Pg. 69: Rachel Neumeier's "Winter of Ice and Iron"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Winter of Ice and Iron by Rachel Neumeier.

About the book, from the publisher:

In this gorgeous, dark fantasy in the spirit of Jacqueline Carey, a princess and a duke must protect the people of their nations when a terrible threat leaves everyone in danger.

With the Mad King of Emmer in the north and the vicious King of Pohorir in the east, Kehara Raehema knows her country is in a vulnerable position. She never expected to give up everything she loves to save her people, but when the Mad King’s fury leaves her land in danger, she has no choice but to try any stratagem that might buy time for her people to prepare for war—no matter the personal cost.

Hundreds of miles away, the pitiless Wolf Duke of Pohorir, Innisth Eanete, dreams of breaking his people and his province free of the king he despises. But he has no way to make that happen—until chance unexpectedly leaves Kehara on his doorstep and at his mercy.

Yet in a land where immanent spirits inhabit the earth, political disaster is not the greatest peril one can face. Now, as the year rushes toward the dangerous midwinter, Kehera and Innisth find themselves unwilling allies, and their joined strength is all that stands between the peoples of the Four Kingdoms and utter catastrophe.

Visit Rachel Neumeier's website.

My Book, The Movie: Winter of Ice and Iron.

The Page 69 Test: Winter of Ice and Iron.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Michael Patrick Cullinane's "Theodore Roosevelt's Ghost"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Theodore Roosevelt's Ghost: The History and Memory of an American Icon by Michael Patrick Cullinane.

About the book, from the publisher:

A century after his death, Theodore Roosevelt remains one of the most recognizable figures in U.S. history, with depictions of the president ranging from the brave commander of the Rough Riders to a trailblazing progressive politician and early environmentalist to little more than a caricature of grinning teeth hiding behind a mustache and pince-nez. Theodore Roosevelt’s Ghost follows the continuing shifts and changes in this president’s reputation since his unexpected passing in 1919.

In the most comprehensive examination of Roosevelt’s legacy, Michael Patrick Cullinane explores the frequent refashioning of this American icon in popular memory. The immediate aftermath of Roosevelt’s death created a groundswell of mourning and goodwill that ensured his place among the great Americans of his generation, a stature bolstered by the charitable and political work of his surviving family. When Franklin Roosevelt ascended to the presidency, he worked to situate himself as the natural heir of Theodore Roosevelt, reshaping his distant cousin’s legacy to reflect New Deal values of progressivism, intervention, and patriotism. Others retroactively adapted Roosevelt’s actions and political record to fit the discourse of social movements from anticommunism to civil rights, with varying degrees of success. Richard Nixon’s frequent invocation led to a decline in Roosevelt’s popularity and a corresponding revival effort by scholars endeavoring to give an accurate, nuanced picture of the 26th president.

Learn more about Theodore Roosevelt's Ghost at the LSU Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Theodore Roosevelt's Ghost.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top ten books about mental hospitals

A.F. Brady is a writer, psychotherapist and mental health counsellor. Her debut novel is The Blind.

One of the author's ten best books about mental hospitals, as shared at the Guardian:

Gracefully Insane: The Rise and Fall of America’s Premier Mental Hospital by Alex Beam

A fictionalised setting for both The Bell Jar and Girl, Interrupted, McLean Hospital is the main character in Beam’s non-fiction work. He describes the hospital at administrative, clinical and patient levels, and explores the history of the physical plant itself, the society surrounding it, and its ultimate fate. Through the decades that McLean served as the backdrop for myriad stories of tragedy and recovery, Beam takes a critical, often aloof and sometimes comical approach to describing and dismantling the mysteries and nuances of a famed institution.

Read about another entry on the list.

My Book, The Movie: Gracefully Insane.

The Page 69 Test: Gracefully Insane.

--Marshal Zeringue

Irene Radford's "A Spoonful of Magic," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: A Spoonful of Magic by Irene Radford.

The entry begins:

How would I cast A Spoonful of Magic? Hands down Danica McKellar from Boy Meets World and lately a lot of Hallmark movies has that quirky little smile that will charm the socks off her audience fits the part of Daffy, Daphne Rose Wallace Deschants. In the book Daffy is a blonde, so my first thought went to Sarah Michelle Geller or Kristen Bell, but they don’t have that special smile that shouts innocence while hiding a cool cunning.

The part of G, Gabrielle Sebastian Deschants, was modeled on a younger...[read on]

Visit Irene Radford's website and Facebook page.

