What is Julia Knight reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Julia Knight, author of Warlords and Wastrels.

Her entry begins:

One book I finished reading recently and loved is Claire North’s Touch. I don’t read an awful lot of science fiction but the premise grabbed me straight away, along with the writing. The basic idea is that Kepler can jump from one body to another via touch. S/he usually ripples through life seamlessly until someone is after them and happy to kill any body they’re wearing to...[read on]

About Warlords and Wastrels, from the publisher:

The epic conclusion to the fast-paced new adventure fantasy series, the Duelists trilogy, from one of the most exciting new talents in fantasy.

Vocho and Kacha may be known for the first swordplay in the city of Reyes, but they've found themselves backed into a corner too often for their liking.

Finally reinstated into the Duelist's Guild for services rendered to the prelate, who has found himself back in charge, Vocho and Kacha are tasked with bringing a prisoner to justice. But this prisoner is none other than Kacha's old flame Egimont. The prelate wants him alive, and on their side. However the more they discover of Egimont and his dark dealings with the magician, the more Kacha's loyalties are divided. Soon she must choose a side -- the prelate or the king, her brother or her ex-lover.

The fate of Reyes is balanced on a knife-edge...

Visit Julia Knight's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Julia Knight & Frek.

The Page 69 Test: Warlords and Wastrels.

My Book, The Movie: Warlords and Wastrels. 

Writers Read: Julia Knight.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five works of criticism that changed A.O. Scott's life

A. O. Scott joined the New York Times as a film critic in January 2000. His forthcoming book is Better Living Through Criticism: How to Think about Art, Pleasure, Beauty, and Truth.

One of five books of criticism that changed the critic's life, as shared at the Penguin blog:

Pauline Kael, I Lost it at the Movies.

Anyone who writes about popular culture has to contend with Kael: her taste, her voice, her seductive arguments and maddening inconsistencies. She’s inescapable, and this collection of her early work—written before she became an institution at The New Yorker—shows her at her vital, bruising best.

Read about another book on the list.

I Lost it at the Movies is among Michael Wood's top ten books on film.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Lisa Goldstein's "Weighing Shadows"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Weighing Shadows by Lisa Goldstein.

About the book, from the publisher:

Ann Decker fixes computers for a living, and in the evenings she passes the time sharpening her hacking skills. It’s not a very interesting life, but she gets by—until one day she’s contacted with a job offer for a company called Transformations Incorporated. None of her coworkers have ever heard of it before, and when Ann is finally told what the company does, she can hardly believe it: TI has invented technology to travel in time.

Soon Ann is visiting a matriarchy in ancient Crete, and then a woman mathematician at the Library of Alexandria. But Transformations Incorporated remains shrouded in mystery, and when Ann finally catches her breath, there are too many troubling questions still unanswered. Who are Transformations Incorporated, and what will they use this technology to gain? What ill effects might going back in time have on the present day? Is it really as harmless as TI says?

When a coworker turns up dead, Ann’s superiors warn her about a covert group called Core out to sabotage the company. Something just isn’t right, but before she has time to investigate, Ann is sent to a castle in the south of France, nearly a thousand years in the past. As the armies of the Crusade arrive to lay siege, and intrigue grows among the viscount’s family, Ann will discover the startling truth—not just about the company that sent her there, but also about her own past.

Visit Lisa Goldstein's website.

The Page 69 Test: Weighing Shadows.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten top parallel worlds in fiction

Christopher Edge's latest book is The Many Worlds of Albie Bright. At the Guardian he tagged his top ten parallel worlds in fiction, including:

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll

The parallel world that Alice enters in these two books is a much stranger world than our own, populated by peculiar creatures with a fondness for wordplay and grinning cats – so not too different from Twitter really. But while Alice reaches Wonderland by falling down a rabbit hole or stepping through a mirror in order to meet the Cheshire Cat, Albie Bright takes inspiration from Schrödinger’s Cat to travel to parallel worlds.

Read about another entry on the list.

Lewis Carroll's Alice stories are among Justin Scroggie's top ten list of books with secret signs. The White Knight in Alice Through the Looking Glass is one of David McKie's top 10 eccentrics in literature. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland popped up on Mark O'Connell's list of ten of the best songs based on books and Through The Looking Glass is among Christopher William Hill’s ten top fictional feasts in children's books.

--Marshal Zeringue

David A. Bell's "Napoleon: A Concise Biography," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Napoleon: A Concise Biography by David A. Bell.

The entry begins:

My subject, Napoleon Bonaparte, has been acted hundreds of times in films. Among just the English-speaking actors to play him have been Marlon Brando (Désirée), Ian Holm (The Emperor’s New Clothes), Rod Steiger (Waterloo) and Eli Wallach (The Adventures of Gerard). My favorite Napoleon film, though, is probably the kitschy but delicious French biopic done by Sacha Guitry in the 1950’s, which features both Daniel Gélin and Raymond Pellegrin as Napoleon, and...[read on]

Learn more about Napoleon: A Concise Biography at the Oxford University Press website.

Writers Read: David A. Bell.

The Page 99 Test: Napoleon: A Concise Biography.

My Book, The Movie: Napoleon: A Concise Biography.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Theresa Kaminski's "Angels of the Underground"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Angels of the Underground: The American Women who Resisted the Japanese in the Philippines in World War II by Theresa Kaminski.

About the book, from the publisher:

When the Japanese began their brutal occupation of the Philippines in January 1942, 76,000 ill and starving Filipino and American troops tried to hold out on Bataan and Corregidor. That spring, after having been forced to surrender, most of those men were thrown into Japanese POW camps while dozens of others slipped away to organize guerrilla forces. During the three violent years of occupation that followed, Allied sympathizers in Manila smuggled supplies and information to the guerrillas and the prisoners.

