Pg. 69: Shelly King's "The Moment of Everything"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Moment of Everything by Shelly King.

About the book, from the publisher:

In the tradition of The Cookbook Collector comes a funny, romantic novel about a young woman finding her calling while saving a used bookstore.

Maggie Duprès, recently "involuntarily separated from payroll" at a Silicon Valley startup, is whiling away her days in The Dragonfly's Used Books, a Mountain View institution, waiting for the Next Big Thing to come along.

When the opportunity arises for her to network at a Bay Area book club, she jumps at the chance-even if it means having to read Lady Chatterley's Lover, a book she hasn't encountered since college, in an evening. But the edition she finds at the bookstore is no Penguin Classics Chatterley-it's an ancient hardcover with notes in the margins between two besotted lovers of long ago. What Maggie finds in her search for the lovers and their fate, and what she learns about herself in the process, will surprise and move readers.

Witty and sharp-eyed in its treatment of tech world excesses, but with real warmth at its core, The Moment of Everything is a wonderful read.

Visit Shelly King's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Moment of Everything.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten top boxing books

Markus Zusak's books include I Am the Messenger, a Printz Honor Book and Los Angeles Times Book Award Finalist, and the international bestseller, The Book Thief. In 2010 he tagged his ten top boxing books for the Guardian. One title to make the list:

The Fight by Norman Mailer

Some people say that this is a world championship between Muhammad Ali and Norman Mailer as to who had the biggest ego. Still, if you're interested in boxing, how can you not take a look at what Mailer does with the Rumble in the Jungle?

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Casey Walker reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Casey Walker, author of Last Days in Shanghai.

His entry begins:

The most recent book I read with total purposelessness—that is, not Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping, which I re-read for the course I’m teaching; not Assembling California, by John McPhee, which I started as research for a new novel; and not Goodnight, Moon or The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which I read daily to my wide-eyed daughter—is Jenny Offill’s fractured and beautifully broken novel Dept. of Speculation. Offill assembles the novel from riveting moments of attention, often no more than a paragraph or a few lines long. Her style reminds me a little bit of...[read on]

About Last Days in Shanghai, from the publisher:

Luke Slade, a young Congressional aide, begins this business trip to China like all other international travel he’s endured with “Lyin’ Leo”: buried under a slew of diplomatic runarounds, non-functioning cell phones, and humiliation from the Congressman at every turn. But on day two, a new challenge rears its ugly head: Leo goes on a drunken bender and disappears into the night. Unsure what dubious business his corrupt and buffoonish boss had planned, Luke must piece together the Congressman’s lies while maintaining appearances with their Chinese contacts.

Amidst the confusion, a little bleary from jet-lag and alcohol, Luke receives a briefcase full of money from the mayor of a rural Chinese province. Luke accepts the “gift” in his daze, but when he later realizes his mistake and tries to return the cash, he discovers even more anxiety-inducing news. The mayor is dead.

As Luke tries to unravel the complex minefield of corruption he’s tumbled into, he must also confront his own role in the events. Unwitting marionette? Fall guy? Or perhaps someone more capable of moral compromise than he would have liked to believe. Last Days in Shanghai is an unforgettable debut by a writer to watch. It’s both a hold-on-to-your-seat thriller and a pitch-perfect exploration of present day China—the country’s rapacious capitalism, the shocking boom of its cities and the wholesale eradication of its traditions.

Follow Casey Walker on Twitter.

Learn more about Last Days in Shanghai at the Counterpoint Press website.

The Page 69 Test: Last Days in Shanghai.

Writers Read: Casey Walker.

--Marshal Zeringue

Craig Nelson's "The Age of Radiance," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: The Age of Radiance: The Epic Rise and Dramatic Fall of the Atomic Era by Craig Nelson.

