Q&A with Brian Carso

From my Q&A with Brian Carso, author of Gideon's Revolution: A Novel:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

Early on, I needed a working title. One of the many sources I used for this historical novel was Benson Lossing’s monumental Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution (1860), commonly referred to as “Lossing’s Revolution.” My narrator is named Gideon, so I began to simply refer to the work as “Gideon’s Revolution.”

Over time, the title grew on me. The story is Gideon’s account of his activity as a soldier in the American Revolution, but make no mistake: his revolution is as much internal as it is external. So I think the title hints at some process of change, of revelation.

The name “Gideon” has a biblical reference that I conjure up at the end of the story in the hope that it promotes a bit of an epiphany. The best title I know is Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. For nearly the entire story, the reader assumes it’s an allusion to the anger the Joad family feels about the many depression-era indignities they suffer. But when you hit the last few pages (an ending much different from the 1940 film), you can follow the breadcrumbs Steinbeck provides to connect the name of Rosasharn (for “Rose of Sharon”) and her extraordinary act of mercy with a biblical passage that turns the phrase “grapes of wrath” into an unforgettable gut punch.

In that spirit...[read on]

Visit Brian Carso's website.

Q&A with Brian Carso.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Zein Murib's "Terms of Exclusion"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Terms of Exclusion: Rightful Citizenship Claims and the Construction of LGBT Political Identity by Zein Murib.

About the book, from the publisher:

LGBT political movements in the United States have been successful in expediting the growing acceptance of sexual and gender minorities and increasing public support for LGBT rights. However, not all segments of what has come to be called the "LGBT community" have benefited from these gains; even marginalized identity groups have internal hierarchies that determine whose political claims are heard or ignored.

In Terms of Exclusion, Zein Murib looks at the LGBT community in the US as it formed into an identity-based social and political group. Drawing on an extensive archive of movement documents and publications, Murib argues that the strategic use of "rightful citizenship claims," or the assertion that lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people are owed rights as citizens, created opportunities for the recognition of white, gender-normative, monogamously partnered gay men and lesbians at the expense of other community members. The rights wins made as a result of these opportunities are celebrated as evidence of progress, even while they simultaneously foreclose representation and political gains for those members whose cross-cutting identities challenge or elude the boundaries of normative citizenship.

By focusing on the effects of mobilization tactics seeking assimilation, Murib shows that within-group marginalization is not an accident of political expediency or due to relatively fewer resources, but rather a discursive strategy employed by political actors to make a group palatable to lawmakers and the general public. Terms of Exclusion thus constitutes a significant revision to existing scholarship on LGBT politics in political science and joins a growing body of interdisciplinary work that focuses on how a seemingly benign strategy of political movements foregrounding citizenship claims entails silence and erasure for the most precarious members of the group.

Visit Zein Murib's website.

The Page 99 Test: Terms of Exclusion.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven realistic portraits of mothers and daughters in literature

Jill Talbot is the author of The Last Year: Essays (2023). She’s also the author of The Way We Weren’t: A Memoir (2015) and Loaded: Women and Addiction (2007), the co-editor of The Art of Friction: Where (Non)Fictions Come Together (2008), and the editor of Metawritings: Toward a Theory of Nonfiction (2012). Her craft book, The Essay Form(s), will be published in 2024.

At Lit Hub Talbot tagged seven realistic portraits of mothers and daughters in literature, including:

Cheryl Strayed’s memoir, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Trail, begins with the death of her mother from cancer at the age of forty-six. Strayed’s grief is so devastating that she loses the woman she had been before her mother’s death. In an attempt to be “the woman my mother raised,” Strayed hikes the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State, alone, in the summer of 1995, at the age of twenty-six—a rugged and arduous trek that allows her to understand she doesn’t want a way out, an escape, but a way in—to herself and to what’s true, and at the center of that is the mother she has carried with her on the trail, the mother she always will carry with her.

When we write about people in our lives, we write them fully—combining the traits we admire and celebrate and love with those qualities we question, the (in)actions or words that confuse or disappoint us—to convey the perplexity of who we are as humans.

Late in the memoir, Strayed hikes on what would have been her mother’s fiftieth birthday. She writes, “I passed by high lakes and crossed over rocky volcanic rocks as the night’s snow melted on the hardy wildflowers that grew among them” as she “painstakingly” creates a mental list of the ways in which her mother had “done wrong.” The length of the items expands as the list progresses, ending on the longest, number seven: “When I was a senior in high school, [my mother] didn’t ask where I would like to go to college. She didn’t take me on a tour….I was left to figure it out on my own.”

After a few more moments of hiking, Strayed thinks, Fuck her, a new layer of grief, this time at what her mother’s early death took away from Strayed—the chance to grow up and “confront her about the things I wished she’d done differently and then grow older and understand that she had done the best that she could.”

Note: My mother loved this book. Beyond To Kill a Mockingbird, it was her favorite. She kept copies to give to friends when they were ill or going through a tough time. “It’s about obstacles and overcoming them,” she always told people. After she died, I found six copies in the house, and I’m grateful to have her copy, the one with her name written in her beautiful handwriting inside the front cover.