Theresa Kaminski's Angels of the Underground tells the story of four American women who were part of this little-known resistance movement: Gladys Savary, Claire Phillips, Yay Panlilio, and Peggy Utinsky - all incredibly adept at skirting occupation authorities to support the Allied war effort. The nature of their clandestine work meant that the truth behind their dangerous activities had to be obscured as long as the Japanese occupied the Philippines. If caught, they would be imprisoned, tortured, and executed. Throughout the Pacific War, these four women remained hidden behind a veil of deceit and subterfuge.

An impressive work of scholarship grounded in archival research, FBI documents, and memoirs, Angels of the Underground illuminates the complex political dimensions of the occupied Philippines and its importance to the war effort in the Pacific. Kaminski's narrative sheds light on the Japanese-occupied city of Manila; the Bataan Death March and subsequent incarceration of American military prisoners in camps O'Donnell and Cabanatuan; and the formation of guerrilla units in the mountains of Luzon.

Angels of the Underground offers the compelling tale of four ordinary American women propelled by extraordinary circumstances into acts of heroism, and makes a significant contribution to the work on women's wartime experiences. Through the lives of Gladys, Yay, Claire, and Peggy, who never wavered in their belief that it was their duty as patriotic American women to aid the Allied cause, Kaminski highlights how women have always been active participants in war, whether or not they wear a military uniform.

Learn more about Angels of the Underground at the Oxford University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Angels of the Underground.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten top crime fiction books of 2015: MysteryPeople

At MysteryPeople Scott Montgomery tagged his top ten crime fiction books of 2015, including:

The Devil’s Share by Wallace Stroby & Young Americans by Josh Stallings

Both of these books understand it’s not as much the crime as it is the characters committing it that make a great heist novel. That said, both have great set pieces; The Devil’s Share deals with the hijacking of Iraqi art about to be repatriated, and The Young Americans are robbing a gay disco during the glitter rock era of the Seventies.

Read about another book on the list.

The Page 69 Test: The Devil's Share.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Roger Crowley reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Roger Crowley, author of Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire.

His entry begins:

I write history but read a lot of travel literature for pleasure. Three books in particular have stood out for me in the past year, all of them I guess little known, all about worlds that are not remote to us in distance, but are now either vanished or largely unvisitable.

A book that has obsessed me so much that I read it twice, almost back to back in translation, is The Way of the World by Nicholas Bouvier. Two young French Swiss, Bouvier and his friend Thierry Vernet, set out from Belgrade in 1953 in a tiny Fiat on a road trip to Afghanistan. They have an accordion and a guitar and they play music with the gypsies; they paint and write and see the world afresh, as if for the first time. Bouvier is a philosopher of journeying and he travels slowly, savouring those intensely special moments that...[read on]

About Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire, from the publisher:

In Empires of the Sea and City of Fortune, New York Times bestselling author Roger Crowley established himself as our generation’s preeminent historian of the great European seafaring empires, and the go-to author for post-Crusade clashes of East and West. Now, in Conquerors, Crowley gives us the epic story of the emergence of Portugal, a small, poor nation that enjoyed a century of maritime supremacy thanks to the daring and navigational skill of its explorers—a tactical advantage no other country could match. Portugal’s discovery of a sea route to India, campaign of imperial conquest over Muslim rulers, and domination of the spice trade would forever disrupt the Mediterranean and build the first global economy.

Crowley relies on letters and eyewitness testimony to tell the story of tiny Portugal’s rapid and breathtaking rise to power. Conquerors reveals the Império Português in all of its splendor and ferocity, bringing to life the personalities of the enterprising and fanatical house of Aviz. Figures such as King Manuel “the Fortunate,” João II “the Perfect Prince,” marauding governor Afonso de Albuquerque, and explorer Vasco da Gama juggled their private ambitions and the public aims of the empire, often suffering astonishing losses in pursuit of a global fortune. Also central to the story of Portugal’s ascent was its drive to eradicate Islamic culture and establish a Christian empire in the Indian Ocean. Portuguese explorers pushed deep into the African continent in search of the mythical Christian king Prester John, and they ruthlessly besieged Indian port cities in their attempts to monopolize trade.

The discovery of a route to India around the horn of Africa was not only a brilliant breakthrough in navigation but heralded a complete upset of the world order. For the next century, no European empire was more ambitious, no rulers more rapacious than the kings of Portugal. In the process they created the first long-range maritime empire and set in motion the forces of globalization that now shape our world. At Crowley’s hand, the complete story of the Portuguese empire and the human cost of its ambition can finally be told.

Visit Roger Crowley's website.

Writers Read: Roger Crowley.

--Marshal Zeringue

Robin Coste Lewis' 6 favorite books

Robin Coste Lewis' debut poetry collection, Voyage of the Sable Venus, won a 2015 National Book Award. One of the poet's six favorite books, as shared at The Week magazine:

Jazz by Toni Morrison

It would be enough that Jazz brilliantly explores a significant moment from the past through the story of a love triangle in Harlem, and that Morrison layers various histories so that each steps up then recedes — yes! — like jazz improvisation. But on top of all that, she draws and redraws the frame of narration, ever so subtly, so that one begins to wonder about the narrator's identity in the way one wonders about God's.

Read about another entry on the list.

Toni Morrison's Jazz is Mohsin Hamid's most influential book and one of Reggie Nadelson's top ten jazz books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Christine Husom's "Secret in Whitetail Lake"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Secret in Whitetail Lake by Christine Husom.