The entry begins:

If The Age of Radiance, a history of the Atomic Age from the birth of X-rays to the meltdown of Fukushima, were made into a movie, a great through line would be to focus on the women. Greer Garson did the American version of Marie Curie, relentlessly saintly and revered, but the reality is a Polish immigrant who arrived in Paris with 2 cents and turned herself into Madame Curie. No one does drive, ambition, and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps like Joan Crawford.

Marie's daughter Irene was no slouch in the drive department - her mom was the first woman to win a Nobel, and she was the second - so Reese Witherspoon.

The completely forgotten woman who discovered fission, Lise Meitner, deserves a big star who can glow while motionless...[read on]

Learn more about The Age of Radiance at the Scribner website.

My Book, The Movie: The Age of Radiance.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Kitty Calavita & Valerie Jenness' "Appealing to Justice"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Appealing to Justice: Prisoner Grievances, Rights, and Carceral Logic by Kitty Calavita and Valerie Jenness.

About the book, from the publisher:

Having gained unique access to California prisoners and corrections officials and to thousands of prisoners’ written grievances and institutional responses, Kitty Calavita and Valerie Jenness take us inside one of the most significant, yet largely invisible, institutions in the United States. Drawing on sometimes startlingly candid interviews with prisoners and prison staff, as well as on official records, the authors walk us through the byzantine grievance process, which begins with prisoners filing claims and ends after four levels of review, with corrections officials usually denying requests for remedies. Appealing to Justice is both an unprecedented study of disputing in an extremely asymmetrical setting and a rare glimpse of daily life inside this most closed of institutions. Quoting extensively from their interviews with prisoners and officials, the authors give voice to those who are almost never heard from. These voices unsettle conventional wisdoms within the sociological literature—for example, about the reluctance of vulnerable and/or stigmatized populations to name injuries and file claims, and about the relentlessly adversarial subjectivities of prisoners and correctional officials—and they do so with striking poignancy. Ultimately, Appealing to Justice reveals a system fraught with impediments and dilemmas, which delivers neither justice, nor efficiency, nor constitutional conditions of confinement.

Learn more about Appealing to Justice at the University of California Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Appealing to Justice.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top ten books & stories set on Christmas Day

At The Barnes & Noble Book Blog, Shaun Byron Fitzpatrick tagged ten of the best books and stories set on Christmas Day, including:

The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror, by Christopher Moore

Christmas is great, but Christmas with zombies is better. When an angel tries to bring a dead man dressed as Santa back to life, all hell breaks loose as flesh eaters begin attacking the town. I just love the smell of brains roasting on an open fire, don’t you?

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Krista Davis's "The Diva Wraps It Up"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Diva Wraps It Up by Krista Davis.

About the book, from the publisher:

In the latest novel in the national bestselling Domestic Diva Mystery series, it’s beginning to look a lot like murder…

The holidays are domestic diva Sophie Winston’s favorite time of year. But this season, there seem to be more mishaps than mistletoe. First, Horace Scroggins tumbles from a balcony during his office Christmas party. Then, Sophie’s neighbor takes a fall from his ladder while decorating his roof with lights. But it’s the cookie swap that really starts her wondering who’s naughty or nice….

Sophie arrives at the annual event with high spirits and thirteen dozen chocolate-drizzled gingersnaps. But when an argument erupts and a murder ensues, it becomes clear that the recent string of events is anything but accidental. Now Sophie has to make a list of suspects…and check it twice!

Visit Krista Davis's website.

Coffee with a canine: Krista Davis & Han, Buttercup, and Queenie.

The Page 69 Test: The Diva Wraps It Up.

--Marshal Zeringue

Coffee with a canine: Catherine Lloyd Burns & Shirley

Featured at Coffee with a Canine: Catherine Lloyd Burns & Shirley.