Read about another entry on the list.

Wild is among Katherine May's nine top books on the very human importance of walking, Monique Alice's six books that will inspire you to lace up your hiking boots, and Jeff Somers's five top books with Mother Nature as antagonist.

--Marshal Zeringue

Coffee with a canine: Sung J. Woo & Koda

Featured at Coffee with a Canine: Sung J. Woo & Koda.

The author, on how Koda got his name:

On a visit to the breeder prior to bringing him home, we saw a black bear by the side of the road. Naming him Bear seemed too simple, so then we went on the internet, and we found a movie we've never seen: Brother Bear. It's an animated film, and one of the main characters is named Koda. It's Native American (Sioux) for "friend" or "ally," which was exactly what we were hoping he would be when...[read on]

About Woo's new novel Deep Roots, from the publisher:

After solving her first case, Siobhan O’Brien faces her biggest challenge yet – Thanksgiving! With her lawyer boyfriend Craig in tow, Siobhan travels to Minneapolis to endure small talk with the extended O’Brien clan and chow down on some seriously delicious turkey and dressing. Everything’s swell until her sister-in-law Gwen tells her about her brother Sven's frequent late-night meetings with his co-workers. Since Siobhan’s next case is just a ferry ride from their house in Washington state, she asks for Siobhan’s help.

Big sister is happy to oblige, though she’s got her hands full. Hired by Phillip Ahn, a Korean artificial intelligence genius with his own personal island in the Pacific Northwest, Siobhan enters the strange, sequestered world of the uber rich, where Ahn, his wife, his two ex-wives, and his five children all live under the same gilded roof.

Ahn brings Siobhan to his estate because he swears that Duke, his youngest child and only son, is an impostor. Is Ahn crazy, or is Duke really someone else? And could it be possible that Sven’s troubles are somehow linked to Ahn’s? As Siobhan digs into these dangerous mysteries, she learns that family secrets have some very Deep Roots.

Visit Sung J. Woo's website.

The Page 69 Test: Everything Asian.

My Book, The Movie: Skin Deep.

Q&A with Sung J. Woo.

The Page 69 Test: Skin Deep.

My Book, The Movie: Deep Roots.

The Page 69 Test: Deep Roots.

Writers Read: Sung J. Woo.

Coffee with a Canine: Sung J. Woo & Koda.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Mark Thomas Edwards's "Walter Lippmann"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Walter Lippmann: American Skeptic, American Pastor by Mark Thomas Edwards.

About the book, from the publisher:

Walter Lippmann was arguably the most recognized and respected political journalist of the twentieth century. His "Today and Tomorrow" columns attracted a global readership of well over ten million. Lippmann was the author of numerous books, including the best-selling A Preface to Morals (1929) and U.S. Foreign Policy (1943). His Public Opinion (1922) remains a classic text within American political philosophy and media studies. Lippmann coined or popularized several keywords of the twentieth century, including "stereotype," the "Cold War," and the "Great Society." Sought out by U.S. Presidents and by America's allies and rivals around the world, Lippmann remained one of liberalism's most faithful proponents and harshest critics.

Yet few people then or since encountered the "real" Walter Lippmann. That was because he kept crucial parts of himself hiding in plain sight. His extensive commentary on politics and diplomacy was bounded by his sense that America had to adjust to the loss of a common faith and morality in a "post-Christian" era. Over the course of his life, Lippmann traded in his fame as a happy secularist for the stardom of a grumpy Western Christian intellectual. Yet he never committed himself to any religious system, especially his own Jewish heritage.

Walter Lippmann: American Skeptic, American Pastor considers the role of religions in Lippmann's life and thought, prioritizing his affirmation and rejection of Christian nationalisms of the left and right. It also yields fresh insights into the philosophical origins of modern American liberalism, including liberalism's blind spots in the areas of sex, race, and class. But most importantly, this biography highlights the constructive power of doubt. For Lippmann, the good life in the good society was lived in irreconcilable tension: the struggle to be free from yet loyal to a way of life; to recognize the dangers yet also necessity of a civil religion; and to strive for a just and enduring world order that can never be. In the end, Lippmann manufactured himself as the prophet of limitation for an extravagant American Century.

Learn more about Walter Lippmann at the Oxford University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Walter Lippmann.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Erin Flanagan's "Come With Me"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Come with Me by Erin Flanagan.

About the book, from the publisher:

Two women. An old friendship rekindled. A growing fear. Not everything is as it seems in a dark and twisty novel of suspense by the Edgar Award–winning author of Deer Season.

Gwen Maner is a widowed single mom, returning to her Ohio hometown with her daughter. And thanks to former acquaintance Nicola Kimmel, this is the start of Gwen’s new and promising life.

Nicola’s secured Gwen a lucrative job, rented Gwen a house on her same street, and won the heart of Gwen’s daughter, but she almost seems too good to be true. She’s so selfless. So charismatic. And so take-charge. Gwen is sure Nicola is yearning only for someone to get close to. After all, according to Nicola, her marriage is falling apart, and her best friend just up and left one day.