About the book, from the publisher:

Christine Husom has once again captured the essence of a rural Minnesota mystery as she draws readers into the Secret in Whitetail Lake. When the Winnebago County Sheriff's Department stumbles upon a car at the bottom of Whitetail Lake, what appears to be a probable accident from three decades earlier, turns into something far more sinister that makes this story a page turner.

Visit Christine Husom's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Iced Princess.

The Page 69 Test: Secret in Whitetail Lake.

--Marshal Zeringue

Julia Knight's "Warlords and Wastrels," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Warlords and Wastrels by Julia Knight.

The entry begins:

I think the most important way to decide this would be – would they look right in the right sort of clothing (think Musketeers) and can they pull off the swagger? I didn’t really have any actors in mind when I was writing, but one or two did spring to mind later, especially when I saw the covers. Kacha there has a hint of Ronda Rousey about her, and she would fit perfectly with how I...[read on]

Visit Julia Knight's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Julia Knight & Frek.

The Page 69 Test: Warlords and Wastrels.

My Book, The Movie: Warlords and Wastrels.

--Marshal Zeringue

TIME's ten top nonfiction books

One of Time magazine's top ten nonfiction books of 2015:

H Is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald

This is a memoir by a woman who lost a parent and found a hawk. Macdonald, a scholar at Cambridge University, went to pieces after her father died, and in her mourning she did something unexpected: she purchased a goshawk. Macdonald was already an experienced handler of birds, but goshawks are large and wild and fierce even by hawk standards, and she’d never tried to tame one before. The war of wills that ensued may have made the goshawk (Macdonald names her Mabel) tamer, but it made Macdonald wilder too. It also proved strangely healing and redemptive, and she describes her avian adversary in language so breathtaking and immediate, you’d swear one was sitting on your shoulder.

Read about another book on the list.

H Is for Hawk is among Jeffrey Lent's top ten books about justice and redemption and Alex Hourston’s ten top unlikely friendships in literature.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Mario Erasmo's "Strolling Through Rome"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Strolling Through Rome: The Definitive Walking Guide to the Eternal City by Mario Erasmo.

About the book, from the publisher:

Rome, the Eternal City - birthplace of western civilisation and soul of the ancient world - has a history that stretches back two thousand five hundred years. It is also one of the most-visited places in the world, but where does one begin to delve into two millennia of history, culture, art and architecture, whilst also navigating the vibrant modern city? Mario Erasmo here guides the traveller through Rome's many layers of history, exploring the streets, museums, piazze, ruins and parks of this 'city of the soul'. Punctuated with anecdote, myth and legend, these unique walks often retrace the very steps taken by ancient Romans, early Christians, medieval pilgrims, Renaissance artists and aristocrats on the Grand Tour. Here is a rich cultural history of Rome that brings its epic past alive, illuminating the extraordinary sights and fascinating secrets of one of Europe's most beguiling cities.

The Page 99 Test: Death: Antiquity and Its Legacy.

Writers Read: Mario Erasmo.

The Page 99 Test: Strolling Through Rome.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Carolyn Brown's "The Wedding Pearls"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Wedding Pearls by Carolyn Brown.

About the book, from the publisher:

Tessa Wilson’s life is all over the map. She may be clumsy, but this time she’s stumbled into a pickle by choice, not by accident. She’s agreed to take a month-long trip around Texas jammed into a ’59 Cadillac with a drama-loving teenager, two elderly spitfires, and—oh, yes—her biological mama who gave her away at birth. And the ride gets even crazier when hot-as-sin cowboy Branch Thomas crosses into her lane. They don’t call him the sexiest man in the Lone Star State for nothin’.

As the miles pass and sparks fly between Tessa and Branch, her grandmother starts dropping hints about family wedding traditions. And as Tessa discovers the power of her budding friendships and the unbreakable strength of her newfound family of strong Texas women, she wonders if she’s also on the road to the biggest adventure of all: true love.

Visit Carolyn Brown's website and Facebook page.

The Page 69 Test: The Wedding Pearls.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Laurie Cass reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Laurie Cass, author of Pouncing on Murder.

Her entry begins:

For months, I’d been resisting the recommendation of a friend of mine to read a certain book. “You’ll love it,” she kept insisting, but it was set in a post-plague world and I figured I’d read enough of those. I didn’t want to read it and get one of those post-book hangovers that left me depressed for days.

But I finally gave in. And you know what? She was right. I did love it. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. It is set in a post-plague world, and parts of it are downright depressing and even frightening, but…but I won’t say anything else other than that it was outstanding. I could never in a million years have written anything like that and...[read on]

About Pouncing on Murder, from the publisher:

Springtime in Chilson, Michigan, means it’s librarian Minnie Hamilton’s favorite time of year: maple syrup season! But her excitement fades when her favorite syrup provider, Henry Gill, dies in a sugaring accident. It’s tough news to swallow…even if the old man wasn’t as sweet as his product.

On the bookmobile rounds with her trusty rescue cat Eddie, Minnie meets Adam, the old man’s friend, who was with him when he died. Adam is convinced Henry’s death wasn’t an accident, and fears that his own life is in danger. With the police overworked, it’s up to Minnie and Eddie to tap all their resources for clues—before Adam ends up in a sticky situation…

Visit the official Laurie Cass website.

The Page 69 Test: Pouncing on Murder.