The author, on how Shirley is like Cadbury, the dog in The Good, the Bad & the Beagle:

Funnily enough, I wrote the first draft before owning a dog. I was inspired by a ten year old girl I saw a long time ago. She seemed like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders as she said, "come on Cadbury" to her gorgeous beagle. When I got Shirley I was able to rewrite all the parts where the main character, Veronica, falls in love with her dog Cadbury. Now I had the vocabulary and the emotions to describe it much more accurately and personally. Everything Cadbury does in the book that is...[read on]

About The Good, the Bad & the Beagle, from the publisher:

Set in a Manhattan, this is the story of feisty eleven-year-old Veronica Morgan, who believes that a furry lemon beagle from the neighborhood pet store will be the solution to the endless worries she has about life in general and friendship in particular. This is a problem, since her bumbling psychiatrist parents won’t buy her the puppy she wants or stop meddling in her life at her challenging new school. But things never turn out the way you plan, particularly if you never stop expecting the worst to happen, and haven’t taken a chance on being a true friend yourself.

Visit Catherine Lloyd Burns's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Catherine Lloyd Burns & Shirley.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten of the best books for kids who can’t sleep on Christmas Eve

At The Barnes & Noble Book Blog Dell Villa tagged ten top books for kids who can’t sleep on Christmas Eve, including:

Star Bright: A Christmas Story, by Alison McGhee

Everyone in Heaven is thrilled that a baby’s about to be born, and they all plan to bring gifts to celebrate. But the littlest angel, with her red hair and aviator goggles, stands apart from her more elegantly dressed and well-mannered peers. What can she possibly offer to this glorious baby? She finally alights on an innovative idea, and it might just be the best offering, for it’s those gifts of absolute wonder that truly embody the magic and sparkle of the season.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Greg Garrett reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Greg Garrett, author of Entertaining Judgment: The Afterlife in Popular Imagination.

From his entry:

Phil Klay’s Deployment deservedly won the National Book Award for Fiction this year. I taught it in my fiction class early in the fall, and we all felt, smugly, as if we were prophets at the announcement. Like the World War One poets, like [Tim] O’Brien, he’s telling us about the experience of battle and about trying to reconcile it with the experience of the home front—two things that are not meant to be meshed. The title story is a masterpiece of the “soldiers’ return” story written by other great American writers including Hemingway and Fitzgerald. The narrator’s family can’t hope to understand what the narrator has gone through. Words cannot convey the experience. And yet...[read on]

About Entertaining Judgment, from the publisher:

Nowadays references to the afterlife-angels strumming harps, demons brandishing pitchforks, God enthroned on heavenly clouds-are more often encountered in New Yorker cartoons than in serious Christian theological reflection. Speculation about death and its sequel seems to embarrass many theologians; however, as Greg Garrett shows in Entertaining Judgment, popular culture in the U.S. has found rich ground for creative expression in the search for answers to the question: What lies in store for us after we die?

The lyrics of Madonna, Los Lonely Boys, and Sean Combs; the plotlines of TV's Lost, South Park, and The Walking Dead; the implied theology in films such as The Dark Knight, Ghost, and Field of Dreams; the heavenly half-light of Thomas Kinkade's popular paintings; the ghosts, shades, and after-life way-stations in Harry Potter; and the characters, situations, and locations in the Hunger Games saga all speak to our hopes and fears about what comes next. In a rich survey of literature and popular media, Garrett compares cultural accounts of death and the afterlife with those found in scripture. Denizens of the imagined afterlife, whether in heaven, hell, on earth, or in purgatory, speak to what awaits us, at once shaping and reflecting our deeply held-if often somewhat nebulous-beliefs. They show us what rewards and punishments we might expect, offer us divine assistance, and even diabolically attack us.

Ultimately, we are drawn to these stories of heaven, hell, and purgatory--and to stories about death and the undead--not only because they entertain us, but because they help us to create meaning and to learn about ourselves, our world, and, perhaps, the next world. Garrett's deft analysis sheds new light on what popular culture can tell us about the startlingly sharp divide between what modern people profess to believe and what they truly hope and expect to find after death--and how they use those stories to help them understand this life.

Learn more about Entertaining Judgment at the Oxford University Press website.