My Book, The Movie: The Broken Dragon.

The Page 69 Test: The Broken Dragon.

My Book, The Movie: A Spoonful of Magic.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Gary Blackwood reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Gary Blackwood, author of Bucket's List.

His entry begins:

I’m convinced that, in most cases, whether or not a particular book or a particular author speaks to us depends on how willing we are to listen.  In real life, of course, we tend to seek out people whose opinions and outlooks coincide with ours.  But in the case of books, though obviously it’s important what an author says, I think how he or she says it is just as important.  The truth is, I generally spend a lot more time with authors than I do with any of my flesh and blood friends, so I like them to be good company.

D. E. Stevenson is delightful company.  I discovered her only within the last year or so, when I stumbled upon a reissue of the charming Miss Buncle’s Book.  I’ve been seeking her out ever since, most recently between the covers of her WWII-era saga, Amberwell.  Though Stevenson ...[read on]

About Bucket's List, from the publisher:

Introducing private investigator Charley Field, the true-life inspiration behind Charles Dickens' Inspector Bucket, in an intriguing new Victorian mystery series.

1853. When the body of a prostitute is found in Hyde Park, veteran sleuth Charley Field is disinclined to believe the official verdict of suicide. Convinced the woman was murdered, he determines to track down the mysterious client who visited her the day she died. But there is more to this murder than even Charley could have imagined.

Learn more about Bucket's List.

My Book, The Movie: Bucket's List.

The Page 69 Test: Bucket's List.

Writers Read: Gary Blackwood.

--Marshal Zeringue

Terry Waite's six best books

Terry Waite was the Church of England hostage negotiator held captive in Beirut by Hezbollah from 1987 to 1991. His books include Taken On Trust and Solitude. One of Waite's six best books, as shared at the Daily Express:

WAR AND PEACE by Leo Tolstoy

A wonderful survey of the Tsarist era in Russian history and the gradual decline of the families.

It's a Russian Forsyte Saga really. The 1972 BBC production, when Anthony Hopkins played Pierre, brought it to life for me.

Read about another entry on the list.

War and Peace appears among Adrian Edmondson's six best books, Robert Newman's six best books, John Cleese's six favorite books, Kate Kellaway's ten best Christmases in literature, the Telegraph's ten best historical novels, Simon Sebag Montefiore's five top books about Moscow, Oliver Ford Davies's six best books, Stella Tillyard's four favorite historical novels, Ann Shevchenko's top ten novels set in Moscow, Karl Marlantes' top ten war stories, Niall Ferguson's five most important books, Norman Mailer's top ten works of literature, and John Mullan's lists of ten of the best battles in literature, ten of the best floggings in fiction, and ten of the best literary explosions.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Cherise Wolas's "The Resurrection of Joan Ashby"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Resurrection of Joan Ashby: A Novel by Cherise Wolas.

About the book, from the publisher:

I viewed the consumptive nature of love as a threat to serious women. But the wonderful man I just married believes as I do—work is paramount, absolutely no children—and now love seems to me quite marvelous.

These words are spoken to a rapturous audience by Joan Ashby, a brilliant and intense literary sensation acclaimed for her explosively dark and singular stories.

When Joan finds herself unexpectedly pregnant, she is stunned by Martin’s delight, his instant betrayal of their pact. She makes a fateful, selfless decision then, to embrace her unintentional family.

Challenged by raising two precocious sons, it is decades before she finally completes her masterpiece novel. Poised to reclaim the spotlight, to resume the intended life she gave up for love, a betrayal of Shakespearean proportion forces her to question every choice she has made.
Epic, propulsive, incredibly ambitious, and dazzlingly written, The Resurrection of Joan Ashby is a story about sacrifice and motherhood, the burdens of expectation and genius. Cherise Wolas’s gorgeous debut introduces an indelible heroine candid about her struggles and unapologetic in her ambition.

Visit Cherise Wolas's website.

Writers Read: Cherise Wolas.

The Page 69 Test: The Resurrection of Joan Ashby.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five of the best coming-of-age stories

In 2012 David Nicholls tagged five favorite coming-of-age stories at the Telegraph. One title on the list:

I’ve never willingly watched a team sport, but I loved Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding (2011), about a flawed but gifted shortstop – whatever that is – in a college baseball team. Only ostensibly about baseball, it’s a wonderfully funny, sad campus novel that’s enjoyable even for readers who, like me, can’t quite catch a ball.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Art of Fielding is among Jean Hanff Korelitz's top ten campus novels.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Richard Baker reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Richard Baker, author of Valiant Dust: Breaker of Empires (Volume 1).