But how well does Gwen really know Nicola? What does Nicola ultimately want? As their lives become more entwined, and Nicola’s grip tightens, Gwen begins to think that Nicola isn’t helping Gwen and her daughter but vying for control of every aspect of her life. And the consequences may be deadly.

Visit Erin Flanagan's website.

The Page 69 Test: Blackout.

My Book, The Movie: Blackout.

Coffee with a Canine: Erin Flanagan & Mavis and Lorna.

Q&A with Erin Flanagan.

The Page 69 Test: Come with Me.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top books inspired by Dickens's classics

At B&N Reads Brittany Bunzey tagged five of the best books inspired by Charles Dickens's classics, including:

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kingsolver brings the themes of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield to southern Appalachia in her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Inspired by the man while staying in his house, Kingsolver captures the opioid epidemic in a survivor’s tale told with beauty, nuance and compassion.

Learn about another entry on the list.

"Barbara Kingsolver’s wonderful novel Demon Copperhead," writes Carline Lea, "translates Dickens’s ideas about poverty and social inequality in Victorian London into a searing exploration of poverty in America and particularly the drug crisis in deprived rural communities."

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Laura Meckler's "Dream Town"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Dream Town: Shaker Heights and the Quest for Racial Equity by Laura Meckler.

About the book, from the publisher:

Can a group of well-intentioned people fulfill the promise of racial integration in America?

In this searing and intimate examination of the ideals and realities of racial integration, award-winning Washington Post journalist Laura Meckler tells the story of a decades-long pursuit in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and uncovers the roadblocks that have threatened progress time and again—in housing, in education, and in the promise of shared community.

In the late 1950s, Shaker Heights began groundbreaking work that would make it a national model for housing integration. And beginning in the seventies, it was known as a crown jewel in the national move to racially integrate schools. The school district built a reputation for academic excellence and diversity, serving as a model for how white and Black Americans can thrive together. Meckler—herself a product of Shaker Heights—takes a deeper look into the place that shaped her, investigating its complicated history and its ongoing challenges in order to untangle myth from truth. She confronts an enduring, and troubling, question—if Shaker Heights has worked so hard at racial equity, why does a racial academic achievement gap persist?

In telling the stories of the Shakerites who have built and lived in this community, Meckler asks: What will it take to fulfill the promise of racial integration in America? What compromises are people of all races willing to make? What does success look like, and has Shaker achieved it? The result is a complex and masterfully reported portrait of a place that, while never perfect, has achieved more than most and a road map for communities that seek to do the same.

Visit Laura Meckler's website.

The Page 99 Test: Dream Town.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Kathleen Rooney reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Kathleen Rooney, author of From Dust to Stardust: A Novel.

Her entry begins:

Back in January, I asked my friend Cassandra Gillig—who always has the best book recommendations—if she had read any books lately that I absolutely must know about, and she recommended Jill Johnston’s The Disintegration of a Critic.

Released by Sternberg Press in 2019, it’s a collection of 30 pieces that Johnston—feminist, cultural critic, and lesbian icon—first published in her weekly Village Voice column between 1960 and 1974. Cassandra described the texts as being “all so messy & fun” and said that they “frequently veer into a terrain of almost too off-topic before getting back on track in a way nothing else could.” Now that I’ve finally gotten around to reading the essays...[read on]

About From Dust to Stardust, from the publisher:

From the bestselling author of Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk comes a novel about Hollywood, the cost of stardom, and selfless second acts, inspired by an extraordinary true story.

Chicago, 1916. Doreen O’Dare is fourteen years old when she hops a Hollywood-bound train with her beloved Irish grandmother. Within a decade, her trademark bob and insouciant charm make her the preeminent movie flapper of the Jazz Age. But her success story masks one of relentless ambition, tragedy, and the secrets of a dangerous marriage.

Her professional life in flux, Doreen trades one dream for another. She pours her wealth and creative energy into a singular achievement: the construction of a one-ton miniature Fairy Castle, the likes of which the world has never seen. So begins Doreen’s public tour to lift the nation’s spirits during the Great Depression―and a personal journey worth remembering.

A sweeping journey from the dawn of the motion picture era through turbulent twentieth-century America, From Dust to Stardust is a breathtaking novel about one determined woman navigating change, challenging the price of fame, and sharing the gift of real magic.

Visit Kathleen Rooney's website.

The Page 99 Test: Live Nude Girl.

The Page 99 Test: For You, for You I Am Trilling These Songs.

My Book, The Movie: For You, for You I Am Trilling These Songs.

My Book, The Movie: Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk.

The Page 69 Test: Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey.

My Book, The Movie: Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey.

Writers Read: Kathleen Rooney (July 2022).

The Page 69 Test: Where Are the Snows.

Writers Read: Kathleen Rooney (September 2022).

The Page 69 Test: From Dust to Stardust.

My Book, The Movie: From Dust to Stardust.

Q&A with Kathleen Rooney.