Writers Read: Greg Garrett.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten of the best Christmases in literature

At the Guardian Kate Kellaway tagged the ten best Christmases in literature, including:

Little Women
Louisa May Alcott, 1868-69

The most sentimentally frugal Christmas in American literature. In the absence of stockings, Jo slips her hand under her pillow and draws out a crimson-covered book. “She knew it very well, for it was that beautiful old story of the best life ever lived, and Jo felt that it was a true guidebook for any pilgrim going on a long journey.” (It may or may not be a bible, it is not spelt out.) Each girl has a differently coloured volume. Meg: green, Beth: dove, Amy: blue. As a child, I coveted these books as anyone with a taste for nice stationery would.

Read about another entry on the list.

Little Women also appears among Bea Davenport's top ten books about hair, nine notable unsung literary heroines, Sophie McKenzie's top ten mothers in children's books, John Dugdale's ten notable fictional works on winter sports, Melissa Albert's five favorite YA books that might make one cry, Anjelica Huston's seven favorite coming-of-age books, Bidisha's ten top books about women, Katherine Rundell's top ten descriptions of food in fiction, Gwyneth Rees's ten top books about siblings, Maya Angelou's 6 favorite books, Tim Lewis's ten best Christmas lunches in literature, and on the Observer's list of the ten best fictional mothers, Eleanor Birne's top ten list of books on motherhood, Erin Blakemore's list of five gutsy heroines to channel on an off day, Kate Saunders' critic's chart of mothers and daughters in literature, and Zoë Heller's list of five memorable portraits of sisters. It is a book that disappointed Geraldine Brooks on re-reading.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: John Edward Terrell's "A Talent for Friendship"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: A Talent for Friendship: Rediscovery of a Remarkable Trait by John Edward Terrell.

About the book, from the publisher:

This lively, provocative text presents a new way to understand friendship. Professor John Terrell argues that the ability to make friends is an evolved human trait not unlike our ability to walk upright on two legs or our capacity for speech and complex abstract reasoning. Terrell charts how this trait has evolved by investigating two unique functions of the human brain: the ability to remake the outside world to suit our collective needs, and our capacity to escape into our own inner thoughts and imagine how things might and ought to be. The text is richly illustrated and written in an engaging style, and will appeal to students, scholars, and general readers interested in anthropology, evolutionary and cognitive science, and psychology more broadly.

Learn more about A Talent for Friendship: Rediscovery of a Remarkable Trait at the Oxford University Press website.

Cover story: A Talent for Friendship.

The Page 99 Test: A Talent for Friendship.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight top fresh fictional female detectives

At The Barnes & Noble Book Blog Ellen Wehle tagged eight fictional female detectives featured in new releases, including:

The Handsome Man’s Deluxe Café, by Alexander McCall Smith

“Mrs.” has no memory of how she came to be in Botswana, or even her own name. Can Precious Ramotswe, expert at finding lost things, track down the woman’s missing identity? Meanwhile, Mma Makutsi has opened a restaurant for Gabarone’s well-heeled clientele. Dealing with temperamental chefs and crabby customers may be more than she bargained for, but, as always, friendship will see her through.

Read about another entry on the list.

Precious Ramotswe appears among Ian Holding's top ten books that teach us something about southern Africa and Adrian McKinty's ten best lady detectives.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Nina Darnton's "The Perfect Mother"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Perfect Mother: A Novel by Nina Darnton.

About the book, from the publisher:

When an American exchange student is accused of murder, her mother will stop at nothing to save her.

A midnight phone call shatters Jennifer Lewis’s carefully orchestrated life. Her daughter, Emma, who’s studying abroad in Spain, has been arrested after the brutal murder of another student. Jennifer rushes to her side, certain the arrest is a terrible mistake and determined to do whatever is necessary to bring Emma home. But as she begins to investigate the crime, she starts to wonder whether she ever really knew her daughter. The police charge Emma, and the press leaps on the story, exaggerating every sordid detail. One by one, Emma’s defense team, her father, and finally even Jennifer begin to have doubts.