Writers Read: Laurie Cass.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top 10 uncanny graphic novels

Ian Williams is a physician, comics artist and writer, based in Brighton, UK. His 2014 graphic novel is The Bad Doctor. One of his ten top uncanny graphic novels, as shared at the Guardian:

The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr Punch by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean (2006)

A young boy comes across an old Punch and Judy booth standing alone on the shingle beach. The thuggish red puppet soon appears and begins to talk to the boy from the stage. Later, the boy makes the acquaintance of a sinister Punch and Judy “professor” who lets him try on some of the glove puppets. When he asks to try on Mr Punch he is refused, being told “once you bring Mr Punch to life there’s no getting rid of him”. This is a tale of fading childhood memories and the intrusion of adult evil into the innocence of youth. Dave McKean’s ominous graphics, combining puppet tableaux, photomontage and paint, create a wonderfully macabre atmosphere around Gaiman’s characters.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: David A. Bell's "Napoleon: A Concise Biography"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Napoleon: A Concise Biography by David A. Bell.

About the book, from the publisher:

This book provides a concise, accurate, and lively portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte's character and career, situating him firmly in historical context.

David Bell emphasizes the astonishing sense of human possibility--for both good and ill--that Napoleon represented. By his late twenties, Napoleon was already one of the greatest generals in European history. At thirty, he had become absolute master of Europe's most powerful country. In his early forties, he ruled a European empire more powerful than any since Rome, fighting wars that changed the shape of the continent and brought death to millions. Then everything collapsed, leading him to spend his last years in miserable exile in the South Atlantic.

Bell emphasizes the importance of the French Revolution in understanding Napoleon's career. The revolution made possible the unprecedented concentration of political authority that Napoleon accrued, and his success in mobilizing human and material resources. Without the political changes brought about by the revolution, Napoleon could not have fought his wars. Without the wars, he could not have seized and held onto power. Though his virtual dictatorship betrayed the ideals of liberty and equality, his life and career were revolutionary.

Learn more about Napoleon: A Concise Biography at the Oxford University Press website.

Writers Read: David A. Bell.

The Page 99 Test: Napoleon: A Concise Biography.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight of the best books to leave for Santa instead of cookies

At B & N Reads Ginni Chen tagged eight of the best books to leave for Santa instead of cookies, including:

The Great Beanie Baby Bubble, by Zac Bissonnette

Remember, Santa, when all the little boys and girls asked for Beanie Babies in the ‘90s? And you scratched your head and wondered what the heck was going on? Here’s a fascinating look at the rise of Beanie Baby mania, the eccentric man behind the meteoric success of the plush toys, and the aftermath of the craze.

Read about another book on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Coffee with a canine: Julia Knight & Frek

Featured at Coffee with a Canine: Julia Knight & Frek.

The author, on how Frek got his name:

As he was a rescue, he already had a name, Freckles. However I refused to stand in the park shouting that, so we shortened it to Frek. He’ll actually answer to anything ending in “eck” so Shrek is also a common one. He also gets called Frekadoodle, I have no idea why....[read on]

About Julia Knight's Warlords and Wastrels, from the publisher:

The epic conclusion to the fast-paced new adventure fantasy series, the Duelists trilogy, from one of the most exciting new talents in fantasy.

Vocho and Kacha may be known for the first swordplay in the city of Reyes, but they've found themselves backed into a corner too often for their liking.

Finally reinstated into the Duelist's Guild for services rendered to the prelate, who has found himself back in charge, Vocho and Kacha are tasked with bringing a prisoner to justice. But this prisoner is none other than Kacha's old flame Egimont. The prelate wants him alive, and on their side. However the more they discover of Egimont and his dark dealings with the magician, the more Kacha's loyalties are divided. Soon she must choose a side -- the prelate or the king, her brother or her ex-lover.

The fate of Reyes is balanced on a knife-edge...

Visit Julia Knight's website.

The Page 69 Test: Warlords and Wastrels.

Coffee with a Canine: Julia Knight & Frek.

--Marshal Zeringue

Laura DiSilverio's "The Readaholics and the Poirot Puzzle," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: The Readaholics and the Poirot Puzzle (Book Club Mystery Series #2) by Laura DiSilverio.

The entry begins:

I am so excited to blog here today because for once I know exactly who I want to cast as my main characters. I actually cut out these actors' photos before I wrote any of the books, and tacked them up in my office. The Readaholics have always been clear to me, and I hope none of you will gasp and say, "Oh, no, that actor couldn't play Amy-Faye (or Lola or Brooke)."

For those of you who don't know, the Readaholics are the five women who participate in a mystery book club in fictional Heaven, Colorado. In each book, they are reading a classic mystery that somehow figures into solving the murders they end up investigating. In The Readaholics and the Falcon Fiasco, they were reading The Maltese Falcon. In the latest book, The Readaholics and the Poirot Puzzle, they're reading Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express.

They are Amy-Faye Johnson, the main protagonist, who is a 32-year-old event organizer; Brooke Widefield, Amy-Faye's best friend who is a former Miss Colorado and who married into the richest family in town; Lola Paget, a couple years ahead of Amy-Faye and Brooke in school, who turned the family farm into a plant nursery and supports her grandmother and younger sister; Maud Bell, a sixty-something fishing guide and conspiracy theory blogger; and Kerry Sanderson, a Realtor and Heaven's part-time mayor, who is a late forties divorcee with a grown daughter and a teenage son.

Here's my cast list:

Amy-Faye — Amy Adams

Brooke — Jaimie...[read on]

Learn more about the book and author at Laura DiSilverio's website and Facebook page.

My Book, The Movie: Swift Run.

My Book, The Movie: The Readaholics and the Poirot Puzzle.