His entry begins:

Like a lot of people, I’m usually working on a couple of books at a time. The two that are currently competing for my attention are Harry Turtledove’s Fallout and Peter Cawdron’s Retrograde.

Fallout is the second book in Turtledove’s new alternate history series The Hot War (following up on Bombs Away, the start of the series). The premise is dark and simple: What would have happened if Douglas Macarthur got his way in 1951 and the U.S. responded to China’s intervention in the Korean War by dropping the Bomb? The answer is that things get horrible in a hurry. I’m a longtime Turtledove fan and enough of a history buff to really enjoy the what-if game; it’s amazing how great events sometimes turn on very small hinges, and Turtledove is of course the master at exploring the repercussions. I’m actually...[read on]

About Valiant Dust, from the publisher:

In a stylish, smart, new military science fiction series, Richard Baker begins the adventures of Sikander North in an era of great interstellar colonial powers. Valiant Dust combines the intrigues of interstellar colonial diplomacy with explosive military action.

Sikander Singh North has always had it easy—until he joined the crew of the Aquilan Commonwealth starship CSS Hector. As the ship’s new gunnery officer and only Kashmiri, he must constantly prove himself better than his Aquilan crewmates, even if he has to use his fists. When the Hector is called to help with a planetary uprising, he’ll have to earn his unit’s respect, find who’s arming the rebels, and deal with the headstrong daughter of the colonial ruler—all while dodging bullets.

Sikander’s military career is off to an explosive start—but only if he and CSS Hector can survive his first mission.

Visit Richard Baker's website.

Writers Read: Richard Baker.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Rachel Fulton Brown's "Mary and the Art of Prayer"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Mary and the Art of Prayer: The Hours of the Virgin in Medieval Christian Life and Thought by Rachel Fulton Brown.

About the book, from the publisher:

Would you like to learn to pray like a medieval Christian? In Mary and the Art of Prayer, Rachel Fulton Brown traces the history of the medieval practice of praising Mary through the complex of prayers known as the Hours of the Virgin. More than just a work of comprehensive historical scholarship, the book asks readers to immerse themselves in the experience of believing in and praying to Mary. Mary and the Art of Prayer crosses the boundaries that modern scholars typically place between observation and experience, between the world of provable facts and the world of imagination, suggesting what it would have been like for medieval Christians to encounter Mary in prayer.

Mary and the Art of Prayer opens with a history of the devotion of the Hours or “Little Office” of the Virgin. It then guides readers in the practice of saying this Office, including its invitatory (Ave Maria), antiphons, psalms, lessons, and prayers. The book works on several levels at once. It provides a new methodology for thinking about devotion and prayer; a new appreciation of the scope of and audience for the Hours of the Virgin; a new understanding of how Mary functions theologically and devotionally; and a new reading of sources not previously taken into account. A courageous and moving work, it will transform our ideas of what scholarship is and what it can accomplish.

Learn more about Mary and the Art of Prayer at the Columbia University Press website, and visit Rachel Fulton Brown's blog.

The Page 99 Test: Mary and the Art of Prayer.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five notable forgotten classics worth revisiting

In 2013 Parul Sehgal tagged (for NPR) five forgotten classics worth revisiting, including:

I Await the Devil's Coming by Mary Maclane and Jessa Crispin

In 1902, a moody young woman living in Montana published her diary. It sold 100,000 copies in its first month, and its 19-year-old author, Mary MacLane, become notorious. She left her small town immediately, lived hard, and died young. Her book went out of print shortly after. Recently republished, it's a small masterpiece, full of camp and swagger — aspects her reviewers miss, but her readers never do. Instead of aligning her ecstatic paranoia with Poe and Thomas Bernhard, she's been lumped in with other white women who write a confessional vein, which does her a disservice. MacLane never confesses — not even to her diary. She's prophesying. She can sound like an off-kilter Whitman with odes to her "red blood," her "sound, sensitive liver" that "rests gently with its thin yellow bile in sweet content," the "poetry" of her "fine feminine body."