Writers Read: Kathleen Rooney.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top thrillers featuring toxic friendships

Jilly Gagnon is currently based in Salem, Massachusetts, but is originally from Minnesota, a fact she’ll likely inform you of within minutes of meeting you. In addition to her adult fiction, she has authored both young adult and comedy novels.

Gagnon's new novel is Scenes of the Crime.

At CrimeReads she tagged five psychological thrillers in which "best friends" are the biggest threat, including:

We Were Never Here – Andrea Bartz

You would think killing a man together would be a major “AHA!” moment in a friendship, that inflection point where you realize “hey… maybe we’re not such a dynamic duo…”

And for Emily it is… the second time it happens.

We Were Never Here is a mesmerizing book that delves deep into the dark underbelly of female friendship, forcing readers to question where the line is between love and control, and between support and complicity. The allure of the friendship between Kristen and Emily is palpable, but the danger they pose to each other (and anyone who dares to get too close) is just as potent. I was left questioning who and what I could trust at every turn. No spoilers, but the final twist was delicious.

Read about another entry on the list.

We Were Never Here is among Megan Collins's seven thrillers in which friendships are tested.

--Marshal Zeringue

Deborah J Ledford's "Redemption," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Redemption (Eva "Lightning Dance" Duran series) by Deborah J Ledford.

The entry begins:

Eva “Lightning Dance” Duran - Lily Gladstone. The movie I’m most looking forward to is Killers of the Flower Moon, also starring Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Martin Scorsese. Ms. Gladstone’s other performances prove the prowess to convey the vulnerability and yet capability of the only Native female deputy for the Taos County sheriff’s department.

Kai “Single Star” Arrio - Jerry Wolf. Also appearing in Killers of the Flower Moon, this up and coming actor is...[read on]

Visit Deborah J Ledford's website.

Q&A with Deborah J Ledford.

The Page 69 Test: Redemption.

My Book, The Movie: Redemption.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Miriam H. Baer's "Myths and Misunderstandings in White-Collar Crime"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Myths and Misunderstandings in White-Collar Crime by Miriam H. Baer.

About the book, from the publisher:

Myths and Misunderstandings in White Collar Crime uses real world examples to explore the pathologies that hamper our ability to understand and redress white-collar crime. The book argues that several misinterpretations about white-collar crime continue to impede its enforcement, including: its failure to be classified according to degrees of severity in many jurisdictions; its failure to statutorily parse groups of defendants into major and minor players; and the failure of statutes to effectively define crimes, leading to the prosecution of 'unwritten' crimes. Miriam Baer offers a step-by-step framework, informed by theories of institutional design and behavioral psychology, for redressing these misunderstandings through 'code design,' or paying greater attention to how we write, frame, and lay out our federal criminal code, as a roadmap to more coherent and useful laws. A clearer, subdivided criminal code paves the way for a discussion of white-collar crime unmarred by myths and misunderstandings.

Learn more about Myths and Misunderstandings in White-Collar Crime at the Cambridge University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Myths and Misunderstandings in White-Collar Crime.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: James R. Benn's "Proud Sorrows"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Proud Sorrows by James R. Benn.

About the book, from the publisher:

In the eighteenth installment in this fan-favorite WWII mystery series, US Army Captain Billy Boyle investigates a murder in a charming English village, where personal vendettas tangle with wartime espionage.

Norfolk, England, November 1944: After a series of dangerous missions in the South of France, US Army Captain Billy Boyle is finally on leave, and is settling into a peaceful rest at the country estate of Sir Richard Seaton, the father of Billy’s British lover, Diana. Seaton Manor is a comfortable haven, and Billy is eager to spend a few precious days in Diana’s company pretending the war is far away.

Unfortunately, Billy’s leave is cut short when a crashed German bomber resurfaces off the coast with the corpse of a British officer in the pilot seat. The nearby village of Slewford hosts a top-secret military intelligence operation, home to high-ranking German POWs, and so the crash is a matter of national security. Billy is assigned by the commander of the POW facility to investigate. After the plane is discovered, a local villager is murdered—and suddenly what had appeared to be a failed enemy military operation takes on an even more sinister aspect. All Billy’s ex-Boston cop instincts are put to the test as he interviews the grieving, angry, and conniving citizens of this idyllic English country village in search of the truth.

Learn more about the Billy Boyle WWII Mystery Series at James R. Benn's website.

The Page 99 Test: The First Wave.

The Page 69 Test: Evil for Evil.

The Page 69 Test: Rag and Bone.

My Book, The Movie: Death's Door.

The Page 69 Test: The White Ghost.

The Page 69 Test: Blue Madonna.

Writers Read: James R. Benn (September 2016).

Q&A with James R. Benn.

The Page 69 Test: Proud Sorrows.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight novels featuring likable murderers

C. J. Washington is a data scientist and writer. He has a master’s degree in computer science from the Georgia Institute of Technology and lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife and daughter.

Washington's new novel is Imperfect Lives.