--Marshal Zeringue

Oline Cogdill's 15 best mystery novels of 2015

Among Oline Cogdill's fifteen best mystery novels of 2015:

Hush Hush by Laura Lippman

“Hush Hush” by Laura Lippman (William Morrow): Baltimore private investigator Tess Monaghan’s most welcome return after a three-year hiatus finds the perceptive detective juggling motherhood of a precocious toddler while working for a wealthy woman who was found not guilty of killing her infant daughter 12 years before. Parenting issues seldom are fodder for crime fiction, but Lippman uses this to provide an emotional depth for an exciting mystery that spins on the precise character studies.

Read about another book on Cogdill's list.

The Page 69 Test: Hush Hush.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Mario Erasmo reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Mario Erasmo, author of several books, including Death: Antiquity and Its Legacy, Reading Death in Ancient Rome, and the  historical walking guides, Strolling Through Rome and Strolling Through Florence.

His entry begins:

Charles Spencer, Killers of the King: The Men Who Dared To Execute Charles I (Bloomsbury, 2014).

In this gripping book, Charles Spencer traces the fascinating series of events leading to the trial and execution of Charles I, the fate of participants in the trial, and the consequences to the Stuarts and Bourbons. I was drawn to the subject from the perspective of the Medici as players on the world stage of politics. Many people are familiar with the ancestry of Charles I but many do not know that Henrietta Maria of France was a Medici. In many ways the marriage between Charles I and Henrietta Maria, the daughter of Henry IV of France and Navarre and Marie de Médicis, the granddaughter of Cosimo I Grand Duke of Tuscany and the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I was a successful dynastic match that brought the Stuarts closer to the Austrian and Spanish Habsburgs through their Bourbon relatives. From the perspective of Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans...[read on]

Mario Erasmo's historical walking guides, Strolling Through Rome: The Definitive Walking Guide to the Eternal City and Strolling Through Florence: The Definitive Walking Guide to the Renaissance City, take visitors step-by-step through the eras and areas of the cities to experience first-hand the sites and art that have played an enormous role in shaping Western Culture.

Erasmo is Professor of Classics at the University of Georgia specializing in the Legacy of Classical Antiquity. He is the author of several books, including Death: Antiquity and Its Legacy and Reading Death in Ancient Rome and the volume editor of A Cultural History of Death in Antiquity.

The Page 99 Test: Death: Antiquity and Its Legacy.

Writers Read: Mario Erasmo.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten urban fantasy books for "Jessica Jones" fans

At Bustle.com Catherine Kovach tagged ten urban fantasy books you should read if you loved Jessica Jones, including:

Night Shift by Lilith Saintcrow

Jill Kismet is a Hunter, meaning that she is one of the rare humans who hunts the monsters that hide among mortals called hellbreeds. Having accepted a mark from a particularly nasty hellbreed, Jill is a little more resilient than the average human, but carries a heck of a lot more angst than the average human too. In the first book of this series, Jill needs to hunt down a hellbreed who has gotten loose and killed a few cops. If you like how Jessica Jones rises above her "damaged" status, or the unique and creepy villain Kilgrave, you'll enjoy the adventures of Jill Kismet.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Page 99 Test: Night Shift.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Christine Husom's "The Iced Princess"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Iced Princess by Christine Husom.

About the book, from the publisher:

The national bestselling author of Snow Way Out returns with more sparkling snow globes and cold-blooded murder…

It’s that time of the year again—the Christmas rush is about to begin, and curio shop owner Camryn Brooks and her BFF, coffee shop owner Alice “Pinky” Nelson, need to hire additional help. Their former high-school classmate, Molly Dalton, is not exactly who they had in mind. Has the rich socialite worked a day in her life? But Molly practically begs for the job.

On her first day, Molly seems to be in her own little world, and Cami worries that her new employee may flake out. The problem turns out to be far worse than that when Cami discovers Molly dead in the back of the shop, after drinking a poisoned cup of coffee. Soon there is an avalanche of suspects as Cami starts shoveling through the clues—including a shattered snow globe of Marilyn Monroe. Now Cami will have to venture out of her safety zone before the pathological poisoner stirs up more trouble…

Visit Christine Husom's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Iced Princess.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Michael A. McDonnell's "Masters of Empire"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Masters of Empire: Great Lakes Indians and the Making of America by Michael A. McDonnell.

About the book, from the publisher:

In Masters of Empire, the historian Michael A. McDonnell reveals the pivotal role played by the native peoples of the Great Lakes in the history of North America. Though less well known than the Iroquois or Sioux, the Anishinaabeg, who lived across Lakes Michigan and Huron, were equally influential. Masters of Empire charts the story of one group, the Odawa, who settled at the straits between those two lakes, a hub for trade and diplomacy throughout the vast country west of Montreal known as the pays d’en haut.

Highlighting the long-standing rivalries and relationships among the great Indian nations of North America, McDonnell shows how Europeans often played only a minor role in this history, and reminds us that it was native peoples who possessed intricate and far-reaching networks of commerce and kinship, of which the French and British knew little. As empire encroached upon their domain, the Anishinaabeg were often the ones doing the exploiting. By dictating terms at trading posts and frontier forts, they played a crucial part in the making of early America.

Through vivid depictions—all from a native perspective—of early skirmishes, the French and Indian War, and the American Revolution, Masters of Empire overturns our assumptions about colonial America. By calling attention to the Great Lakes as a crucible of culture and conflict, McDonnell reimagines the landscape of American history.

Visit Michael A. McDonnell's website, blog, and Twitter perch.

Writers Read: Michael A. McDonnell.