A novel of harrowing emotional suspense, The Perfect Mother probes the dark side of parenthood and the complicated bond between mothers and daughters.

Visit Nina Darnton's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Perfect Mother.

Writers Read: Nina Darnton.

The Page 69 Test: The Perfect Mother.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top 23 amazing--and short--classic books

One title on the Huffington Post's list of classic works that are all under 200 pages:

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (144 pages)

This crime novel features Chandler's famous character PI Philip Marlowe. An old man is being blackmailed and he wants Marlowe to make it stop.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Big Sleep also appears on Lucy Worsley's ten best list of fictional detectives, Becky Ferreira's list of seven of the best books set in Los Angeles, Ian Rankin's list of five perfect mysteries, Kathryn Williams's reading list on greed, Gigi Levangie Grazer's list of six favorite books that became movies, Megan Wasson's list of five top books on Los Angeles, Greil Marcus's six recommended books list, Barry Forshaw's critic's chart of six American noir masters, David Nicholls' list of favorite film adaptations, and the Guardian's list of ten of the best smokes in literature.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nicholas Wapshott's "The Sphinx," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: The Sphinx: Franklin Roosevelt, the Isolationists, and the Road to World War II by Nicholas Wapshott.

From the entry:

The characters in my book were so strong I did not need to imagine who would play them. The trick for a film maker (I would ask Michael “Red Shoes” Powell, or Carol “Third Man” Reed) is to find actors who would be forceful enough to play such powerful characters.

Plainly the person playing FDR is key and while I greatly admired the recent portrayal of him by Bill Murray in Hyde Park on the Hudson to be credible and rich, I feel that...[read on]

Learn more about The Sphinx at the publisher's website and follow Nicholas Wapshott on Twitter.

My Book, The Movie: The Sphinx.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Holger Nehring's "Politics of Security"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Politics of Security: British and West German Protest Movements and the Early Cold War, 1945-1970 by Holger Nehring.

About the book, from the publisher:

How did European societies experience the Cold War? Politics of Security focuses on a number of peace movements in Britain and West Germany from the end of Second World War in 1945 to the early 1970s to answer this question. Britons and West Germans had been fierce enemies in the Second World War. After 1945, however, many activists in both countries imagined themselves to be part of a common movement against nuclear armaments.

Combining comparative and transnational histories, Politics of Security stresses how these movements were deeply embedded in their own societies, but also transcended them. In particular, it highlights the centrality of the memories of the Second World War as a prism through which people made sense of the threat of nuclear war. By placing British and West German experiences side by side, Holger Nehring illuminates the general patterns and specific features of these debates, arguing that the key characteristic of these discussions was the countries' concerns with different notions of security. The volume highlights how these ideas changed over time, how they reflected more general political, social, and cultural trends, and how they challenged mainstream assumptions of politics and government.

This volume is the first to capture in a transnational fashion what activists did on marches against nuclear warfare, and what it meant to them and to others. It highlights the ways in which people became activists, and how they were transformed by these experiences. Nehring examines how these two societies with very different experiences and memories of the cruelties and atrocities of the Second World War drew on very similar arguments when they came to understand the Cold War through the prism of the previous world war.

Learn more about Politics of Security at the Oxford University Press website.

Holger Nehring is Professor of Contemporary European History at the University of Stirling in Scotland.

The Page 99 Test: Politics of Security.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top 10 fictional feasts in children's books

Christopher William’s Hill’s latest book is The Lily-Livered Prince, book three in his Tales From Schwartzgarten series. At the Guardian he tagged ten top fictional feasts in children's books, including:

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis

“It is dull, Son of Adam, to drink without eating,” said the Queen presently. “What would you like best to eat?”

“Turkish Delight, please, your Majesty,” said Edmund.

The Queen let another drop fall from her bottle on to the snow, and instantly there appeared a round box, tied with green silk ribbon, which, when opened, turned out to contain several pounds of the best Turkish Delight. Each piece was sweet and light to the very centre and Edmund had never tasted anything more delicious. He was quite warm now, and very comfortable.

