddenly dies of not-so-natural causes, the entire deal is thrown into question. Eager to help, Tink begins searching for clues, starting with Josh Untemeyer, the PR manager for the institute Grant-Worthington founded to promote the theory of intelligent design, who has also been pursuing Isabel. As Tink and Isabel join the pack of elite riders and their horses scramble up the vertiginous, narrow trail, Josh goes missing. Tink must sort through the secrets and lies in a race against time to cross the finish line and save the two people she cares for most in this lively, page-turning novel from acclaimed author Holly Menino.

Visit Holly Menino's website.

Writers Read: Holly Menino.

The Page 69 Test: A Distance to Death.

My Book, The Movie: A Distance to Death.

Coffee with a Canine: Holly Menino & Keel.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Joseph E. Uscinski & Joseph M. Parent's "American Conspiracy Theories"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: American Conspiracy Theories by Joseph E. Uscinski and Joseph M. Parent.

About the book, from the publisher:

We are living in an age of conspiracy theories, whether it's enduring, widely held beliefs such as government involvement in the Kennedy assassination or alien activity at Roswell, fears of a powerful infiltrating group such as the Illuminati, Jews, Catholics, or communists, or modern fringe movements of varying popularity such as birtherism and trutherism. What is it in American culture that makes conspiracy theories proliferate? Who is targeted, and why? Are we in the heyday of the conspiracy theory, or is it in decline?

Though there is significant scholarly literature on the topic in psychology, sociology, philosophy, and more, American Conspiracy Theories is the first to use broad, long-term empirical data to analyze this popular American tendency. Joseph E. Uscinski and Joseph M. Parent draw on three sources of original data: 120,000 letters to the editor of the New York Times and Chicago Tribune from between 1890 and 2010; a two-wave survey from before and after the 2012 presidential election; and discussions of conspiracy theories culled from online news sources, blogs, and other Web sites, also from before and after the election. Through these sources, they are able to address crucial questions, such as similarities and differences in the nature of conspiracy theories over time, the role of the Internet and communications technologies in spreading modern conspiracy theories, and whether politics, economics, media, war, or other factors are most important in popularizing conspiratorial beliefs. Ultimately, they conclude that power asymmetries, both foreign and domestic, are the main drivers behind conspiracy theories, and that those at the bottom of power hierarchies have a strategic interest in blaming those at the top-in other words, "conspiracy theories are for losers." But these "losers" can end up having tremendous influence on the course of history, and American Conspiracy Theories is an unprecedented examination of one of the defining features of American political life.

Learn more about American Conspiracy Theories at the Oxford University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: American Conspiracy Theories.

--Marshal Zeringue