The Page 99 Test: Masters of Empire.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is D. K. Wilson reading?

Featured at Writers Read: D. K. Wilson, author of The Traitor's Mark.

His entry begins:

My next two books – Superstition and Science – Renaissance to Enlightenment, a non-fic study of 16th-17th C thought, and The Devil’s Chalice – No.3 in the Thomas Treviot series of Tudor crime novels – are taking me deep into the world of the Renaissance magi. This is well-populated territory but, at the moment, I am particularly enjoying Philip Ball, The Devil’s Doctor: Paracelsus and the World of Renaissance Magic and Science and Allan Chapman, Stargazers: Copernicus, Galileo, the Telescope and the Church....[read on]

About The Traitor's Mark, from the publisher:

Based on the true story of the unsolved disappearance of Hans Holbein—famed portrait-painter of Henry VIII—this atmospheric historical novel plunges into an underworld of Tudor politics and intrigue.

The Real Crime: Hans Holbein, King Henry VIII's portrait painter, died in the autumn of 1543. A century later a chronicler reported that the artist had succumbed to plague, yet there is no contemporary evidence to support this. Suspicions have been raised over the centuries, but the mystery of what actually happened remains unsolved to this day.

Our Story: Young London goldsmith Thomas Treviot is awaiting a design for a very important jewelry commission from Hans Holbein. When the design fails to turn up, Thomas sends a servant to track Holbein down, only to discover that the painter has disappeared. In his hunt for Holbein and the lost design, Thomas is led into a morass of dangerous political intrigue, Spanish spies and courtiers that is more treacherous than he could ever have anticipated...

Visit Derek Wilson's website.

Writers Read: D. K. Wilson.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven top books about dogs

Geraldine Brooks is the author of The Secret Chord and other books. One of her seven great books about dogs, as shared with the Penguin Hotline:

Stepdog by Nicole Galland

In this delicious romp, boy meets girl only to discover that he’s also married her dog. A comic novel with much to say about the compromises of marriage and the expansive capabilities of the human heart.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Page 69 Test: Stepdog.

My Book, The Movie: Stepdog.

Coffee with a Canine: Nicole Galland & Leuco.

--Marshal Zeringue

Paullina Simons's "The Bronze Horseman," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons.

The entry begins:

In The Bronze Horseman, Alexander the dashing Red Army officer, patrolling the streets of a large city the day Hitler invades the Soviet Union, meets and falls in love with Tatiana, a comet of innocence and desire. I had visualized them in their entirety, him tall, her tiny, him dark-haired her blonde, the fire between them burning on all the pages of my story.

For the last fifteen years my readers and I have engaged in heated discussions about who can possibly live up to the images we have built up in our minds of these two unforgettable characters. This is an instance where the image on the screen, even the Imax version, cannot compare to the vividness of our imaginations.

But if we were to try, if we were to agree that somebody must play them on the screen, then Henry Cavill would be a fine choice indeed as...[read on]

Visit Paullina Simons's website.

The Page 69 Test: Lone Star.

Writers Read: Paullina Simons.

My Book, The Movie: The Bronze Horseman.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Christopher Oldstone-Moore's "Of Beards and Men"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Of Beards and Men: The Revealing History of Facial Hair by Christopher R. Oldstone-Moore.

About the book, from the publisher:

Beards—they’re all the rage these days. Take a look around: from hip urbanites to rustic outdoorsmen, well-groomed metrosexuals to post-season hockey players, facial hair is everywhere. The New York Times traces this hairy trend to Big Apple hipsters circa 2005 and reports that today some New Yorkers pay thousands of dollars for facial hair transplants to disguise patchy, juvenile beards. And in 2014, blogger Nicki Daniels excoriated bearded hipsters for turning a symbol of manliness and power into a flimsy fashion statement. The beard, she said, has turned into the padded bra of masculinity.

Of Beards and Men makes the case that today’s bearded renaissance is part of a centuries-long cycle in which facial hairstyles have varied in response to changing ideals of masculinity. Christopher Oldstone-Moore explains that the clean-shaven face has been the default style throughout Western history—see Alexander the Great’s beardless face, for example, as the Greek heroic ideal. But the primacy of razors has been challenged over the years by four great bearded movements, beginning with Hadrian in the second century and stretching to today’s bristled resurgence. The clean-shaven face today, Oldstone-Moore says, has come to signify a virtuous and sociable man, whereas the beard marks someone as self-reliant and unconventional. History, then, has established specific meanings for facial hair, which both inspire and constrain a man’s choices in how he presents himself to the world.

This fascinating and erudite history of facial hair cracks the masculine hair code, shedding light on the choices men make as they shape the hair on their faces. Oldstone-Moore adeptly lays to rest common misperceptions about beards and vividly illustrates the connection between grooming, identity, culture, and masculinity. To a surprising degree, we find, the history of men is written on their faces.

Learn more about Of Beards and Men at the University of Chicago Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Of Beards and Men.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Laurie Cass's "Pouncing on Murder"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Pouncing on Murder by Laurie Cass.

About the book, from the publisher:

Springtime in Chilson, Michigan, means it’s librarian Minnie Hamilton’s favorite time of year: maple syrup season! But her excitement fades when her favorite syrup provider, Henry Gill, dies in a sugaring accident. It’s tough news to swallow…even if the old man wasn’t as sweet as his product.

On the bookmobile rounds with her trusty rescue cat Eddie, Minnie meets Adam, the old man’s friend, who was with him when he died. Adam is convinced Henry’s death wasn’t an accident, and fears that his own life is in danger. With the police overworked, it’s up to Minnie and Eddie to tap all their resources for clues—before Adam ends up in a sticky situation…

Visit the official Laurie Cass website.