At Electric Lit he tagged eight books featuring "bad guys doing bad things, but we're still rooting for them." One title on the list:

The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice

When a vampire kills a human to feed, is it murder? If not, is it murder when a vampire kills a human for sport? Lestat de Lioncourt, born a mortal in France in 1760, transfigured into a vampire in 1781, was thoroughly demonized by Louis de Pointe du Lac in Interview with the Vampire (the first book in the series and the proper place to start). In The Vampire Lestat (the second in the series), Lestat defends himself through the telling of his long and exciting history. A philosopher at heart, Lestat searches the world for other vampires, always seeking to discover the meaning of immortality.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Shelton Woods's "Governor of the Cordillera"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Governor of the Cordillera: John C. Early among the Philippine Highlanders by Shelton Woods.

About the book, from the publisher:

Governor of the Cordillera tells the story of an American colonial official in the Philippines who took the unpopular position of defending the rights of the Igorots, was fired in disgrace, and made a triumphal return. During the first fifteen years of colonial rule (1898–1913), a small group of Americans controlled the headhunting tribes who were wards of the nascent colonial government. These officials ignored laws, carved out fiefdoms, and brutalized (or killed) those who challenged their rule. John Early was cut from a different cloth. Battling colleagues and supervisors over their treatment of the mountain people, Early also had run-ins with lowland Filipino leaders like Manuel Quezon. Early's return as governor of the entire Cordillera was celebrated by all the tribes.

In Governor of the Cordillera Shelton Woods combines biography with colonial history. He includes a discussion on the exhibition of the Igorots at the various fairs in the US and Europe, which Early tried to stop. The life of John Early is a testament to navigating political and racial divides with integrity.

Visit Shelton Woods's website.

The Page 99 Test: Governor of the Cordillera.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with James R. Benn

From my Q&A with James R. Benn, author of Proud Sorrows:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

It's a signpost. This is a story full of sorrows. Some come from the after-effects of the First World War, others from brutal family conflicts, racial and religious hatred, and the physical and psychic wounds of warfare. I found this quote from Shakespeare, and it struck me as perfect for the story I wanted to tell:

"I will instruct my sorrows to be proud,
For grief is proud and makes his owner stoop."

There's a sense of resilience in those lines, as well as an admission of a heavy burden. Both are explored as...[read on]

Learn more about the Billy Boyle WWII Mystery Series at James R. Benn's website.

The Page 99 Test: The First Wave.

The Page 69 Test: Evil for Evil.

The Page 69 Test: Rag and Bone.

My Book, The Movie: Death's Door.

The Page 69 Test: The White Ghost.

The Page 69 Test: Blue Madonna.

Writers Read: James R. Benn (September 2016).

Q&A with James R. Benn.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six great novels about old friends and "old" friends

Bobby Finger is the author of The Old Place, and co-host of the popular celebrity and entertainment podcast, Who? Weekly.

A Texas native, he lives in Brooklyn, New York.

At Lit Hub Finger tagged seven "novels about 'old friends' that I’ve found myself repeatedly recommending to some of my closest friends." One title on the list:

Samantha Hunt, The Invention of Everything Else

Samantha Hunt’s gorgeous and beguiling novel features a friendship formed in the Hotel New Yorker between one of its gentle young cleaners, Louisa, and its most mysterious and reclusive resident, a frail but eccentric man named Nikola Tesla (yes, that Nikola Tesla). Among myriad other things (like all of Hunt’s books, it would be a crime to define it by a single genre, plot, or theme), The Invention of Everything Else is about how terrifying it can be to reach out to someone with the intention of making a friend, and the transformative pleasure and privilege that can result from the effort. Friendship is as mystifying and powerful as a Tesla coil–one of life’s most wonderful risks.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Invention of Everything Else is among Sofija Stefanovic's eleven books about outsiders, weirdos, and underdogs and Rick Moody's six favorite books that take place in hotels.

The Page 99 Test: The Invention of Everything Else.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Jonathan Alexander Cook's "Neither Believer nor Infidel"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Neither Believer nor Infidel: Skepticism and Faith in Melville's Shorter Fiction and Poetry by Jonathan A. Cook.

About the book, from the publisher:

Shedding new light on both classic and lesser-known works in the Melville canon with particular attention to the author's literary use of the Bible, Neither Believer Nor Infidel examines the debate between religious skepticism and Christian faith that infused Herman Melville's writings following Moby-Dick. Jonathan A. Cook's study is the first to focus on the decisive role of faith and doubt in Melville's writings following his mid-career turn to shorter fiction, and still later to poetry, as a result of the commercial failures of Moby-Dick and Pierre.

Nathaniel Hawthorne claimed that Melville "can neither believe nor be comfortable in his unbelief," a remark that encapsulates an essential truth about Melville's attitude to Christianity. Like many of his Victorian contemporaries, Melville spent his literary career poised between an intellectual rejection of Christian dogma and an emotional attachment to the consolations of non-dogmatic Christian faith. Accompanying this ambivalence was a lifelong devotion to the text of the King James Bible as both moral sourcebook and literary template. Following a biographical overview of skeptical influences and manifestations in Melville's early life and career, Cook examines the evidence of religious doubt and belief in "Bartleby, the Scrivener," "Cock-a-Doodle-Doo!," "The Encantadas," Israel Potter, Battle-Pieces, Timoleon, and Billy Budd.