Isolated by her oddness (so she says) and consigned to life in "a place of sand and barrenness," MacLane seems to have spent most of her time taking long, angry walks, proclaiming her genius, chatting with the devil, and fantasizing about her English teacher whom she calls "the anemone lady." Bored to tears in Butte, Mont., she may have been, but out of a desire to mine her mind and celebrate her body, she produced this sour little torch song — to herself, to fiery ambition, and above all, to her will. "Today I walked far away over the sand in the teeth of a bitter wind. The wind was determined that I should turn and come back, and equally I was determined I would go on. I went on."

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Gary Blackwood's "Bucket's List"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Bucket's List by Gary Blackwood.

About the book, from the publisher:

Introducing private investigator Charley Field, the true-life inspiration behind Charles Dickens' Inspector Bucket, in an intriguing new Victorian mystery series.

1853. When the body of a prostitute is found in Hyde Park, veteran sleuth Charley Field is disinclined to believe the official verdict of suicide. Convinced the woman was murdered, he determines to track down the mysterious client who visited her the day she died. But there is more to this murder than even Charley could have imagined.

Learn more about Bucket's List.

My Book, The Movie: Bucket's List.

The Page 69 Test: Bucket's List.

--Marshal Zeringue

Tara Goedjen's "The Breathless," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: The Breathless by Tara Goedjen.

The entry begins:

The two leads would be easy. If I could have my dream cast, I’d want sixteen-year-old Mae Cole to be played by Millie Bobby Brown from Stranger Things. Besides being a fan of the show, I love how Millie plays Eleven, who starts off the series as a quiet, mysterious, gifted, and troubled girl: all qualities that embody Mae in The Breathless.

I’d also want Cage Shaw, my other main character, to be played by Nick...[read on]

Visit Tara Goedjen's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Breathless.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Chris Brookmyre reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Chris Brookmyre, author of Places in the Darkness.

His entry begins:

Denise Mina’s The Long Drop won the 2017 McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year, and deservedly so. Based on the true story of mass-murderer Peter Manuel, who killed whole families in their homes in 1950s Glasgow, this book is like reaching into a wound in the city’s soul. It is a speculative account of Manuel’s inexplicable drinking odyssey around Glasgow one night in the company of a man whose family he killed, and whose own innocence comes increasingly into question. This is a novel so visceral you can...[read on]

About Places in the Darkness, from the publisher:

A propulsive science fiction tale of murder and memory, all set on a futuristic space station.

Hundreds of miles above Earth, the space station Ciudad de Cielo–The City in the Sky–is a beacon of hope for humanity’s expansion into the stars. But not everyone aboard shares such noble ideals.

Bootlegging, booze, and prostitution form a lucrative underground economy for rival gangs, which the authorities are happy to turn a blind eye to until a disassembled corpse is found dancing in the micro-gravity.

In charge of the murder investigation is Nikki “Fix” Freeman, who is not thrilled to have Alice Blake, an uptight government goody-two-shoes, riding shotgun. As the bodies pile up, and the partners are forced to question their own memories, Nikki and Alice begin to realize that gang warfare may not be the only cause for the violence.

Visit Christopher Brookmyre's website.

The Page 69 Test: Bred in the Bone.

My Book, The Movie: Dead Girl Walking.

Writers Read: Chris Brookmyre.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top books on late-stage capitalism

Marie Myung-Ok Lee is a staff writer for The Millions. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Nation, Slate, Salon, Guernica, Poets & Writers, and The Guardian. Her novel is forthcoming with Simon & Schuster (when she finally finishes it). She teaches fiction at Columbia and shares a hometown with Bob Dylan. One of five books on late-stage capitalism she tagged at The Millions:

Weapons of Math Destruction (2016) by Cathy O’Neil

O’Neil has worked both as an academic and as a quant for a hedge fund, which puts her in a unique position to investigate how computer algorithms (many of them secret and proprietary) and “big data” are part of a new, non-human way to evaluate things like public school teacher performance and hiring prospects. Many of these algorithms, she contends, are based on “poisonous assumptions,” and—surprise, surprise—in aggregate mostly affect and penalize the poor, who have to face the faceless numbers with little recourse, while the rich use their cronyism, nepotism, and old-boy networks to get ahead—all the while pretending American economic life is a meritocracy.

Read about another title on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Dave Connis's "The Temptation of Adam"

Featured the Page 69 Test: The Temptation of Adam: A Novel by Dave Connis.