The Page 69 Test: Pouncing on Murder.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six top YA titles for Jane Austen fans

At the B & N Teen Blog, Jenny Kawecki tagged six top Young Adult reads for Jane Austen fans, including:

The Espressologist, by Kristina Springer

Jane loves to meddle, and she has a habit of determining peoples’ personalities by their coffee orders. So it’s no surprise when she combines her two favorite hobbies and starts matchmaking her friends based on their drink of choice. But when her boss catches wind of the idea and turns it into an in-store promotion, Jane starts to question her decisions. Everything seems to be going fine…so why is she so sad about it? Funny and cute and perfect for reading while you curl up with a nice, hot latté, The Espressologist is an adorable take on Jane Austen’s Emma that’s almost as awesome as the YouTube-ified Emma Approved.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Page 69 Test: The Espressologist.

My Book, The Movie: The Espressologist.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is David A. Bell reading?

Featured at Writers Read: David A. Bell, author of Napoleon: A Concise Biography.

His entry begins:

For work, I’m currently reading sources on the Haitian Revolution, including Marcus Rainsford’s fascinating early history of the events. Rainsford was a British army officer who spent considerable time in Haiti during the Revolution, and came to know and admire Toussaint Louverture.

As I’ve spent the past few years trying to...[read on]

About Napoleon, from the publisher:

This book provides a concise, accurate, and lively portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte's character and career, situating him firmly in historical context.

David Bell emphasizes the astonishing sense of human possibility--for both good and ill--that Napoleon represented. By his late twenties, Napoleon was already one of the greatest generals in European history. At thirty, he had become absolute master of Europe's most powerful country. In his early forties, he ruled a European empire more powerful than any since Rome, fighting wars that changed the shape of the continent and brought death to millions. Then everything collapsed, leading him to spend his last years in miserable exile in the South Atlantic.

Bell emphasizes the importance of the French Revolution in understanding Napoleon's career. The revolution made possible the unprecedented concentration of political authority that Napoleon accrued, and his success in mobilizing human and material resources. Without the political changes brought about by the revolution, Napoleon could not have fought his wars. Without the wars, he could not have seized and held onto power. Though his virtual dictatorship betrayed the ideals of liberty and equality, his life and career were revolutionary.

Learn more about Napoleon: A Concise Biography at the Oxford University Press website.

Writers Read: David A. Bell.

--Marshal Zeringue

The Wall Street Journal's top ten nonfiction books of 2015

One of the Wall Street Journal's top ten nonfiction books of the year:

Mourning Lincoln
by Martha Hodes

Abraham Lincoln’s assassination in April 1865 plunged the nation into grief. Mourning for the president became a surrogate for mourning each fallen Union soldier. Yet the deep reaction to his death included not just shock, sorrow and anguish but also glee from his detractors (particularly Northern conservatives and immigrants), who feared his commitment to giving freed slaves civil rights. Martha Hodes draws a direct line between Lincoln’s calls for black suffrage and his assassination, making him an American martyr. “Mourning Lincoln” is a stunning piece of research, based on an extraordinary range of materials often overlooked by traditional historians.

Learn about another book on the list.

Cover story: Mourning Lincoln.

The Page 99 Test: Mourning Lincoln.

--Marshal Zeringue

Kim MacQuarrie's "The Last Days of the Incas," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: The Last Days of the Incas by Kim MacQuarrie.

The entry begins:

I’m perhaps fortunate in that the FX Channel is currently in the process of developing one of my books—The Last Days of the Incas—into a 13-part dramatic series. It’s the (non-fiction) story of how 168 conquistadors, led by a band of four brothers, managed to conquer an Inca Empire of ten million. The truth is, I hadn’t really considered the casting, but now that there is this opportunity, here goes:

Francisco Pizarro: (the eldest brother, shrewd, uneducated, a great leader of men): Jeremy Irons

Hernando Pizarro (arrogant, power hungry): Javier Bardem

Gonzalo Pizarro: (the handsomest of the brothers): Colin...[read on]

Visit Kim MacQuarrie's website.

The Page 99 Test: Life and Death in the Andes.

My Book, The Movie: Life and Death in the Andes.

My Book, The Movie: The Last Days of the Incas.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten top Christmas books

Matt Haig's newest book, A Boy Called Christmas, is out now in the UK. One of the author's top ten Christmas books, as shared at the Guardian:

Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris

One of the funniest things in print. This is a collection of essays about Christmas. The first one, Santaland Diaries, is Sedaris’s take on working as an elf during holiday season at Macy’s department store and is painful in all the right ways. Another essay reviews the local school’s Christmas pageant with delightful mischief.

Read about another book on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Miguel de Baca's "Memory Work: Anne Truitt and Sculpture"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Memory Work: Anne Truitt and Sculpture by Miguel de Baca.

About the book, from the publisher:

Memory Work demonstrates the evolution of the pioneering minimalist sculptor Anne Truitt. An artist determined to make her way through a new aesthetic in the 1960s, Truitt was tireless in her pursuit of a strong cultural voice. At the heart of her practice was the key theme of memory, which enabled her not only to express personal experience but also to address how perception was changing for a contemporary viewership. She gravitated toward the idea that an object in one’s focus could unleash a powerful return to the past through memory, which in turn brings a fresh, even critical, attention to the present moment. In addition to the artist’s own popular published writings, which detail the unique challenges facing female artists, Memory Work draws on unpublished manuscripts, private recordings, and never-before-seen working drawings to validate Truitt’s original ideas about the link between perception and mnemonic reference in contemporary art. De Baca offers an insider’s view of the artist’s unstinting efforts to realize her artistic vision, as well as the cultural, political, and historical resonances her oeuvre has for us today.