Accessible for both the general reader and the scholar, Neither Believer Nor Infidel clarifies the ambiguities of Melville's pervasive use of religion in his fiction and poetry. In analyzing Melville's persistent oscillation between metaphysical rebellion and attenuated belief, Cook elucidates both well-known and under-appreciated works.

Visit Jonathan Alexander Cook's website.

The Page 99 Test: Neither Believer nor Infidel.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Deborah J Ledford's "Redemption"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Redemption (Eva "Lightning Dance" Duran series) by Deborah J Ledford.

About the book, from the publisher:

From award-winning author Deborah J Ledford comes a thrilling new series featuring a Native American sheriff’s deputy who risks it all to find a friend who’s gone missing.

After four women disappear from the Taos Pueblo reservation, Deputy Eva “Lightning Dance” Duran dives into the case. For her, it’s personal. Among the missing is her best friend, Paloma, a heroin addict who left behind an eighteen-year-old son.

Eva senses a lack of interest from the department as she embarks on the investigation. But their reluctance only fuels her fire. Eva teams up with tribal police officer and longtime friend Cruz “Wolf Song” Romero to tackle a mystery that could both ruin her reputation and threaten her standing in the tribe.

And when the missing women start turning up dead, Eva uncovers clues that take her deeper into the reservation’s protected secrets. As Eva races to find Paloma before it’s too late, she will face several tests of loyalty―to her friend, her culture, and her tribe.

Visit Deborah J Ledford's website.

Q&A with Deborah J Ledford.

The Page 69 Test: Redemption.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven great crime novels set in Harlem

Louise Hare is the London-based author of Harlem After Midnight and Miss Aldridge Regrets. Her debut novel, This Lovely City, was published in the UK to wide acclaim, and was a Between the Covers Book Club Pick on BBC Two.

She has an MA in creative writing from the University of London.

At CrimeReads Hare tagged seven of her favorite "books that capture the essence of Harlem and combine it with compelling stories and vivid characters that will stay with you long after you close the cover," including:

Harlem Shuffle – Colson Whitehead

Ray Carney is a family man and, as far as most people know, a hard-working furniture salesman. If he occasionally strays into petty criminality, it’s only to relieve the pressure of keeping his family in the style they’re accustomed to. His disapproving in-laws, who make it clear he will never be good enough for their daughter, don’t help matters. Harlem Shuffle, set in the 1960s, and its recent sequel Crook Manifesto, set in the early 1970s, follow Ray’s struggle to keep the two parts of his life separate, stay alive and out of jail, and maintain the lifestyle that his wife deserves.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Sung J. Woo reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Sung J. Woo, author of Deep Roots.

His entry begins:

The book I'm "reading" right now is Robert A. Caro's The Path to Power, The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 1. I'm wrapping quotes around the word "reading" because I'm listening to the book on audiobook, or more accurately, book on tape that's been converted over to mp3s (what a convoluted world we live in!). They really are conversions, as I'm told over and over again that the book is continued on the other side of the cassette or on the next cassette.

Previous to this aural undertaking, I listened to...[read on]

About Deep Roots, from the publisher:

After solving her first case, Siobhan O’Brien faces her biggest challenge yet – Thanksgiving! With her lawyer boyfriend Craig in tow, Siobhan travels to Minneapolis to endure small talk with the extended O’Brien clan and chow down on some seriously delicious turkey and dressing. Everything’s swell until her sister-in-law Gwen tells her about her brother Sven's frequent late-night meetings with his co-workers. Since Siobhan’s next case is just a ferry ride from their house in Washington state, she asks for Siobhan’s help.

Big sister is happy to oblige, though she’s got her hands full. Hired by Phillip Ahn, a Korean artificial intelligence genius with his own personal island in the Pacific Northwest, Siobhan enters the strange, sequestered world of the uber rich, where Ahn, his wife, his two ex-wives, and his five children all live under the same gilded roof.

Ahn brings Siobhan to his estate because he swears that Duke, his youngest child and only son, is an impostor. Is Ahn crazy, or is Duke really someone else? And could it be possible that Sven’s troubles are somehow linked to Ahn’s? As Siobhan digs into these dangerous mysteries, she learns that family secrets have some very Deep Roots.

Learn more about the book and author at Sung J. Woo's website.

The Page 69 Test: Everything Asian.

My Book, The Movie: Skin Deep.

Q&A with Sung J. Woo.

The Page 69 Test: Skin Deep.

My Book, The Movie: Deep Roots.

The Page 69 Test: Deep Roots.