While he was eating, the Queen kept asking him questions. At first Edmund tried to remember that it is rude to speak with one’s mouth full, but soon he forgot about this and thought only of trying to shovel down as much Turkish Delight as he could, and the more he ate the more he wanted to eat, and he never asked himself why the Queen should be so inquisitive.

In The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe Turkish Delight is forbidden fruit, and therefore all the more delicious. We know for a fact that Edmund is crossing over to the Dark Side as he wolfs down each morsel of this delectable sweetmeat. Several pounds of Turkish Delight would be more than enough for most children – but not Edmund. As soon as he’s consumed the contents of the box he’s desperate for more. I was such a child and have unfortunately grown up to become such an adult. Gluttony is a sin, no doubt – but a truly delicious way of sinning, don’t you think?

Read about another entry on the list.

The Narnia Chronicles pop up on Paul Goat Allen's list of the ten most badass women in fantasy literature. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is on Melissa Albert's list of a few of the most memorable holiday gifts in fiction and Lev Grossman's list of the six greatest fantasy books of all time.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Nina Darnton reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Nina Darnton, author of The Perfect Mother.

Her entry begins:

I often have two books going at the same time. But when I started reading Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch, I knew that strategy wouldn’t work. I simply couldn’t put it down and, when life intervened and I was forced to, I returned to it in any spare moment I had. It is a rare combination of a page turner that is also brilliantly written and conceived with believable characters about whom...[read on]

About The Perfect Mother, from the publisher:

When an American exchange student is accused of murder, her mother will stop at nothing to save her.

A midnight phone call shatters Jennifer Lewis’s carefully orchestrated life. Her daughter, Emma, who’s studying abroad in Spain, has been arrested after the brutal murder of another student. Jennifer rushes to her side, certain the arrest is a terrible mistake and determined to do whatever is necessary to bring Emma home. But as she begins to investigate the crime, she starts to wonder whether she ever really knew her daughter. The police charge Emma, and the press leaps on the story, exaggerating every sordid detail. One by one, Emma’s defense team, her father, and finally even Jennifer begin to have doubts.

A novel of harrowing emotional suspense, The Perfect Mother probes the dark side of parenthood and the complicated bond between mothers and daughters.

Visit Nina Darnton's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Perfect Mother.

Writers Read: Nina Darnton.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Casey Walker's "Last Days in Shanghai"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Last Days in Shanghai by Casey Walker.

About the book, from the publisher:

Luke Slade, a young Congressional aide, begins this business trip to China like all other international travel he’s endured with “Lyin’ Leo”: buried under a slew of diplomatic runarounds, non-functioning cell phones, and humiliation from the Congressman at every turn. But on day two, a new challenge rears its ugly head: Leo goes on a drunken bender and disappears into the night. Unsure what dubious business his corrupt and buffoonish boss had planned, Luke must piece together the Congressman’s lies while maintaining appearances with their Chinese contacts.

Amidst the confusion, a little bleary from jet-lag and alcohol, Luke receives a briefcase full of money from the mayor of a rural Chinese province. Luke accepts the “gift” in his daze, but when he later realizes his mistake and tries to return the cash, he discovers even more anxiety-inducing news. The mayor is dead.

As Luke tries to unravel the complex minefield of corruption he’s tumbled into, he must also confront his own role in the events. Unwitting marionette? Fall guy? Or perhaps someone more capable of moral compromise than he would have liked to believe. Last Days in Shanghai is an unforgettable debut by a writer to watch. It’s both a hold-on-to-your-seat thriller and a pitch-perfect exploration of present day China—the country’s rapacious capitalism, the shocking boom of its cities and the wholesale eradication of its traditions.

Follow Casey Walker on Twitter.

Learn more about Last Days in Shanghai at the Counterpoint Press website.

The Page 69 Test: Last Days in Shanghai.

--Marshal Zeringue