Learn more about Memory Work at the University of California Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Memory Work.

--Marshal Zeringue

Simon Sebag Montefiore's 6 favorite books

As a historian, Simon Sebag Montefiore's works include The Romanovs: 1613–1918, Jerusalem: The Biography, Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, and Young Stalin, which was awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography, the Costa Biography Prize (UK), and Le Grand Prix de Biographie Politique (France). His novels include the critically acclaimed Sashenka and One Night in Winter.

One of the author's six favorite books, as shared at The Daily Express:

BLOOD MERIDIAN by Cormac McCarthy

This a towering masterpiece of modern American literature.

It’s about a desolate, terrifying world on the borderland between America and Mexico when the remains of Indian tribes were being hunted down by ruffians damaged by the American Civil War. It is a Western but also a study of total evil which is always interesting.

Read about another entry on the list.

Blood Meridian is one authority's pick for the Great Texas novel; it is among Richard Kadrey's five books about awful, awful people, Jason Sizemore's top five books that will entertain and drop you into the depths of despair, Robert Allison's top ten novels of desert war, Alexandra Silverman's top fourteen wrathful stories, James Franco's six favorite books, Philipp Meyer's five best books that explain America, Peter Murphy's top ten literary preachers, David Vann's six favorite books, Robert Olmstead's six favorite books, Michael Crummey's top ten literary feuds, Philip Connors's top ten wilderness books, six books that made a difference to Kazuo Ishiguro, Clive Sinclair's top 10 westerns, Maile Meloy's six best books, and David Foster Wallace's five direly underappreciated post-1960 U.S. novels. It appears on the New York Times list of the best American fiction of the last 25 years and among the top ten works of literature according to Stephen King.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Jonathan H. Ebel reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Jonathan H. Ebel, author of G.I. Messiahs: Soldiering, War, and American Civil Religion.

His entry begins:

Shortly before 9pm last December 11, my dad called to tell me he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He died on April 7 after four months of treatment, suffering, and decline. They told us it would be a rollercoaster. It wasn’t.

Almost from the beginning, friends and family told me that I should read Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal. I agree with them. I really should. It is sitting on my nightstand between the clock radio and the reading lamp. I’ll get to it. For the moment, though, I’m aiming lower, or maybe just differently. I am finishing The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and I am halfway through A Farewell to Arms, two books that wrestle with being mortal in ways that feel easier to me.

There are few better times to purge closets, drawers, and the recesses of one’s basement than the aftermath of a painful loss. My father is gone. What the hell do I care about CD cases, VHS tapes, an old toaster oven, and sweaters that I haven’t worn in a decade? I’m very sad. The question that Marie Kondo requires me to ask of every possession, “Does this spark joy?” all but answers itself. Old jackets? Hell no. Notes from college? Are you kidding? If we’re talking about...[read on]

About G.I. Messiahs, from the publisher:

Jonathan Ebel has long been interested in how religion helps individuals and communities render meaningful the traumatic experiences of violence and war. In this new work, he examines cases from the Great War to the present day and argues that our notions of what it means to be an American soldier are not just strongly religious, but strongly Christian.

Drawing on a vast array of sources, he further reveals the effects of soldier veneration on the men and women so often cast as heroes. Imagined as the embodiments of American ideals, described as redeemers of the nation, adored as the ones willing to suffer and die that we, the nation, may live—soldiers have often lived in subtle but significant tension with civil religious expectations of them. With chapters on prominent soldiers past and present, Ebel recovers and re-narrates the stories of the common American men and women that live and die at both the center and edges of public consciousness.

Jonathan H. Ebel is associate professor of religious studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is a former naval intelligence officer. He is the author of Faith in the Fight: Religion and the American Soldier in the First World War and the co-editor, with John D. Carlson, of From Jeremiad to Jihad: Religion, Violence, and America.

Learn more about G.I. Messiahs at the Yale University Press website.

Writers Read: Jonathan H. Ebel.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top 5 Texas authors of 2015

At MysteryPeople Scott Montgomery tagged the top five Texas authors of 2015, including:

Between the Living and the Dead by Bill Crider

The latest Dan Rhodes mystery has our sheriff dealing with a murder involving meth, used cars, and a haunted house. A fun, laid back mystery, full of entertaining characters.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Page 69 Test: Between the Living and the Dead.

Read about Crider's choice of actors to portray Dan Rhodes and Seepy Benton on the big screen.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Julia Knight's "Warlords and Wastrels"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Warlords and Wastrels by Julia Knight.

About the book, from the publisher:

The epic conclusion to the fast-paced new adventure fantasy series, the Duelists trilogy, from one of the most exciting new talents in fantasy.

Vocho and Kacha may be known for the first swordplay in the city of Reyes, but they've found themselves backed into a corner too often for their liking.

Finally reinstated into the Duelist's Guild for services rendered to the prelate, who has found himself back in charge, Vocho and Kacha are tasked with bringing a prisoner to justice. But this prisoner is none other than Kacha's old flame Egimont. The prelate wants him alive, and on their side. However the more they discover of Egimont and his dark dealings with the magician, the more Kacha's loyalties are divided. Soon she must choose a side -- the prelate or the king, her brother or her ex-lover.

The fate of Reyes is balanced on a knife-edge...

Visit Julia Knight's website.

The Page 69 Test: Warlords and Wastrels.

--Marshal Zeringue