Writers Read: Sung J. Woo.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Jacob Eisler's "The Law of Freedom"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Law of Freedom: The Supreme Court and Democracy by Jacob Eisler.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Supreme Court has been at the center of great upheavals in American democracy across the last seventy years. From the end of Jim Crow to the rise of wealth-dominated national campaigns, the Court has battled over if democracy is an egalitarian collaboration to serve the good of all citizens, or a competitive struggle by private interests. In The Law of Freedom, Jacob Eisler questions why the Court has the moral authority to shape democracy at all. Analyzing leading cases through the lens of philosophy and social science, Eisler demonstrates how the soul of election law is a battle between two philosophical understandings of democratic freedom and popular self-rule. This remarkable book reveals that the Court's battle over democracy has shaped how Americans rule themselves, marking election law as the most dramatic judicial intervention in constitutional history.

Learn more about The Law of Freedom at the Cambridge University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: The Law of Freedom.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eleven top books about misunderstood women in history & mythology

Megan Barnard writes upmarket historical fiction. She has worked as a literary agent, editor, and copywriter, but writing fiction is where her heart truly lies. When she’s not writing she drinks coffee and travels widely. Her favorite places to read across the globe are Île Saint-Louis in Paris, Pacific Grove, CA, and Portmagee, Ireland.

Barnard's latest novel is Jezebel.

At Electric Lit the author tagged eleven brilliant books about "misunderstood women in our most famous histories and mythologies." One title on the list:

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

In this retelling of the ancient Greek story of the Trojan War, Natalie Haynes gives voices and new characterizations to the many women who were involved in the Trojan War, beginning with the muse Calliope, who is more than a little annoyed at being constantly begged for a story by Homer and decides to tell him the truth of the bloody war. We also learn about the despair of Clytemnestra after the murder of her daughter, and how she strategically plans to kill the man responsible (her husband). This story gives depth to so many voiceless women, including Penelope, whose increasingly bitter and sarcastic letters to Odysseus give the book a startling humor. This is a tender, rage-filled book that gives a voice to the misunderstood women at the heart of the Trojan War.

Read about another entry on the list.

A Thousand Ships is among the B&N Reads editors' twenty-four best mythological retellings, Susan Stokes-Chapman's top ten novels inspired by Greek myths, Jennifer Saint's ten essential books inspired by Greek myth, Deanna Raybourn's six top novels based on historical scandals, and Alyssa Vaughn's forty-two books to help you get through the rest of quarantine.

The Page 69 Test: A Thousand Ships.

--Marshal Zeringue

12 Yoga Questions with Kathy Beliveau

Featured at 12 Yoga Questions: Kathy Beliveau — author, yogi, speaker.

Beliveau is the author of The Yoga Game, The Yoga Game by the Sea, The Yoga Game in the Garden and co-author of Strong Body & Mind Yoga Cards and the new smaller version, Strong Nations Yoga Cards.

Her latest book is When I Feel: Easy Yoga for Big Feelings.

Beliveau loves yoga, nature, writing and all things that feed the soul. She has traveled extensively, sailed a third of the way around the world and now lives in a small seaside community on Vancouver Island, where she was raised and where she raised her own children.

Beliveau’s relationship with yoga began as a preteen and has continued to grow and develop over the years. She has studied Children’s Yoga, Yoga Safety, and is a Certified Yoga Instructor.

She writes for children and adults, teaches yoga to all ages and presents at schools, festivals and professional development conferences. In a light and playful style, her stories, presentations and workshops connect children with nature, connect people to the planet, and connect mind, body and spirit.

Learn more about Kathy Beliveau's yoga journey at 12 Yoga Questions and visit her website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: William Cook Miller's "The Enthusiast"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Enthusiast: Anatomy of the Fanatic in Seventeenth-Century British Culture by William Cook Miller.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Enthusiast tells the story of a character type that was developed in early modern Britain to discredit radical prophets during an era that witnessed the dismantling of the Church of England's traditional means for punishing heresy. As William Cook Miller shows, the caricature of fanaticism here called the Enthusiast began as propaganda against religious dissenters, especially working-class upstarts, but was adopted by a range of writers as a literary vehicle for exploring profound problems of spirit, soul, and body and as a persona for the ironic expression of their own prophetic illuminations.

Taking shape through the public and private writings of some of the most insightful authors of seventeenth-century Britain—Henry More, John Locke, the Third Earl of Shaftesbury, Mary Astell, and Jonathan Swift, among others—the Enthusiast appeared in various guises and literary modes.

By attending to this literary being and its animators, The Enthusiast establishes the figure of the fanatic as a bridge between the Reformation and the Enlightenment, showing how an incipient secular modernity was informed by not the rejection of religion but the transformation of the prophet into something sparkling, witty, ironic, and new.

Visit William Cook Miller's website.

The Page 99 Test: The Enthusiast.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Kathleen Rooney

From my Q&A with Kathleen Rooney, author of From Dust to Stardust: A Novel:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

My title gives readers the arc of my 287-page novel in four words. The story follows Eileen Sullivan—soon to be stage-named Doreen O’Dare—from her humble beginnings as a dreamy kid in Tampa, Florida to her reign as one of Hollywood’s biggest box office draws in the 1920s. It asks the questions: what does it take to become a star? And Once you’ve become one, how long do you want to stay there and what might you do next, if you decide to leave?

What's in a name?