About the book, from the publisher:

Adam Hawthorne is fine. Yeah, his mother left, his older sister went with her, and his dad would rather read Nicholas Sparks novels than talk to him. And yeah, he spends his nights watching self-curated porn video playlists. But Adam is fine. When a family friend discovers Adam’s porn addiction, he’s forced to join an addiction support group: the self-proclaimed Knights of Vice. He goes because he has to, but the honesty of the Knights starts to slip past his defenses. Combine that with his sister’s out-of-the-blue return and the attention of a girl he meets in an AA meeting, and all the work Adam has put into being fine begins to unravel. Now Adam has to face the causes and effects of his addiction, before he loses his new friends, his prodigal sister, and his almost semi-sort-of girlfriend.

Visit Dave Connis's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Temptation of Adam.

Writers Read: Dave Connis.

The Page 69 Test: The Temptation of Adam.

--Marshal Zeringue

Four books that changed Tess Evans

Tess Evans is the author of the novels Book of Lost Threads, The Memory Tree, Mercy Street, and The Ballad of Banjo Crossing. One of four books that changed her, as shared at the Sydney Morning Herald:

THE RIVER OF ADVENTURE Enid Blyton

When I was six, I read my first chapter book, The River of Adventure. A quiet, cautious child, there I was, with bold and daring friends, participating in astonishing adventures. This, my first independent reading, taught me the joy of complete immersion in a novel. That's how I became a reader. Now, many years later, I still believe that the best possible place to be lost is in a book.

Read about another book on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Daniel Siemens's "Stormtroopers"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Stormtroopers: A New History of Hitler's Brownshirts by Daniel Siemens.

About the book, from the publisher:

The first full history of the Nazi Stormtroopers whose muscle brought Hitler to power, with revelations concerning their longevity and their contributions to the Holocaust

Germany’s Stormtroopers engaged in a vicious siege of violence that propelled the National Socialists to power in the 1930s. Known also as the SA or Brownshirts, these “ordinary” men waged a loosely structured campaign of intimidation and savagery across the nation from the 1920s to the “Night of the Long Knives” in 1934, when Chief of Staff Ernst Röhm and many other SA leaders were assassinated on Hitler’s orders.

In this deeply researched history, Daniel Siemens explores not only the roots of the SA and its swift decapitation but also its previously unrecognized transformation into a million-member Nazi organization, its activities in German-occupied territories during World War II, and its particular contributions to the Holocaust. The author provides portraits of individual members and their victims and examines their milieu, culture, and ideology. His book tells the long-overdue story of the SA and its devastating impact on German citizens and the fate of their country.

Learn more about Stormtroopers at the Yale University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Stormtroopers.

--Marshal Zeringue

Minette Walters's 6 best books

Minette Walters is England’s bestselling crime writer. Her new novel is The Last Hours.

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

THE POWER AND THE GLORY by Graham Greene

My favourite author. He wrote page-turners about people who understand their flaws and try to triumph above them.

This is about a hopeless whisky priest in Latin America, where religion is banned and he is the only one left who can bring solace to people. You can’t read it without crying.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Power and the Glory also appears among Joanna Cannon's top ten clerics in fiction, Michael Arditti's top ten novels about priests, and on John Mullan's lists of ten of the best nameless protagonists and ten of the best episodes of drunkenness in literature. It is one of seven books that made a difference to Colin Firth.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Dave Connis reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Dave Connis, author of The Temptation of Adam: A Novel.

His entry begins:

I've recently decided to branch my reading out from fiction because I've been on a straight diet of fiction since high school. I'm 27.

I recently finished Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance and it was phenomenal. I wanted to read it because it paints an insider picture of the people I live around and helped me understand the layers of hurt and hopelessness that I'm seeing in the houses down the street. Because of how much Hillbilly Elegy impacted me, I decided to go on a non-fiction binge.

I just finished...[read on]

About The Temptation of Adam, from the publisher:

Adam Hawthorne is fine. Yeah, his mother left, his older sister went with her, and his dad would rather read Nicholas Sparks novels than talk to him. And yeah, he spends his nights watching self-curated porn video playlists. But Adam is fine. When a family friend discovers Adam’s porn addiction, he’s forced to join an addiction support group: the self-proclaimed Knights of Vice. He goes because he has to, but the honesty of the Knights starts to slip past his defenses. Combine that with his sister’s out-of-the-blue return and the attention of a girl he meets in an AA meeting, and all the work Adam has put into being fine begins to unravel. Now Adam has to face the causes and effects of his addiction, before he loses his new friends, his prodigal sister, and his almost semi-sort-of girlfriend.

Visit Dave Connis's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Temptation of Adam.

Writers Read: Dave Connis.

--Marshal Zeringue