The novel is based on the real-life silent movie star and absolutely enchanting comedienne Colleen Moore, which is itself a stage name for “Kathleen Morrison.” I needed a name that would convey...[read on]

Learn more about the book and author at Kathleen Rooney's website.

The Page 99 Test: Live Nude Girl.

The Page 99 Test: For You, for You I Am Trilling These Songs.

My Book, The Movie: For You, for You I Am Trilling These Songs.

My Book, The Movie: Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk.

The Page 69 Test: Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey.

My Book, The Movie: Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey.

Writers Read: Kathleen Rooney (July 2022).

The Page 69 Test: Where Are the Snows.

Writers Read: Kathleen Rooney (September 2022).

The Page 69 Test: From Dust to Stardust.

My Book, The Movie: From Dust to Stardust.

Q&A with Kathleen Rooney.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight of the best legal thrillers

At B&N Reads Brittany Bunzey tagged eight top legal thrillers, including:

Suspect by Scott Turow

Suspect is a riveting thriller about a reckless detective with strong gut instincts and razor-sharp skills. Clarice “Pinky” Granum’s case takes her deep into the city’s criminal network to unravel dark secrets and a twisted scandal, as she relies on every scrap of courage she has to get the job done.

Learn about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Gillian Brock's "Corruption and Global Justice"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Corruption and Global Justice by Gillian Brock.

About the book, from the publisher:

Corruption is a pervasive problem across the world and is regularly ranked as among the greatest global challenges. Considering the role that corruption plays in exacerbating deprivation and fuelling social tension, peaceful and just societies are unlikely to come about without tackling corruption.

Addressing corruption should be a high priority for those concerned with poverty eradication, peace, security, and justice. Yet, curiously, corruption has not yet been the focus of any books by philosophers working on global justice topics. Corruption and Global Justice does so. Author Gillian Brock offers a normatively justified account of how to allocate responsibilities for addressing corruption across the many agents who can and should play a role. In order to know who should take responsibility and how they should do so, we need to understand multiple forms of corruption, the corruption risks associated with various activities, the interventions that tackle corruption effectively, and current policy and legal frameworks in place for addressing corruption. In addition, Brock proposes a new framework for navigating responsibility to address injustice, one that is action-oriented and forward-looking. Adopting an agent-empowering approach and harnessing the power of joining forces in effective collective action, Corruption and Global Justice addresses a significant global problem in a comprehensive way, providing the tools we need for progress as we collaborate to tackle this global scourge.

Learn more about Corruption and Global Justice at the Oxford University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Corruption and Global Justice.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Chris Nickson's "Rusted Souls"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Rusted Souls (A Tom Harper Mystery, 11) by Chris Nickson.

About the book, from the publisher:

Retirement beckons for Chief Constable Tom Harper. Can he stop a spiralling crime spree involving love letters, robbery and murder before he hangs up his boots for good?

Leeds, 1920. Chief Constable Tom Harper of Leeds City Police has just six weeks left in the role before his well-earned retirement. But even though his distinguished forty-year career is ending, the crime and mayhem on the city’s streets continues.

Council leader Alderman Thompson is being blackmailed. He wants Harper to find the love letters he sent to a young woman called Charlotte Radcliffe and return them discreetly. Elsewhere, masked, armed robbers are targeting jewellery shops in the city, and an organized gang of shoplifters is set to descend on Leeds. As events threaten to spiral out of control, Harper battles to restore justice and order to the streets of Leeds one last time.

Visit Chris Nickson's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Constant Lovers.

The Page 69 Test: The Constant Lovers.

The Page 69 Test: The Iron Water.

The Page 69 Test: The Hanging Psalm.

Q&A with Chris Nickson.

The Page 69 Test: The Molten City.

My Book, The Movie: Molten City.

Writers Read: Chris Nickson (August 2021).

The Page 69 Test: Brass Lives.

The Page 69 Test: The Blood Covenant.

The Page 69 Test: The Dead Will Rise.

Writers Read: Chris Nickson (March 2023).

The Page 69 Test: Rusted Souls.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five YA thrillers about vacations gone horribly wrong

Kit Frick is a MacDowell Fellow and International Thriller Writers Award finalist from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She studied creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College and received her MFA from Syracuse University. She is the author of The Split, the young adult thrillers Before We Were Sorry (originally published as See All the Stars), All Eyes on Us, I Killed Zoe Spanos, Very Bad People, and The Reunion, as well as the poetry collection A Small Rising Up in the Lungs.

[The Page 69 Test: See All the Stars; Writers Read: Kit Frick (August 2018)]

At CrimeReads Frick tagged five YA thrillers about vacations gone drastically sideways, including:

With Malice by Eileen Cook

Another true-crime-inspired thriller sparked by the Meredith Kercher case, With Malice opens with the abrupt conclusion to Jill’s senior trip to Italy—a fatal accident that left a close friend dead and Jill seriously injured. Battling amnesia and trying to regain her thin grip on reality, Jill finds herself in the hands of a lawyer and a PR team, far from the once-in-a-lifetime Italian adventure she began six weeks ago, and smack in the center of a murder investigation.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue